subject: Tips For Oil Burner And Furnace Maintenance For Home Owners [print this page] In order to ensure maximum efficiency, save money on home heating costs, and have a warm, comfortable living environment, it is quite important to have your oil burner, or oil furnace, maintained and cleaned on an annual basis. If oil heat is your primary heating source and you live in the colder northern climates, this becomes imperative, especially during a particularly cold, unexpected or prolonged cold duration where the oil burner will be taxed quite hard.
Regular maintenance by a professional home heating service company is usually your best option. However, some home owners may believe that they are very adept with many home repairs and may be able to service or repair their own oil burner. However, whether you do this yourself or not, it is valuable to have an understanding of what a proper maintenance process actually is.
Different types of oil burners may require a different type of maintenance. However, the types of maintenance that can be performed are essentially the same for most oil heating systems. Home heating systems can be classified in two major categories.
The forced hot air heating system uses a heat exchanger that is heated by burning oil fuel to heat the air that is blown across it which is then distributed to the rooms in your house via various types of ductwork. A forced hot water heating system has a water tank contained within the boiler or furnace whereby the water is heated within the boiler that is ignited by oil, natural gas, or propane. Hot water of approx 190 degrees Fahrenheit is circulated by a pump through copper pipes and flows through baseboard radiators positioned along the rooms outside walls to radiate heat to the room.
Naturally, whether attempting to do your own maintenance or if you are hiring a professional services company to do it, there are certain steps and procedures that are essential for completing the job correctly. Some of the most important steps are:
1. Shut down or turn off the oil burner before starting any tasks. This is an obvious safety issue.
2. Clean the flame retention ring around the oil burner first as this ring can often produce an excess amount of soot from an improperly tuned oil burner.
3. Next, check the porcelain insulators for debris. They may need to be cleaned with alcohol or with a solvent based cleaner.
4. Sometimes dirt or debris may block the oil line and this line may need to be blasted clean. This can be a tricky proposition, but can be accomplished with an air compressor that will force air through the debris, loosen it and finally clean it out.
5. A new oil filter should be installed to replace the existing dirty oil filter.
6. The oil nozzle should also be checked for alignment and cleanliness to ensure it is providing the correct amount of oil spray to accommodate this units particular heating and operating specifications. The nozzle is underneath the transformer and can be easily removed as long as the unit is partially disassembled. The unit should be set to factory specifications, and match the flame ring setting.
Once the heating unit has been cleaned, important items replaced and thoroughly inspected, it should now function properly and efficiently.
Although the above process does not sound too difficult for conducting an oil burner or furnace maintenance cleaning, the homeowner must be familiar with the parts they are replacing or cleaning and must have the proper tools to do the job adequately. As is usually the case with most complex systems, the best long term results are achieved by the pros who do this daily and who are well trained in the nuances of your brand and model oil burner. It is best to be safe.
