Diagnostic and Fault Cause on Gas & Oil Burners

The basis for the trouble-free operation of any burner can only be guaranteed by the correct combined effect of the following three factors.

• Electricity
• Gas Flow
• Combustion Air

Should any of the above factors change, it will cause the burner to malfunction and locks out.

Many of the issues that result in the burner locking out are rather simple. Some of the causes are described below.

• Is gas available up to the appliance? Are the gas cocks of the installation turned on?
• Do you have power? Is the current switched on?
• Are the controls (room thermostat, boiler thermostat etc. calling for heat?)
• Do you have sufficient gas pressure on the burner?
• Do you have adequate air supply to the burner?
• Is the burner control box ready to start or is it locked out?

All the above can be easily avoided by undertaking a simple inspection before starting up the burner.

Naturally, there are other factors that can cause the burner to malfunction; these are just some of them below.

• Faulty flame supervision controller
• Faulty flame sensor
• Faulty ignition transformer
• Faulty ignition electrodes
• Faulty air/gas pressure switch
• Faulty combustion fan motor
• Faulty gas values

Any one of the above faulty components can cause the burner to lock out. Once the faulty component is identified. It either needs to be either repaired or replaced. Once this is done the Flame Supervision controller can be reset by pushing the reset button on the top of the controller. This would start the burner again through the starting sequence.

Should any of these issues arise with your oil and gas burners and you can’t diagnose any of the issues, then contact our burner specialists on 1300 556 380 (Australian Number) or 0800-689-296 (NZ Number) to discuss everything about gas and oil burners.