How do I reset my oil burner?

On a cold winter’s night with a lingering chill in the air, the last thing that a homeowner wants to find is an oil furnace that does not have enough fuel. If you refill your heating oil tank and it does not go back to heating your home, you can bleed the furnace yourself instead of shivering!

Safety First

Before you attempt to restart your burner, keep in mind that this will only work on an oil furnace. All of the components inside of your furnace get dangerously hot, so you should be slow and cautious when bleeding your furnace. If you aren’t sure what you are doing at any point, remember that you can call Tevis Energy for assistance.

1. First, fill your heating oil tank with clean, new fuel from Tevis Energy.
2. Hit the reset button on your furnace. Most furnaces should immediately start working again and not need you to bleed the fuel line.
3. If the furnace did not start back up and you need to bleed the fuel line, start by turning off your furnace. Check your furnace manual to see if an Allen key or adjustable wrench is needed to bleed the furnace and grab a piece of flexible nylon tubing that has a ¼-inch diameter. Find another container that can catch oil waste from your furnace, like a bucket. If you plan on reusing the oil that you bleed, ensure that the container is completely clean. If sludge comes out, do not reuse the oil!
4. Locate the fuel pump on your furnace and look for the bleeder valve, which should have a hex nut on it. Loosen the nut but do not unscrew it entirely.
5. Slide the tubing into the bleeder valve and place the other end into the bucket. If you are in an emergency and don’t have any tubing available, you can use a small bathroom cup to catch the run out.
6. Turn on your furnace again and unscrew the hex nut until oil flows out. Air and oil should start to exit. Wait until solid fuel comes out before tightening it again.
7. Once heating oil is coming out, tighten the valve again. After completing this action, your heating oil burner should kick on!
8. Watch our YouTube video with step by step instructions by clicking here.

What Should I Do if I Need Emergency Burner Service?

All of Tevis Energy’s automatic delivery customers have access to emergency burner service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. We are just a call away! Use our emergency number, (410) 415-1774, to get in touch with our emergency service team.

Quality Heating Oil from Tevis Energy

To learn more about our heating oil delivery services or request a delivery, contact us today online or by calling (410) 876-6800. To apply to be a part of our Smart Fleet Fuel Card program, please call us at (410) 876-6800. Tevis Energy is proud to be a family-owned and operated business serving communities throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania with safe, clean-burning diesel and heating oil. Quality fuels for a fair price.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Reset Button Guide for boilers, furnaces, water heaters, oil-fired:

Here we explain how to find the reset button on heating equipment primary safety controls. And if you heating system has locked out on safety or "gone off on reset" we show you where to find details about the reset procedure.

Here we explain how to reset the primary control safety switch if the cover-mounted plastic reset button has broken off. Where Else Might I Find the Reset Button on My Oil Fired Furnace, Boiler, or Water Heater.

How to Use or Bypass the Cover-Mounted Reset Button on the Honeywell R8182 Aquastat Primary Control. Examples of Missing Red Reset Buttons - on a Cad Cell Relay. Finding the Primary Control Reset Switch if the Red Button if It's Not Red.

We also provide an ARTICLE INDEX for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need.

Primary Control Reset Buttons on Boilers, Furnaces, or Water Heaters

"Stack Relay" or (Honeywell) Protectorelay Reset Button

A "stack relay" is a primary heating system safety control mounted on the flue vent connector close to an oil fired heating boiler, furnace, or water heater.

The Type RA 116A or Type RA117A primary control is also designed to automatically re-start the oil burner after a cool-down cycle of a minute to a minute and a half after an abnormal shutdown. If multiple re-start attempts fail to get the oil burner operating satisfactorily the system will shut down entirely in "SAFETY OFF" condition.

Our sketches (above) of a Type RA 116A / RA 117A Primary Control, also called a Stack Relay or a Protectorelay, shows the cover removed and identifies the principal components of this heating system control.

Sketch from Audel. This control includes a red safety reset button (shown on the gray rectangle and in the drawing, labeled "RESET") that pops out if the control has caused a safety shut down of the oil burner.

Here we explain when, how, and how-often to press the red reset button to try re-starting the oil burner.

How to Reset the Oil Burner Stack Relay - Using the Reset Button

A gray box with a red reset button housing the stack relay and its reset switch will be found mounted on the flue vent connector if this control is in use. The first is simply to press the red reset button that protrudes through the cover of the stack relay box itself.

The primary control reset button on a Delco master control is labeled at the center right of the illustration at left. A primary control stack relay reset button is also pointed out by arrow #8 in our sketch above.

This red button should project through a small hole in the primary control's cover. If you don't see the red button but you see the hole in the control cover, it's possible that a plastic reset button extension has broken off and been lost, but the actual working reset button and switch can still be found inside the control cover and it can still be pressed.

Knowing how to reset the stack relay can avoid a costly no heat service call or it can keep the heating boiler running sufficiently to keep the building warm while waiting for the heating service technician.

There are actually two resets that can be performed on an oil burner stack relay.

A second stack control reset might be necessary - we discuss it at How to Reset the Oil Burner Stack Relay

How many times can I press the reset button on the oil burner primary controller?

Watch out: Most heating technicians and inspectors will tell you to only press the reset button once. That's because we worry that a homeowner will keep pressing the button even though the oil burner flame is never igniting.

Where Else Might I Find the Reset Button on My Oil Fired Furnace, Boiler, or Water Heater

You can see the "reset button" illustrated in sketch earlier on this page. Note: the "reset button" on some primary safety controls is actually a round red button protruding through the control cover. Usually when the control has locked out the oil burner, this button "pops out" to project further through the control cover.

Using a cad cell relay as a model we illustrate that the safety control red reset button may be a small (5/16" diameter) round plastic button protruding up through the control cover (below left) or it may be a larger round red rubber button such as the cad cell reset switch (below right).

Where the Heck Are The Various Reset Buttons on Heating Equipment?

If you are looking for the main reset button on heating equipment you'll want to see:

AQUASTAT CONTROL FUNCTIONS and

CAD CELL RELAY SWITCH (hot water boilers and some water heaters),

STACK RELAY SWITCH On older oil fired boilers and furnaces,

FLUE GAS SPILL SWITCH TRIPPING & RESET (gas fired equipment), and

LOW WATER CUTOFF CONTROLS On steam heating systems.

Above: the red reset button on an oil burner motor.

At ELECTRIC MOTOR OVERLOAD RESET SWITCH we discuss the thermal overload switch and reset button that is found on many electric motors including those operating air conditioning fans, heating system oil burners, and furnace blowers and motors.

How to Use or Bypass the Cover-Mounted Reset Button on the Honeywell R8182 Aquastat Primary Control

On the Honeywell R8182 aquastat (above) the reset button protrudes through the control cover (green arrow below left).

Below I've removed the cover from the control and my green arrow points to the actual electrical switch that is the reset button inside the control.

Pushing that red reset button through the control cover will in turn push the contacts on an actual electrical safety switch located inside the control cover (green arrow, below right).

In our photo just below I've taken off the cover from the R98182 aquastat and I show its interior. I'm pushing the plastic reset button from the other side of the cover, and you can see how the button will protrude into the control by this action.

You can also see how elegantly simple this outer switch really is. Cast out of a single piece of red plastic, the narrow portion acts as a spring, and the "H" shaped portion is used to anchor the plastic button/spring assembly to the metal control cover.

Watch out: a heavy-handed button pusher or someone messing with the control cover can break off this red plastic "outer" reset button - but you can survive the problem as we explain here:

This "outer button pushing a switch button" is a nice detail to know because we have found a few safety controls at which the red plastic button has broken off and become lost. In our photo at below left, the orange arrow points to the hole where the red reset button should have been found on a different control - a cad cell. But the original construction of that cover was the same as my photos above.

Also see AQUASTAT TROUBLESHOOTING

More Examples of Missing Red Reset Buttons - on a Cad Cell Relay

Above: a nasty cad cell relay switch. Look closely at the top center of this photo at the gray control cover - you'll see that the red reset button is missing.

Not to worry, you can still reset the equipment, but you'll have to remove the control cover to expose the actual electrical switch that you will see was located exactly under the hole in the control cover where that red button used to be.

On the cad cell the button might look like the one above right, or more likely it will look like the actual electrical reset switch button assembly shown by the green arrow in our R8182 photos just above.

My photo at left shows how I'd push the R8182 aquastat internal reset button if it were necessary.

Watch out: if you remove the control cover to find the actual reset switch and its (also red) button, there is live voltage in there - you can get shocked or killed.

Some folks think of leaving the aquastat or primary control (cad cell or stack relay) cover in place and just pushing the true reset switch using a pencil, eraser end first, through the hole where the red plastic cover-bound push button has broken away. I just don't like sticking pencils or any tool into a control with its cover on - I'm not sure what it may encounter or damage.

Below we discuss other reset functions peculiar to the Stack Relay Switch, also called the Primary Controller on older oil fired heating equipment. But first we make a brief warning about puffbacks.

Watch out: There is a reason that instructions for a homeowner tell you to push the primary heating control reset button just "once". If you keep pushing it the oil burner will indeed keep trying to start, spraying more heating oil into the combustion chamber at each "try".

DO NOT keep resetting the system since doing so can flood the combustion chamber with un-burned heating oil - a dangerous condition as we just explained. See OIL BURNER SOOT & PUFFBACKS for details.

-- the above is paraphrased from Audel

Finding the Primary Control Reset Switch if the Red Button if It's Not Red

Watch out:

Just to make things tricky, on some controls the reset switch is black and even recessed, such as on the Energy Kinetics cover shown above. But other manufacturers know we're seeing red if we've lost heat - and most of them make the reset button red.

Reader Comments & Q&A

Jim

When an oil burner goes off on re-set, I've found that sometimes we could re-set the unit and it'd run for weeks or even months before the problem recurred, but it's rarely a fluke; ultimately whatever caused the safety control to trip will recur, usually with increasing frequency.

I'd look for

- a needed burner cleaning and adjustment

- a loose wire or connection

- a sooty dirty cad cell eye

- a failing primary control

Sure you can wait a bit - maybe, depending on your circumstance, as when the problem fails hard or more-frequently it's easier to find.
OR you can replace trivial parts like a cad cell sensor.

See this article for diagnostic advice: RESET SWITCH, CAD CELL RELAY -

For other readers, Gordon Piatt oil burners are commercial equipment produced for half a century; the company is no longer in operation but its burners remain in service

See OIL BURNER MANUALS for manuals and parts for Gordon Piatt oil burners.

Parts and supplies are available from various vendors including PC McKenzie in Pittsburgh, PA, TOLL FREE 1-877-244-4883
E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: 1-412-257-8866 Website: http://mckenziecorp.com/ who provide service manuals like this

inspectapedia.com/heat/Gordon-Piatt-R10-12-Burner-Manual.pdf GORDON PIATT R10-12 OIL BURNER SERVICE MANUAL [PDF] retrieved 2020/01/15 original source: mckenziecorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gordon-piatt-R10-12.pdf

my overload heater needed reset on my Gordon Plattt burner is this a fluke what would cause this

Bob

A service tech is needed: she will perhaps check

- for a sooty stack relay control (you know how to re-step the contacts, right?)

- a failing transformer (check for backpressure in the combustion chamber)

My old oil burner runs fine up to temp. Next time may not restart have to reset stack control

Ellen:

Notes on bleeding air from the oil lines & filter canister after running out of oil

Bleeding air from an oil burner supply line is not something normally tried by a homeowner. You'd need at least a smidgen of training on which fittings are used, where to try to bleed air, how to avoid spilling oil all over the place.

Even knowing how to do the procedure I would prefer to ask the heating service tech to do the job.

Spilled heating oil is not highly flammable.

What IS dangerous is to keep pressing that reset button. Never do that again. Each time the oil burner tries to start it's spraying some un-burned fuel oil into the combustion chamber.

When it is finally ignited all of that collected fuel can cause a dangerous Puffback Explosion (search InspectApedia.com for that phrase to read details).

There are two air-bleed points on a typical oil burner system:

1. The small air bleeder screw found on the cap of some (not all) oil filter canisters will bleed some of the air out of the canister and oil line IF the oil storage tank oil level is higher in elevation than the canister top. (This won't work with a buried oil tank.)

The screw is loosened and you wait until you see oil coming out of the opening, then it's re-tightened, taking care not to strip the threads on the small screw.

This is done with the burner OFF.

2. The tech attaches a clear plastic tube of suitable length to the air bleeder fitting on the fuel unit on the oil burner, the burner is forced on, perhaps using a wire jumper on thermostat terminals (you can begin to see why this is not a procedure for the homeowner), the tech puts the other end of the tube into a receiver, typically a quart or larger in size, often a small bucket.

Then with burner on she opens the bleeder screw until foamy air-filled oil starts coming out. When the oil runs clear without bubbles she closes the bleeder.

Watch out: be sure to tell your service tech that you pressed the re-set button repeatedly. Even though there was not sufficient oil delivery for the burner to run, tere could be a puffback explosion risk. The tech will inspect the combustion chamber and if in her opinon it's oil-soaked the chamber may need to be cleaned or left to dry a time before turning on the oil burner.

I DO NOT recommend that you try these procedures if you're not trained and equipped to do so.

Details are at OIL BURNER FUEL UNIT AIR BLEED PROCEDURE

"Watch out: Most heating technicians and inspectors will tell you to only press the reset button once.

That's because we worry that a homeowner will keep pressing the button even though the oil burner flame is never igniting." What happens if I have pushed the reset button several times?

Does the excess oil ever drain away? How do I know if it is safe to bleed the line and try to ignite?

Delores

I don't know just what was replaced. The "button" itself, or the entire primary control? Even replacing the control won't fix all boiler problems - for example if the control is using a cad cell sensor to see the flame and if that sensor is dirty or defective the furnace will continue to go off on safety-reset.

And of course if the burner is not operating properly, sooty, bad flame, failure to ignite, then the control is doing its job as it should and is shutting the system off.

Just put on a new reset button on furnce but it is still not working that's what the tech guy said it needed now what do I do

Yes indeed, Reset.

When the reset button has not popped-up then the system has not been shut down by that control.

The reset button is down I can not press it. Is there a reason

Try replacing the sensor eye

my cad relay switch is not sending voltage to the ignitor for my oil furnace is it no good?there is voltage going into it

Question: reset switch is stuck down, burner won't start

Oct 10, 2014) Anonymous said:
reset switch is stuck down will not pop up Burner will not start.

Reply:

Anon:

The normal position of the reset button is "down" not "popped up" so I suspect a different problem: a bad primary control switch.

You can try removing the cover from the switch to confirm the position of the actual electromechanical button but

Watch out:  there is live electrical voltage in the switch - you could be killed.

It's time for a service call

Question: radiator gets hot but water stays cold

(July 25, 2015) Anonymous said:
Oil burner fires, gets hot, central heating radiator heats, but water remains cold.

Fires for maybe 10 minutes, then stops.

Red rest button on front NOT illuminated.

Thermostats set to max ( despite being summer )

Reply:

Anon

Most reset buttons do not illuminate but rather pop up when tripped. After a wait period the button can be re-set by pushing it in.

DO THIS JUST ONCE.

You need a heating repair service call. DO NOT keep pushing the reset button as you could cause a fire or puffback explosion.

...

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Technical Reviewers & References

Click to Show or Hide Citations & References

• [2]AUDELS OIL BURNER GUIDE, INSTALLING, SERVICING, REPAIRING, [PDF online copy of this book] Frank D. Graham, Theo. Audel & Co., New York 1946, 1947, 1955 (out of print, copies occasionally available from antique book dealers and on EBay). Use THIS LINK to read a free online copy of this helpful classic textbook.. Originally this 364 page guide to oil burner installation, operation, diagnosis, and repair sold for $1.00 - one dollar.
• [3] RA116A and RA117A Protectorelay®, Oil Burner Controls, Honeywell, 1985 Douglas Drive North, Golden Valley MN 55422-3992, Tel: 800-3456770 x 423, Website: customer.honeywell.com or in Canada: Honeywell Limited, 35 Dynamic Dr., Toronto, Ontario M1V 4Z9, website: www.honeywell.com, June 2000. Web search 4/3/2012, original source: http://customer.honeywell.com/techlit/pdf/63-0000s/63-9421.pdf
• [4] Domestic and Commercial Oil Burners, Charles H. Burkhardt, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York 3rd Ed 1969.
• [5] Honeywell Protector Relay Controller 3-Wire # RA117A1047, Installation Instructions from Honeywell
• [6] Honeywell Protectorelay Controller (Stack Switch) # RA116A1055, Installation Instructions from Honeywell
• The ABC's of Retention Head Oil Burners, National Association of Oil Heat Service Managers, TM 115, National Old Timers' Association of the Energy Industry, PO Box 168, Mineola, NY 11501. (Excellent tips on spotting problems on oil-fired heating equipment. Booklet.)

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

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  Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, for permission for InspectAPedia to use text excerpts from The Home Reference Book & illustrations from The Illustrated Home. Carson Dunlop Associates' provides extensive home inspection education and report writing material.

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  Why does oil burner need to be reset?

  Overheating – The reset button may be triggered if there isn't enough air flow to the system. Keeping the air vents open and cleaning or replacing the air filters regularly ensures proper airflow. If the furnace overheats, let it cool down before you reset ir.

  How do you restart your oil burner after it runs out of oil?

  10 Steps to Bleed & Restart Your Furnace after Running Out of Heating Oil.

  Step 1: Fill the Fuel Tank. ... .

  Step 2: Hit the Reset Button. ... .

  Step 3: Turn off the Furnace. ... .

  Step 4: Collect Your Tools. ... .

  Step 5: Find the Bleeder Valve. ... .

  Step 6: Attach Nylon Tubing. ... .

  Step 7: Turn on the Furnace and Unscrew the Valve. ... .

  Step 8: Tighten the Valve..

  How long do you hold the reset button on oil furnace?

  Press and hold the reset button for about 30 seconds and raise the temperature on the thermostat.

  How many times can I reset oil burner?

  Don't hit “reset” more than twice. The process pumps oil into the burner chamber, where it can accumulate if you have no ignition. Then when the furnace finally does start, it can do so explosively. So if the button won't reset, or quickly pops up again, it's time to call a professional repair service.