Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - 2 year old oil furnace

my oil furnace ran out of oil during the day, and I had the delivery guy refill the tank.I tried to start the heater without any luck. Went down and pressed the reset button, and the heat came on for 45 seconds.Retried the reset button throughout the night to no avail. A friend says that there probably was sludge in the tank and I will need to have the lines primed( whatever that means> Is there a way I can do it myself? HELP!!

A friend says that there probably was sludge in the tank and I will need to have the lines primed

The first part is wrong and the second part is right on.
Apparently you have a simple single-line installation.


Your fuel line needs to be purged of air ("primed").

You do this by bleeding the air out a plug/fitting on the pump until you get fuel.
You can run the fuel into a clean cup and put it back into the tank.

Thanks ! does the nipple come off to bleed the air out? :thumbup:

Your pump should have a part on it that looks like a grease fitting or automotive brake bleeder. If it is a Suntec pump, the fitting will be at the five o'clock position as looking from the end of the pump. Open the bleeder with a 3/8" wrench, hold the container up to it tightly & push the reset. Once you get a good full flow of oil with no foam close the bleeder & the burner should fire. If it does not, do not push the reset button any more. Call in a pro.

Thanks, Worked Exactly Like You Said It Would; Really Appreciate This

Glad you got it going. Now for the extra advice: Get on an automatic delivery program with your oil supplier. Running a tank low or out of fuel often causes more trouble than just having to bleed the air.