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Oil Controls Burner - The oil burner and oil controls provide the main source of heat for this oil furnace. The oil burner comprises an oil pump, an oil pump, a burner electric motor, a burner blower, a step-up transformer, an oil ignition control, an oil burner gun, and an oil nozzle (inside not viewable here).
The burner electric motor is directly linked to the blower and the oil pump and when the electric motor starts (controlled by the ignition control) the pump begins pumping oil while the blower provides primary air to the combustion chamber.
Oil Controls Burner
Now that we have air and fuel we need a way to ignite the oil. Inside the burner are two electrodes. These electrodes are connected to the transformer. The transformer is a special step-up transformer meaning that it is supplied by 120 volts and it steps up the voltage to whatever the rating is for that particular transformer. In this case, the output voltage of the transformer exceeds 10,000 volts. This provides a spark between the electrodes.
The spark ignites the oil and there is fire. A word of caution, if the oil fails to ignite the flame sensor will stop the pump. This is a safety feature so that unignited fuel oil is not pumped into the combustion chamber. There is a reset button on the oil burner ignition control. If the oil ever fails to ignite only push this reset button no more than three times.
Reset Button | Oil Controls Burner
If you keep pushing the reset button more you are only allowing raw unburned fuel oil to saturate the combustion chamber. This is dangerous and can be explosive under the right circumstances. In other cases, the entire lining of the combustion chamber has to be replaced and residual fuel oil cleaned up before the burner can be put into service again.
Remember, never push the reset button more than three times. If it fails to start, call your local oil furnace contractor to repair the burner. Some oil ignition control manufacturers are making oil burner ignition control modules where the button can only be reset three times and then the ignition control goes on permanent lockout where only a professional oil furnace technician can reset it.
Conclusion | Oil Controls Burner
This is a safety feature to built into the oil burner ignition control because many people have haphazardly reset the oil burner ignition control more than three times and caused serious problems.
Oil Controls Burner