Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - oil furnace...won't come on

HELP!! I have hot water base board heat which uses oil in an OLD furnace. I had run out of oil and now that I try to turn up the thermostat it doesn't light. I've checked the switches I know about. I think it needs to have the pilot light re lit but HOW DO I SO THAT??? PLEEZE HELP!!!:confused: :confused: :confused:

Helen,

What is the burner doing now? running? dead?

You may have to hit the reset (red button on burner) Also, you may have to purge the air out of the oil line.

Thanks...I have hit reset..nothing...how do I purge sir from the oil line?

What you mean nothing? Motor don't run at all?

nothing happens, no click, no noise, nothing...

Hellen,

If you have AOL/AIM, I am on now.. IM me if you want at jay1j

I'm not on my computer now...I'm at work and can't use messengers here

Ok, I would check to make sure the power to the boiler, if the switch is on, check the fuse/breaker (you may have 2) to make sure they are not blown or triped.

The reset on the burner should start the burner right a way.. since you've done it and it's dead.. It's telling me that it's not getting power or no call of heat. (again make sure your t-stat is above room temp, and if you have "HEAT-OFF-COOL" switch, make sure it's on "HEAT"..

do you know how to bleed the pump ?????ED;)

Ed,

Are you asking me or Hellen?

power is on, circuit breaker is not tripped.....there are 2 fuses, tubular and about 2 in long ( like anAA battery, they don't looked smoked or anything....thermostat is turned up above room temp

No Ed, I don't know how to bleed the pump

The "Tube" like fuse can't be seen if they are blown or not.. You'll need an ohm meter to check it out. or just take it out and have your hardware/home improvment store check it for you.

ok.i'll do that later...now that i have you, what if that is ok? what then?

On the end bell of the burner motor do you have a reset button?
Does motor hum at all?

No jay was asking Helen

Do you have a volt meter?

I don't have a volt meter

Ed...Yes I have a reset button..I've tripped it and nothing, literally nothing happens

next thing you can do Helen, turn the power off, take a wire and jumper between T and T on the burner. Turn power back on. If it fires up, then you have something wrong with the t-stat or it's wire.

Make sure R and W are screwed onto the burner. Turn off power again, Remove the jumper and rehook up the r and w wire to the burner. go up and remove the t-stat from the wall.. tape Red and WHite wire together.. Turn power on again.. if it fire up then it's the t-stat. if it don't fire up, then it's the wire.

Now I mean that there can be another reset button on the motor + the one for the burner.;) ED

Just came to mind.. Do your water pump kick in? Those should kick in as soon you call for heat.

I appreciate you're efforts but you're over my head...I have no idea what T and T is, etc....
Also, don't know about the motor reset.....I'm going home to get the fuses and take them to the h'ware store...should be back w/in 30 min

I don't have a separate water pump...i get hot water from the boiler

Good luck Helen! ;-)

I am off to work, so I won't be on.. Ed will take care of ya!

More info here? Do you have zone controls at all on this boiler?
Can the burner be controled by a aquastat there on the boiler?;) ED

I'll take Jays place for a while. 9 times out of 10 if you press the reser button and do not hear a click, hum, buzz or anything, either there is there is no power to the boiler. The thermostat isn't too important now because the boiler should be running to give you hot water also. I can help you bleed the pump but you need to figure out why after running out of oil, you now have no power. Make sure switch is on at top of basement stairs (if you have one). If you checked it, check it again. If I told you how many times I get to a house at 1am and find that switch off, you would not believe me. One you get power back, we can get on to bleeding the oil pump. Can you give us just a little more background? Like was everything fine before you ran out of oil? Or did someone turn off a switch after smelling odor from burner puffing as it ran out of oil? Keep us posted and we'll get you back up and running.

Ken

Helen,

What's your results so far? Have heat yet?

Looks like she hasn't checked back yet.. Hope she got heat.