I was getting an oily smell whenever my oil burner cycled on for the last few days (shortly after a delivery came last night ). When it didn't go away I called my oil company. The tech came last evening and, after a very cursory look, he announce I had a saturated combustion chamber and need to replace the chamber or the entire boiler. He quoted just under $900 to replace the chamber and almost $6K to replace the boiler. When I asked how soon the boiler could be replaced, he checked with the company and found out it couldn't be done until Monday at the earliest. So he went back in and put some burning newspapers in the chamber to burn off the oil. He then announced that the problem may not be as bad as he first thought.

He then proceeded to replace the fuel pump (which he said was the cause for the oil leaking into the chamber). He did some other things and said everything was working OK now.

So my questions are:

1) Is this a common condition?
2) Was he trying to get me to buy an expensive, not covered, service rather than spend the time to fix the problem?
3) If it is a real problem, is what he did just a temporary fix and should I plan on replacing the boiler (its over 30 years old)?
4) If I have to replace the boiler would it make sense to consider converting to gas?

The problem was likely caused by a failure of the fuel cut-off valve, internal to the pump, failing to close. It's an uncommon, but far from unheard of, situation which is exactly why I prefer the Suntec A2VA-3006 pump especially on a gravity fed system.

Giving your tech the benefit of the doubt, it was probably just an over reaction. He may have never encountered that type of failure before & after discussing with someone with more experience, learned how to deal with it.

I certainly would strongly consider going to gas IF natural gas is available.

After what has happened with gas in the NY area in the last year or so, I'm leery of gas. We've had a home blow up on LI and 2 buildings explode in NYC. From what I've been able to glean, its cyclical where sometimes gas works out cheaper than oil other times oil is cheaper. What are the advantages of gas over oil, other than cost and no need to worry about delivery?

I was involved in the fuel oil business for 30 years so my comments are in no way anti-oil or pro gas. With that being said, if I had natural gas available, I'd switch in an instant even with the 'independence' of oil.

The advantages to gas, other than those you already stated, include more efficient equipment, reduced maintenance costs, smaller equipment, usually quieter, & sometimes reduced homeowers insurance (especially if you have an outdoor tank).

Any of your neighbors hooked up to city gas or have their own tanks? Compare the heating bills and see what you find.

The boiler has been working fine the last few days. No smell, no smoke. Am I OK for now? Can I take my time checking options, saving up etc. Or should I move on this?

It's certainly not something urgent. If the boiler is in good shape, I see no reason to rush. What is the make & model. It might be something I'm familiar with.