Home oil fired boiler question?

I have a New Yorker boiler original to the house built in 1985. It has a new Beckett burner motor on it. I am getting an occasional lockout light. It isnt often, but often enough where i dont want to go on extended trips in winter. The boiler will not restart on its own if the reset button is not pushed. The house will go cold if I am not around to notice. If hit the reset, it usually fires right up and will work great for weeks, even months. Sometimes if it doesn't I will flip the emergency shut off switch off then back on and it fires up then. I have had 2 companies out to look at it. They say it is working perfect. It is cleaned yearly and running very efficiently.

What could be going on? Please help!

 

When you get that light, does it have a sequence to point you in the general direction of the issue?

3 flashes, 4 flashes, etc. The boiler code list could help.

I'm a natural gas man, but I gotta think there are things that should be similar.

 

I would check the cad cell adjustment.

Do you ever notice the burner running to long??

Might be a over temperature shut down.

Typical the problem never happens when. The service tech is there.

If you don't see it hard to trouble shoot

Good luck

 

The light does not have a sequence. When it happens, the lock out light is on solid. The light goes off when reset/restarted.

 

Every smell or see unburned fuel?

 

Great question! I went down to the basement to get something out of the freezer and i noticed a slight odor of heating oil. It made me wonder if the tank was just filled. It is down to about 3/8 of a tank. I have never noticed unburned fuel.

Roughly an hour or so later, I noticed my hot water as just barely lukewarm. Sure enough, the lock out light was on solid.

As you asked before, the boiler does not seem to be running longer than usual that I can tell. I have lived here 4 years and it has been pretty consistent. We do not use a ton of oil. (sure, it owuld be great if we used less)

Also, I do not know if it is relevant... The oil line goes up from the tank and over to the boiler along the ceiling then back down in to it. Maybe to avoid damage or tripping over it. In my old house, the line ran along the floor and wall to the boiler. Could the boiler be struggling to draw oil since it needs to pull it up and over then down to the boiler?

 

the fact you do not need to bleed the fuel line every time tells me you have an electrical issue .

Rather then mechanical with the fuel supply. Filter pump etc.

The fact it can work so long without issue is going to make it hard to find.

It could be so many minor things.

Do you have just one thermostat or several for different zones?

For some reason when the T-stat or domestic hot water calls for heat your burner fails to ignite then the safety trips to not dump raw fuel in the combustion chamber.

Having no idea just what the techs might have done.

I am guessing no back up heat source to allow a service call after it has tripped even then a intermittent problem is hard to find.

any service history on the electrical parts or what was changed with the new burner install?

If you could change things yourself there is only the cad cell the igniters which take some adjustments to get lined up correct the control box paying parts and labor would get expensive.

Best of luck

 

I had a similar issue with my Becket. Turned out the coil was breaking down not producing enough spark to ignite the fuel. The burner motor would start without the flame for a few seconds and then poof, fire. It would do this intermittently. I agree that it sounds like electrical issues. I’d change the CAD and electrodes using a plastic gauge to position them properly to the nozzle, then consider the coil and control box. I know it’s throwing parts at it but being intermittent and the risk of a frozen house (if winter arrives here in the NE) probably outweighs the money.