Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - oil burning furnace

the oil in the tank for my furnace ran out and after refilling,will not run the furnace.The furnace has 2 lines coming into a small motor mounted on the bottom of it.There is a small button an the side of the motor(staRTer??)and a red light lit that indicates the oil has run out.When i press the button,the furnace fires and runs for about a minute ,then shuts off and the red light comes on again.This has never happenned before,it usually stays on and that is the end of it.Some oil must be getting thru for the funace to fire but it is making a strange sound where the oillines enter thr motor.Is this just sludge built up in the lines that will not burn?
is there a filter in the motor that has to be changed?

any help would be appreciated as it is gettin damn cold in here
thanks

Have you had the air bled out of the lines?

we have been working on it for a few hours now and have bled the lines

If the strange noise is a whining, you may have clogged the strainer in the pump. If it is a Suntec or Sunstrand pump, it has a strainer screen inside and it can get clogged after an event like you had. If the burner actually lights and the flame looks normal (if you know what a normal flame looks like), the cad cell flame detector may have gotten dirty during the puffs that come with a runout. If you can locate it and clean it, you may have heat again. It is usually located under the ignition transformer. That is the black box on top of the burner housing. It should hinge to one side or back and the flame detector is a short black tube about 1/2" in diameter with a glass circuit recessed inside. Clean the glass off with a paper towel and try again.

i pulled apart the motor and cleaned it out where the air vents are.i then removed the transformer and cleaned the contacts for the step up to 10,000volts.on the other end ,the spout where the oil jets thru looked clean but the two small electrodes looked dirty.Do they spark continuously to burn the oil to create the heat??it seems as though there may still be air in the line becuse it will spark and ignite,then the strange almost hissing noise from the motor,then it will go out and a puff of smoke will come out .could the pump possibly have a buildup of sludge?how do i access this screen inside?this sparky is at the end of his rope here

btw,the pump has 8 bolts on the end cap and is made by "inglis"

Maybe you should check the pump coupling. Pull the motor off and look at the plastic coupling that slips on the motor and pump shafts. The sound that you describe as hissing may be that coupling slipping on the fuel pump. Make sure that the end isn't stripped and able to spin. Either on the pump or where the end meets the coupling. I'm laying a few bucks on this one. When the pump gets up to pressure, it gets just a little harder to spin and thats when the coupling would start to slip. If it's not that, you may need to change the strainer in the pump.

Im with ken here check the pump coupling. Also I didnt see anything about a oil filter here . Did you put a new one in or when was a clean one put in? This will be before the pump with the screen in it. Could be you got yuck out of the tank and the filter is stoped up now

On the electrodes to light the burner it can be on all the time and it can be on just to start the burner is all. Is the gap set right on them .

Also on a two pipe set up on an oil burner you dont have to bleed it. It should do it itself.

;) ED