No heat in an oil-heated Ephrata home with temperatures dropping, water pouring from the boiler, or a burner that keeps locking out — call any time. The emergency telephone line is available 24/7.
General inquiries: 7 AM–7 PM · Emergency calls: 24/7 · (888) 766-1474
in a heating emergency.
Panic causes the second problem. Do not keep hitting the red reset button on a locked-out oil burner — each failed reset dumps unburned oil into the combustion chamber. Do not open the boiler casing or touch the burner assembly. Do not pour anything into the tank or bleed valves you do not understand.
Do: note the error code or lockout pattern, check the tank gauge, protect the pipes (drip taps, open sink cabinets), and call. The triage needs observations, not heroics.
Oil-heat emergencies have their own shape.
Oil-specific steps.
Check the tank gauge first — an empty tank explains a dead burner, and knowing it saves triage time. Note the lockout pattern (how long it runs before stopping) and any error code.
Protect the pipes: open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls, let taps drip. Do not keep hitting the red reset button — each reset without ignition dumps unburned oil into the chamber.
Oil-first questions.
Fuel type first (Ephrata callers are usually oil), then tank level, lockout behavior, last burner service date, and ZIP. "Oil, tank half full, locks out after 30 seconds, serviced two years ago, 17522" is a complete triage in one sentence.
Oil-first, in order.
If your pressure reading looks wrong, our boiler pressure guide explains what the gauge is telling you. And "Oil, tank reads a quarter, locks out after 30 seconds, serviced two years ago, 17522" is a complete triage in one sentence.
Straight answers before you call.
Call your oil company for delivery immediately: an empty tank is a delivery problem, and no burner work fixes it. Once delivery is scheduled, call (888) 766-1474 for the restart, because running dry means bleeding the lines and repriming the burner. Do not keep hitting reset on an empty system.
Press the reset once, and only once. If it fires and holds, monitor it; if it locks out again, stop and call (888) 766-1474. A full tank plus a repeat lockout is a burner fault: nozzle, electrodes, filter, or controls. Note any new sounds or smells to report on the call.
Close off unused rooms, keep interior doors open in the lived-in part of the house, and use safe supplemental heat if you have it: never a gas oven or a grill indoors. In an oil town, the wait is often about delivery timing, so ask the triage for a realistic window. Call (888) 766-1474 and describe who is in the house.
If it is a steady stream, shut the water feed and the power if you can reach them safely and call (888) 766-1474: a failed block or burst fitting is an emergency. A slow weep from a section can wait for a scheduled visit but should not wait for winter. Falling pressure plus visible water means the system is draining.
Yes, call (888) 766-1474 now. A strong oil smell with the burner off points to a tank or fuel-line leak, not a combustion problem. Do not restart the burner, ventilate if you can do so safely, and keep ignition sources away. Tank leaks do not improve with time.
Outages can trip safeties, and oil burners sometimes need repriming after the power flickers, especially if the tank is low. Check the breaker and the emergency switch first; both get bumped in the dark. If the burner still will not fire, call (888) 766-1474 and mention the outage; it changes the checklist.
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