Cold Fuel Oil Furnace

Blast52 · Jan 18, 2009

It is -10 here in Cent. PA.
My shop has a fuel oil-hot air furnace . Oil tank is outdoors. I went to start the furnace this AM and the burner pump ran slow and ground to a halt. The motor barely hums . No circuit breaker or furnace control trips.
Any ideas or is it what iI think- Gelled fuel frozen in pump?
Thanks for any help.
Blast 52

Yugrotcart · Jan 18, 2009

Pull the line off the pump at the burner and see if your fuel is flowing. If not, bet its froze up. Wrap a heat tap around the line for a while.

Paul

armand tatro · Jan 18, 2009

When my oil furnace with the outside tank started giving me fits I dumped two gal. of power-serve into the tank and stired it up. Within 5 min. it was running smooth. When I refilled it a couple days ago I dumped in one gal of power-serve. This was in addition to the fuel co, winter mix. Your local fuel supplier or truck stop should have this product. Workes for me. By the way I also use power-serve in my semi-truck and diesel farm tractors. Armand

El Toro · Jan 18, 2009

That fuel oil is bad for that like diesel fuel when the temp gets that low. Most homes have their fuel tanks in their basements or buried in the ground. Your oil supplier may have an additive to prevent it from jelling. When we were first married we had a mobile home and I installed a 275 gallon tank. It was set up on 1.25" pipe legs to get enough gravity feed. We used kerosene and it never jelled. Back then it was about 15 cents a gallon and fuel oil about 12 cents a gallon. I may have gotten a few pennies off since I had such a big tank. Most of the owners had a 55 gallon drum. It was -4 here on Sat morning, but is about 30 degrees warmer this morning. Hal

El Toro · Jan 18, 2009

Here's that power-serve that Armand recommended.
Hal

Anonymous-0 · Jan 18, 2009

Fuel oil furnaces I'm familiar with has a huge motor powering the burner blower and pump. If that's stalled it isn't jell.

JMS/.MN · Jan 18, 2009

Fuel may be gelled, especially in a small diameter copper line. I replaced mine with a half-inch hydraulic hose from the outside tank to the furnace. Works very well. Disconnect your line at the furnace- should have good flow.

Blast52 · Jan 24, 2009

(quoted from post at 07:51:16 01/18/09) It is -10 here in Cent. PA.
My shop has a fuel oil-hot air furnace . Oil tank is outdoors. I went to start the furnace this AM and the burner pump ran slow and ground to a halt. The motor barely hums . No circuit breaker or furnace control trips.
Any ideas or is it what iI think- Gelled fuel frozen in pump?
Thanks for any help.
Blast 52

Thanks to all you guys for the help.
I feel like an idiot- I searched again for a reset and found it on the blind side of the burner motor- reset it and bingo!it works. (IT is also a lot warmer today)
Blast52

Cold Fuel Oil Furnace

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JMS/.MN

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Blast52

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