Just recently I ran out of oil for my furnace. I'm in the process of converting to gas- a process that can take up to four weeks. I called my oil vendor who told me that there is a 150 gallon minimum- too much since I'm converting in a month so I purchased some diesel. I put 10 gallons in my 250 gallon tank and the furnace did not kick on. I have two options on the furnace, winter and summer. Switched the summer setting cold air blows out but on the winter setting, nothing.
Is there a minimun of diesel I have to put in the tank before the furnace will kick on? I read on another thread that you have "bleed the line" since I'm starting on a empty tank?? am I missing a step?
I appreciate your comments.

 

Yes you are missing a step or two. I presume you have one copper tube from the tank to the furnace. If this is true, you do need to bleed the air from the lines & pump. A few pictures of the burner would be most helpful in explaining to you how to do this. You can post the pics on photobucket.com or similar photo sharing site & provide a link here.

 

I am going through the exact same process as the initial poster on this list, the only difference is that I still have fuel in my line. I just want to make sure that it safe to use diesel in the tank. Many thanks. -Bill C

 

Diesel will work fine. All I burn is ultra low sulfur dyed diesel. It is the exact same stuff as you would buy at the pump for use in a diesel powered vehicle except it is dyed red to signify it is sold untaxed.

 

Diesel fuel is just fine. You're just paying a little more because of road tax. Off-road/home heating oil is dyed red so you can't get caught burning it in your truck on the road.

You definately need to bleed the oil pump. You need a 3/8 wrench and an empty cup. Turn your thermostat up. Go to the furnace and open the bleed port with the wrench about 1/2 turn. Hit the reset button on the primary control while holding your cup under the bleed port. You now have 90 seconds to get the furnace running. The pump will spurt a few ounces of fuel, then air, then fuel again. While it is pumping fuel free of air bubbles, close the bleed port. Ka-blam the burner lights, the primary control sees the flame and you have heat. Put the half cup of oil back in your fuel tank. That's the beauty of burning fuel oil - when out of money, you can get by for a few days on a 5 gallon can of diesel.