oil furnace trips after cleaning


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Old 10-12-12, 07:05 AM
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oil furnace trips after cleaning

Hello. I have a 40-yr old international oil forced air furnace. a few weeks ago, I had it cleaned (new filter,cleaned fuel line, new nozzle, general cleaning). within a few days after the cleaning, the furnace tripped (red light on). called the company they sent somebody over; he stated that after cleaning, the furnace should have been re-calibrated (oil and air flow,etc.) he was there for almost 2 hours, checking the temp. at the flue, in the combustion chamber, check the O2 and monoxide levels, etc. said everything was fine. ran for 3 days, tripped again this morning. called the company. the lady said the reason it's tripping is because the oil tank is low (its about 1/8 filled--for certain reasons, I can't get it filled right now-will need to wait another 3 weeks for oil fill). she said deposits are on the bottom of tank, and that's what is clogging the nozzle. My question is, isn't the oil filter there to prevent deposits from reaching the furnace nozzle? I did hit the reset switch again (twice), and this time it came on-some smoke, but that didn't last long. But this furnace ran fine before cleaning, and since then it's tripped 3-4 times. Any help is appreciated. don't know if I'm getting the runaround here, or what. Thanks!
 
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Old 10-12-12, 10:45 AM
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Reading my question I was a bit wordy.
Question: Can low fuel level in tank (1/8 tank) cause the furnace to trip (red light on and need to hit reset)? Thanks.
 
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Old 10-12-12, 10:06 PM
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Absolutely! depending on how the fuel is withdrawn from the tank you may very well be "empty" as far as usable oil when the gauge (or stick) still shows 1/8 of a tank.
 
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Old 10-13-12, 04:46 AM
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Furd is correct. When a tank gets that low it is common to have problems & since no filter is perfect ...
When you do get a delivery, I suggest leaving the heater turned off for an hour or more to allow the tank to settle.
 
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Old 10-13-12, 06:33 AM
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thanks alot. I heard that water can lay on the bottom of tank, and that could cause problems, but didn't think that deposits and/or sludge would make it past the filter-especially a new one. figured my problem would probably deposits that broke off in the fuel line.
 
 

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