We ran out of oil for our furnace last week, which I have since discovered is not a good thing. I knew we were getting low, but with oil at $3.85 a gallon, I was trying to nurse it along to the end of the heating season. Obviously we didn’t make it. When we first ran out, I thought we could get by without heat and fill up the tank later when prices are lower. But after a couple nights with the house temperature dropping into the fifties, I quickly changed my mind.
I called some local oil companies to get a delivery of 20-25 gallons just to get us to the end of the season. No go. Every company had a 100-gallon minimum for delivery, and no one was budging. However, a couple of the companies told me that diesel is actually the same fuel as home heating oil. So I filled up two five gallon containers of diesel at the local gas station and poured them into the tank through the outside fill line. The furnace still wouldn’t start.
I did some poking around online and found out why it is not good to let your tank run dry. First of all, you suck all the sludge from the bottom of your oil tank into your oil lines, filters, strainer and nozzle. And secondly, you usually lose your prime. Well, I didn’t know what to do about the first problem, and I am not much of a fix-it-man, but I did some more searching online for how to prime the oil burner pump. Here are the basic DIY (Do It Yourself) instructions:
First, make sure that your thermostat is turned on. Then, 1) turn off your furnace, 2) open the bleeder valve on the fuel pump, 3) turn the furnace back on, 4) allow air, oil and sludge to escape from the bleeder valve until you get a solid flow of oil (be sure to catch the escaping oil in some kind of container), 5) close the bleeder valve, 6) repeat the whole procedure if the furnace still does not start.
I found a couple articles explaining this procedure in detail, but the best one by far was this one at WikiHow: How to Restart a Furnace After Running out of Oil. The other articles instructed me to hold a container under the valve when you opened it to catch the oil that would come spurting out. But this WikiHow article gave me the best tip of all — run a short section of 1/4″ nylon tubing from the bleeder valve to the container. I picked up a two-foot section of nylon tubing at the hardware store for 80 cents and went home to bleed the fuel line and prime the pump. The tubing worked perfectly and prevented a huge mess of oil everywhere.
The instructions online told me this was about a five minute procedure. I multiply estimated times for projects by a factor of six, so I guessed it would take me about half an hour to get this done. And it did! But the furnace is running again, and we now have heat to warm up the house in the morning. I would refer you to the WikHow article referenced above for complete instructions, but here are some helpful hints I learned along the way:
- Don’t let your tank run dry.
- You can substitute diesel for home heating oil in a pinch. (Five gallons of fuel will give you about five hours of running use.)
- The bleeder valve is located on the side of the fuel pump, pointing down diagonally, usually at the 4 or 8 o’clock position. It most likely takes a 3/8 inch wrench.
- Run 1/4″ clear nylon tubing (1/4″ inside measurement; 3/8″ outside measurement) from the bleeder valve to the catch container to prevent a mess. Clear tubing will allow you to see when you get a good flow of oil going from the pump.
- You may have to repeat the procedure several times to get the prime going. I didn’t get any oil flowing until the sixth try.
- If your reset button is in lockout mode (mine was), you will have to press and hold it for about 40 seconds in order to reset it.
- You can take the oil you capture in the container and pour it back into your tank.
If you came to this article looking for information, I hope that helps. I am not very good at this stuff, so I am guessing if I could get my oil pump primed and running again, so can you!
Click here for more Helpful Hints.
Come on Ray, why didn’t you just open the windows and let some of that Al Gore Global Warmair in?
Gee Ray, You are a man of many talents. Glad your efforts were rewarded with success.
Jeff – If I had known Al was in the neighborhood, I just might have!
Barrie – The funny thing is (there’s always an irony, right?) that right after I fixed it, the outside temperature jumped up into the seventies. It even broke eighty today! Oh well, at least it is fixed for next year.
very good info MANY thanks
just what I needed
John from Jersey – Glad to help out. May your house be warm tonight.
I also let oil run out, twice in fact. Having a professional prime the burner is costly. My burner is out now but the tank is 5/8 full.
I had called a company called US Chimney to clean the flue this morning. Instead of a clean chimney I got a $2400 estimate for a supposedly much needed liner. Once they left the burner had stopped working and the reset button was in the lock out mode.
Encouraged by the instructions you have outlined I was going to attempt to prime the pump myself but I figured I’d try the easy fix first. I put to use what learned; I pressed the reset button for 40 seconds – Motor turned on the 4th try.
Many, many thanks to you.
Ms. Sevil – Woo hoo! That is great! I am so glad you were able to get it going again yourself. Thanks for sharing!
I just put $900 of oil in my tank after I unknowingly let it run out….hey at that price I’m sure it wont be the last time. My heater wouldn’t ignite…no more money left to call a repair man!!!!I read your blog, and followed your directions to prime the boiler. WOW! I did it!
I want to thank you..God Bless You for sharing your knowledge without expecting anything back. That is rare. Thank -You
Debbie – Good for you! It is a great feeling of accomplishment when we attempt something unfamiliar and actually succeed. I am glad you found the instructions helpful and glad you were able to get your burner going again.
thank you much i am a HVAC contractor but i dont work on those terrible dirty things but i recently moved into a house that has one and at leaste for this winter had to make it work and yes even being a professional i had the same problem i am glad to have looked at your site
natefmx – Glad it worked out for you. Keep warm!
You saved me and my marriage ! ( a good thing i think) Ran out of fuel, bled air , then label says ” light flashing .5 seconds = press reset for lockout /// light flashing 2 seconds (my case ) recycle.” What the heck was recycle …only one reset button called oil company and was told there might be another very tiny reset button on the motor itself …never found one. Had instictively held rest button longer but never the 40 seconds.
thank you.
I just got my furnace going …left a comment … only then noticed the web site that helped me was not a furnace company from my google search but from a Christian minister’s support site. Are you related to a Tom Fowler who lived close to Huntington Beach ca. in the early 80’s ? He was a retired engineer who did handyman work often for free to needy people.
bob – Hey, I’m always glad to save a marriage! I’m glad you found the article helpful. I don’t know why they don’t print the 40-second recycle instructions right on the lockout switch. I am sure it would save a lot of people a lot of trouble.
And yes, this probably is a strange article to find on a pastor’s website, but I try to post all sorts of things of interest as I come across them. I don’t know Tom Fowler, but I used to live in Burbank, California from 1984-1988.
Thanks for stopping by! – Ray
Thank you so much for posting this information in an easy to read manner, with some additional useful tips.
It worked perfectly for me. My wife will be enjoying a warm shower again very soon.
One key thing to note in the order of steps that I missed the first time is to leave the bleeder valve open when pressing the reset button, and then once you have a good stream, you may need to hit reset one more time after closing the bleeder valve if it cuts out before you can get it closed.
Mike – Thanks for the clarification on leaving the bleeder valve open when pressing the reset button. Very important.
Here it was, New Year’s Eve as I sat beside my wife in front of the TV watching the Canada/U.S. Junior Hockey game saying – “It must be getting very cold outside, I can feel it in the house”. I got up to check the thermostat and it was a few degrees lower than I normally set it and I couldn’t hear the furnace. Oh oh!
Four or five years ago, we were forced by the insurance company to replace the oil tank, which was probably 50-plus years old. There were no problems but that is their way to make sure there are even fewer oil spill problems, especially with a 200 gallon tank that was in the basement. So we changed it but we decided to install the tank outdoors just in case the insurance company decided 5 years down the road to force us to move the tank outside.
We are in Northern Ontario, Canada and it sometimes gets quite cold and this creates other problems for an outdoor tank – like water in the bottom of the oil tank.
This same problem happened a couple of years ago and it turned out that the line was frozen and oil was not getting to the burner. My wife watched the mechanic pour boiling water on the outside line from the bottom of the tank to thaw it out. Eventually the repairman got it going but we weren’t sure what he did after thawing the line.
So during last night’s game I was boiling water and pouring it as best I could on the exposed oil line outside. After a few pours I cracked open the line in the basement between the filter and the pump and I was getting oil but no ignition. I set up some electric heaters around the house and went to bed after seeing watching count the ball down.
As soon as I awoke, which was around 4 am I went online to look for a solution because the last time this happened it cost around $100. Today is a holiday so I expected that it might be $200 or more this time around.
I found this site along with Wikihow and eHow with this solution and I decided to be brave and take a shot at it. I didn’t have a rubber hose but I had an old piece of extension cord that I cut into about a 15″ piece. I then pulled out the insides and cleaned it out, then tried it on the bleeder screw. The old rubber was very stiff and it almost fit but in order to get it to fit better I heated the end of the hose in boiling water and then slipped it over the nipple. I had already loosened and then snugged the bleed screw back up by hand. I had an empty paint pail and I was ready for action.
I looked inside the combustion chamber previously to make sure there was no oil laying in there, I made sure the thermostat was set higher than the room temperature and I made sure I knew how to shut the burner motor off in case anything went wrong. I was alone doing thise so there couldn’t be any mistakes.
Now the moment of truth … I hit the reset button while I opened the bleed screw. Air and oil came out of the hose into the paint can, coughing and sputtering a bit at first and then it began to flow smoothly and evenly. Once the flow was good, I carefully closed the bleed screw and once it was closed the burner lit and I was back in business!!
I know this is a long-winded response but I had to share my satisfaction at saving probably $200 on this repair bill. And I would especially like to thank Ray Fowler and people like him, who have taken the time to put helpful articles like this one on the net for all to benefit from.
Thank you Ray Fowler and I hope you and your family have a great New Year. And a Happy New Year to all. I hope 2009 ends better than 2008 did for some people!!
J Mac – It is responses like yours that make it all worthwhile. And I am very impressed at your ingenuity in using an old extension chord for a rubber hose. Now that is truly Do-It-Yourself! All the best to you and yours for the New Year.
Thanks a million man! That worked like a charm
The 40 second hold on the reset button saved me a Service call. It hit -20 here last night and pipe froze, house dropped to 48 before we realized what was going on. Called 2 places for service and went outside with a hairdryer for an hour( 7a.m. 4 degrees)to try to thaw the line. wouldn’t reset. Broke out the propane torch. 2 hours of heating lines and trying to bleed. Still locked out. Really wanted the service guys to show up! Finally, typed frozen lines in the search engine and you popped up. held the button for 40 seconds and presto!!! Thank you sooooooo much for posting this info. Also had the pleasure of turning one of the repair guys away 15 minutes after reading this article.
Dale – Glad it worked for you!
Jim – Great story. I don’t envy you standing outside with a hairdryer at 7am in 4 degree weather. I’m glad you got the furnace to reset before the service guys showed up.
Hi Ray,
With money tight, I kept putting off ordering more oil, and then foolishly ran out the other night. Thankfully I have good friends, who loaned our family some space heaters to get through the night. But, when I couldn’t get the furnace going the next AM after the oil was delivered, I was confused. My husband had already left for work and thought I’d try and find something online before calling a repair man. I stumbled across this article and from your directions I was able to find the bleeder valve and voila! As a woman, it felt downright empowering to be able to get it running again on my own. (Plus, it did assuage some guilt of having gotten in this position in the first place).
Thanks so much!
Dani – You’re welcome! Isn’t it a great feeling fixing something yourself? And that reminds me. My oil tank is getting low. I better order some before I have to follow my own instructions all over again!
Thanks a lot to Ray. This article was very helpful. Saved lots of money and on top of that we have heat in our house.
Brijesh
Brijesh – You’re welcome!
I just moved to the east coast for the first time, and had never even heard of an oil furnace much less seen one. This morning I received my second oil delivery of the year, and nothing. No heat. I called the company and they quoted me $150 to come fix it. More from an absolute lack of ability rather than unwillingness to pay, I went on the hunt for information. I found your site. An hour later, lo and behold, the girl who didn’t know oil heat from a hole in the ground now has a toasty warm apartment! THANK YOU so much for this great information!
Robin – Yet another oil burner success story! Thanks for sharing. (And welcome East – sorry about the snow!)
I have an oil furnace and on the burner cover it says Mectron 3 and the name Riello. I let it run or of oil by mistake as it is only used when I need to bump up the heat in my tool barn/shed. I have oil and lots of “spark” but I can not get it to ignite. If you have any info as to why I would appreciate it. I am burning mostly diesel fuel with a little kerosene mixed in. I have the burner out and I can see what it is doing when it is trying to fire. I am aware of the hazards but it was the only way I could see what the unit was doing. Fire fighters are probably the worst for taking changes.
Harry – I wish I knew. Did you try to prime the pump as in the instructions above? Does anyone else have any ideas?
Thanks for the reply. I do have good flow out the end as I have it set up to fire outside the furnace so I can watch it. The oil sprays nicely in a cloud and I can see the spark being “blown” by the spray of the oil. I would have thought that the spark would have ignited the oil spray but it just cuts off after a few seconds of spraying the oil while the ignition is sparking.
I’m stumped. Anybody?
Harry, it sounds as tho your oil nozzle may be clogged and not spraying in the correct pattern to ignite. Also for those wondering about the 40 sec reset lockout. This was put there intentionally to keep homeowners from hitting the reset too many times. Hitting the reset multiple times is not a problem if your oil pump isn’t primed, but if it is and you’re spraying oil into the furnace and it isn’t igniting (seperate problem all together) you could create quite a hazardous situation if the furnace did actually ignite after hitting the reset 3-4 times. Great guide for priming an oil pump tho, as a hvac contractor i wish everyone were able to do this themselves! We do not like giving out hefty repair bills no more than anyone likes to pay them.
Rob – Thanks for sharing your input on this. I am glad to hear that you guys really don’t like giving us those big repair bills!
I woke up on Sunday morning to a freezing house. After investigation, I found out that my oil tank gauge is stuck at 1/2 tank; however my oil was long gone. Went w/out heat until today-Wed.(oil was delivered on Tues.). Thank you for this website because I certainly did not want the expense of calling someone to get the heat back on. I got the 3/8 wrench, tubing, and container and at this very moment the temperature has climbed from 53 degrees to 67 degrees and counting!!!
Thanks bunches
That’s awesome, Lauren. Thanks for sharing!
Hi. My oil burner stopped working 10 days ago. I assumed, as in the past, that it was time to change the filter, which I did. I also changed the nozzle. Could not get the burner to oil. I have 22″ of oil (as measured with a dip stick) in an underground oil tank where full is approx 46 inches. It has not been that cold out. Approx 30 & 40’s F. I tried to prime and prime and still nothing. I replaced oil pump and coupling (motor to pump) thinking this could be it. The coupling was a tad worn but still very much functional. Still could not get oil. Motor is working great. Tried over and over again to bleed/prime system and does not work. I have a two line system. Been working great for 20 years. I then disconnected oil “in” line and hooked up air pressure line to blow line out in case something was plugged in it. I then hooked up a shop vac to the line to try to get oil and could not get any. I am not sure how much suction is required to get the oil flowing. Perhaps a shop vac would not even do it. I don’t know. When I ran [new] pump with inlet line disconnected, the suction seemed low (based up putting my finger by the port) to me but then again I don’t know what normal suction feels like. Anyhow, everything seems to be working correctly except I get no oil. Any suggestions or help?
Kevin – I wish I could help you, but I don’t really know anything about this stuff. Does anyone else have any suggestions?
I read your post. I did just exactly as mentioned. It took me only 10 minutes and it worked like a charm. thanks a lot Ray!
krishnan – Wow, only ten minutes? You must be better at this stuff than the rest of us. Glad the post was helpful to you!
Ray, Thank you. I was intimidated but found you respondants experiences the stuff to stiffen the spine ( may take a few times, don’t give up etc).Now I have heat and hot water.God bless you and your posters.You have a warm spot in the hearts of some in the State of Maine.
That works!!! Thanks
lucky it was not a ignition problem could have burnt the house down
Ed – Don’t leave us hanging, tell us more. Is there a hidden danger in one of the steps above, if so what should we be looking for? I don’t want anyone to do anything foolish, but I don’t want people to be afraid to fix something if they can fix it.
you should be looking for a trained service person. A person with 2 mill. insurance and a truck with 5 thousand dollars of stock and equipment. On call 24/7 willing to spend min.2 hrs any time of day or night to drive to your cold house to rip you off for 100 bucks.A fter reading about auto workers wages i am looking for a better job lol lol . joking a side oil burners are sneaky they stop for a number of reasons. even tec. in canada dont like working on them they are safe but must be understood. picture this,a person thinks they ran out of oil,but are just very low,adds 10 gal and starts to bleed, burner ignition is not working it wont start ,so they keep trying 10 to 15 times ,oil is sprayed into chamber for say 45 sec. each time. the oil will leak thru to floor of furnace. On the 16 time the transformer will ignight. oil vapour has gone up the chimney and soaked everthing there is more fire than you know what to do with. the best is yet to come, now the fan wants to come on. pic. this the heat exchanger is on fire .the inside of the furnace is on fire .the chimney is on fire.you are now going to get your duct work cleaned with fire get the pic. not to scare peps .but this did happen to me.I just got there on his last try to start the burner the chimney lite up like a roman candle, very nice,igot the fire out in time.no real damage. soot everwere. cust had no insurance. whole house had to be cleaned even tooth brushes note. i felt so bad i did not charge him.so the next time i come to your house at 2am with knowledge,tools,parts,insurance,to rip you off for 100 think about it . this is not intended to scare peps.oil is safe. Gas in our cars fill then every day no problem. why would peps smoke while filling up .We even have notices posted. thanks for letting me rag onbut this started many years ago .the co i worked for would not let the oil drivers start the burner for fear of liability ed
Ed – Thank you for taking the time to give us some more details of what could go wrong. It is some pretty scary stuff.
I take it you are an oil burner tech, and I hope you didn’t take the comments here as people saying that techs are ripping them off when they charge $100 for a service call. That is a pretty standard fee for any type of call to a home nowadays. However, it is still an expense that people would like to avoid if they can do it themselves.
Thanks for giving us amateurs some words of caution when we try this stuff by ourselves. And all the best with your business!
Ray
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Furnace shut down yesterday, which means no hot water also. Called our service tech, still waiting for a call back and it is now 4:30 Friday afternoon. With 1/2 tank of oil, it would appear I had a clogged filter. Changed out the filter, and then followed your instructions on starting the boiler. Had to bleed the lines twice. But on the second try after the 40 second reset you put in the instructions off she roared. Am I smiling? You bet. Saved myself a 100 dollar service call with a 2 dollar filter and 15 minutes of my time. Not a bad deal. Next I would like to know how to change the nozzle and I think I am all ready to do all my own furnace upkeep, and the heck with Ed the Service Tech on the previous comment. It is nearly summer. I watched my tech do precisely the same things I did, including sitting and waiting for the smoke to die down when the furnace came on. I was assured that would stop by the tech who serviced the furnace in December. It did then and it did now. What I would like to know from Ed what is it he would do so differently?
Sandee – Congrats on getting your furnace up and working again. It sure feels great to do something yourself and save some money in the process.
I wouldn’t dismiss Ed too quickly. I appreciate him taking the time to share with us the cautions that he did. And I am guessing there will be times when my furnace needs repair beyond priming the pump, and then I will be very glad for the Eds out there who have the training and experience I lack.
Thanks for commenting and all the best!
This is a great write-up. The internet has empowered us all with the wealth of knowledge to tackle many tasks we would never attempt to do in the past. This is no exception. However, don’t lose sight of the saying “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Do take the effort to understand the basic principles and dangers of the device you are working on. Oil burners require fuel, air, and ignition for combustion. This write-up addresses the specific condition of fuel starvation as a result of air in the fuel system commonly caused by running the oil tank dry and is not a cure all for every oil burner issue. Unlike water, fire and electricity are far more dangerous. Be careful, be sensible… know your limits. This is not to scare anybody but a reminder of the potential danger. I’m not a professional… just a well rounded DIYer.
Wilson – Thanks for your words of wisdom!
wow! Is all i can say…..there is nothing to it. Ray you are the man. After making a service call and waiting for awhile i decided to take action myself. o be honest i didn’t know i was out of oil completely, but after filling the oil tank and getting nothing. I knew there was something wrong but just didnt know what it was. But after reading your post, i started priming on my own. HEAT is on….and i am a happy camper. THANKS RAY
Gerald – Thanks for sharing, and I’m glad the instructions worked for you.
Thanks! I was able to bleed my system, and it fired right up. You saved me a service call for sure.
Way to go, Ben!