Troubleshooting

No Heat...

Oil Furnaces, Boilers & Water Heaters

• Check your thermostat.
  Is it set above room temperature?
  If you have air conditioning or a heat pump, be sure the thermostat is set on heating mode.
• Make sure your oil burner switch is in the ON position.
  The switch is usually at the top of the basement step, at a basement door or at the utility room door. (If you cannot locate the switch, ask your Modern Comfort Systems technician to point out the switch to you on their next system tune-up visit.)
• Check all fuses and circuit breakers.
  This will be in your main electric panel box.
  Circuit breakers may look like they are on. Check carefully to be sure they are not slightly tripped to the OFF position.
• Check your oil tank to ensure it contains oil.
  Most above ground tanks have a tank gauge 1.1.4a; sometimes the tank gauge will malfunction.
  Below ground tanks normally don’t have gauges. Depending on how your tank has been installed, you may be able use an object, such as a folding carpenters ruler, to measure the amount of oil in your tank.
  As a double check locate your last oil delivery ticket to verify how long it has been since your last oil delivery.
• Check the blower door.
  On newer furnaces a blower door may be removed or ajar. This may cause a switch on the door to shut down the furnace. Close the door securely to restore power.
• Locate the oil system RESET BUTTON.
  DO NOT PRESS THE BUTTON until you read this entire section!
  Reset buttons are typically on a control box located:
  
  
  
  a) On the oil burner.
  b) On the front of the furnace or boiler.
  c) On the chimney pipe.
  
  You may need to remove the front panel of the system jacket to see the control with the reset button.
  
  Water heaters normally have the reset button on a control at the oil burner.
  
  Reset buttons are normally RED or Silver.
  
  If you cannot locate the reset button, ask your Modern Comfort System technician to point it out to you on their next system tune-up visit.
• Press the RESET BUTTON ONLY ONCE!
  Resetting this button multiple times will flood the firebox with oil.
  
  There is no pilot on oil furnaces. Oil furnaces are ignited with a 10,000-volt transformer and ignition electrodes. Never reach into the firebox!
  
  NOTE: After a power failure you may need to follow the above procedure to restart your oil system.