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[Roger2561]

The first thing I'm going to do is test and clean the photocell.  If that doesn't rectify it, I'll recheck the electrode gap to be sure they are correct.  When it skips, it sounds very much different than it does when it flames out so I'm somewhat confident that it's not a fuel supply issue.   

[Roger2561]

It could be water in oil but with just changing tank filter may-be not. It could be air in line may-be when you changed
filter it was not tight and or fittings got Jared or line not tight when you changed things. These are some simple things that can be checked that could make it skip. You say it was running all summer fine if by chance you have in ground tanks and plenty of rain water could get in somehow??? You just gotta keep playing around and checking all
the little things. It might even be the transformer working but skipping at times. When ya do find out let us know what it was.

whitepine - I can't remember if I mentioned that the tank is in the basement of my house.  The filter canister at the tank is nice and tight.  The fuel line at the fuel pump on the Beckett burner is nice and tight.  If air is being introduced into the fuel line, where could it possibly be getting in?  I ran my screwdriver across the transformer springs and I had a nice bright arc about an inch long.  I called my HVAC guy and he's so busy that he isn't available until early December.  I'm thinking of calling the oil company to come out and have a go of it but man they charge an arm and a leg.  This is driving me nuts.  Roger     

[BoilerHouse]

Hi Roger
I am also curious as to what your issue may be.  I input your problem and tried some google fu and most suggestions seemed to revolve around water in the oil.  One person, who did suggest they had an issue similar to yours, had a bad pump gasket.  In case you haven't seen it, here is the link below.  Hope you find the problem.  You might consider a used burner.  So many people are going off oil, at least in my area, that burners are a dime a dozen.  I had a perfectly good Beckett burner given to me a month ago, which I promptly gave to someone else. 

http://www.contractortalk.com/f6/sputtering-oil-burner-18277/

 

[Smokeless]

Roger I'm thinking there is a mesh filter under the four bolts on the pressure pump. Mine plugged before. That is after the filter. Four bolts n brake cleaner.

[Roger2561]

Boilerhouse, smokeless, Thank you for the suggestions.  I have treated the oil so I kind of figured I can rule out moisture in the oil but one never knows.  I checked the screen on the pump and it was nice and clean with exception of a few tiny particles.  But, I now have bigger issues.  One of the times it skipped, the relay sounded like a rapid fire, firearm and then everything went quiet.  I checked the circuit breaker, it's working okay, I cycled the on/off switch to see if it would reset and nothing.  The only noise I hear is from the transformer in the zone controller.  As a test I decided to turn on up the heat to see if that made any difference, it didn't, nothing happened; the burner did not run, the circulator for the zones did not run, nothing happens.  I fear that the rapid misfire may have done something to the triple aqua stat (Honeywell 8151).  If I didn't need to be at work for an important meeting with the bosses, I'd stay home do some troubleshooting, but this is a meeting I cannot miss.  So, I have a call into my HVAC guy begging that he make room for me today to get this thing going and get me hot-water.  He knows how to get into my home without me being there.  I hope to have an update for you guys this evening.  Roger 

[Roger2561]

Okay, I have an update and hopefully the final time.  The HVAC guy stopped by while I was at work and it was the cell relay (Honeywell 8184) that went bad.  They changed it out for a new one and all seems to be working fine for now.  I say "for now" because I thought I had fixed the problem before only for it show it's ugly ahead again.  But, it's nice to have hot-water again.  Roger

[coolidge]

It's nice to be able to "do it yourself" also nice to be able too get a guy there asap.

[Roger2561]

It's great that when you call with no heat, he'll send of his guys over as soon as one gets some free time to fix it.  Roger