We have a forced hot water heating system with Beckett Oil Burner, and
Honeywell R8184G4009 intermittent ignition oil primary. The honeywell ignition
Is about 3 years old and the heating system is 20 years old. Today, we noticed that
The furnace is not turning on. When I went down to the basement to look at the
Heating system, I noticed that the Red LED on terminal strip of honeywell R8148G
Is on (solid). I pressed the red button on R8148G to reset the system. The heating
System worked for about 10-20 minutes, then it stopped. When I went down
To the basement, I found the Red LED turned on again (solid). I decided not
To press the reset button the 2nd time, and ask the question here. What can be wrong?
When the system turned on for the 20 minutes after I did the 1st reset, the
Heat coming out of the radiators seemed to have been fine. Although, I noticed
The temp gauge on the heating system read 200 degF, which I thought was a
Bit higher than usual. Our system was always around 180-190 degF. And I also
Noticed that there was some water stain under the copper pipes that is connected
To the safety valve. We also thought that we could smell very light oil ordor
In the basement.

What can be wrong?

The burner safety control is telling you that the burner is not operating correctly. This is why the control is tripping and the reason you might smell a slight oil odor. Call for On Site Service of your boiler to have this problem corrected and in the mean time STOP hitting the reset control.

Thank you for your reply. I knew hitting the reset button more than once wouldn't be good. So I only hit it once, and when the furnace shutdown after 10 minutes, I called the furnace service technician. It turned out that, our oil filter needed to be changed. He charged $152 to do the service.

The service technician also mentioned that, the pressure regulator valve and the safety valve, are the originals (20 years old) and both needs to be replaced. He said the pressure is at 15 pounds, it should be 18 pounds, and the safety valve is weeping. He gave us an estimate of $300 to replace both valves. I thought I could do this work myself.

Any suggestion on what the steps are to replace both valves? Our furnace is oil system with forced hot water. I assume, I need to shutoff the furnace first, then shutoff water to the house, and start draining the furnace. Also after installing the pressure regulator, how one would set the pressure to the correct value? Are the pressure regulator valves set to a certain settings at the factory or the technician that is installing it needs to set that on site after the installation is complete?

The safety valve is preset so just get one that matches the old one exactly. The water inlet pressure regulator that automatically fills the boiler can be adjusted so look at the directions that come with the valve.

Yep 8.00 oil filter cartridge and the rest in service call and labor. That is about right.