how do I start a Boiler? It is oil fed. How long do I hold in the button?
Answers:
An oil fired boiler doesn't have a pilot flame like a gas boiler does. It fires up automatically when the thermostat calls for heat just like a gas boiler. If the burner flame fails to ignite after about a 30 second timeout period at start up, the burner motor shuts down because you don't want to be spraying oil into the combustion chamber if the flame's not lit. The red button can be pushed once (and only once) to try to restart the burner if it times out after trying to start automatically as it normally does. But usually it won't start and just ends up spraying more oil into the combustion chamber. This is a dangerous condition for the oil repairman because once he fixes the original problem which caused the timeout and failure of the burner to light, the burner may start explosively due to all the excess oil in the combustion chamber. So don't press the red button more than once, and don't hold the red button in. When the repairman arrives, tell him how many times you pressed the red button so he'll know what safety measures to take to restart the burner once it's repaired.
Other answers:
The reset button? Need not hold it in long. If it doesn't light pretty quickly there is something wrong. It won't be too fun if it blows.
The reset button? Need not hold it in long. If it doesn't light pretty quickly there is something wrong. It won't be too fun if it blows.
If the boiler is a new installation or the oil tank was run dry, then first you need to bleed the oil line to the pump. The reset button is used to RESET the motor control after a time out condition, do not hold it in, and do not keep resetting and running the motor.