Your home oil furnace repair
Any homes in that part of the world with a cold winter may have oil-fired furnaces as the primary heat source for the entire home. Some homes use the oil-fired furnace also to heat a water system, rather than a water heater, or boiler. The oil-fired furnace system is called a pressure burner. Should it ever go out on you, it’s beneficial to have a basic understanding how your home oil furnace works. You then can maintain it better, and possibly you can do the oil furnace repair yourself saving the shop from a repair service call. Your furnace should also have a manual for ready reference. In this, you are also likely to find some instructions to do some oil furnace troubleshooting yourself.
How the oil furnace works
With your home’s pressure burner system, the oil is sprayed into a sealed space, called a combustion chamber, under high pressure. The oil spray is thrown into the chamber by a motorized blower and is ignited by an electric spark. Once the spray becomes a mist and is ignited, it will have a continuous fire ideally. This interaction is important in heating your home if any one of these components fails, then some form of oil furnace repair is needed.
Parts of the oil furnace
Although the combustion system is simple, the furnace itself is a complex assembly, basically built from many simple parts:
- Filters
- Belts
- Switches
- Thermostat
For your repair, the usual tools in the home’s tool box can be used for the more obvious oil furnace parts. However, the precise components, such as the electrodes, oil nozzle, transformer, pump and air tubes will need a trained service technician for your oil furnace repair.
Access to inside the oil furnace
Become knowledgeable of your home oil furnace by first taking off the access panel that covers the burner blower. You must take out the screws along the housing rim. Access to your furnace’s air blower and its filter can be reached by removing a panel on one side. The panel will either be supported by hooks or bolts. A typical house tool can be used to remove this panel. A device called the stack control sensor is in the stack, and has bolts that can also be removed by a typical tool should it stop functioning.
The switch and reset button
Your oil furnace has a switch and a reset button either on the motor, or it’s inside a switch box away from the furnace. The switch and reset button will have a label easily visible that identifies them.
Prevent oil furnace repair with regular maintenance
If black smoke rises from your chimney, call a service technician. It merely requires adjustment to burn oil efficiently and saves on your utility bill.
- Clean the blower before cold weather hits, and midway through the winter.
- Clean the soot from the stack control once during the winter.
- Lubricate any oil or grease fittings on the blower motor with cup grease or 10-weight non-detergent motor oil.
- Never use all-purpose oil.
- Clean your oil furnace thermostat annually.
Conclusion
Your oil furnace is a vital piece of equipment. The steps given should give you an idea of what to do for your oil furnace repair, and also what you can do to keep it heating your home during that harsh freezing winter. For more info, Call Us At (810) 653-4328.
