At minimum, once a year. However, high demand systems could require more maintenance.

The main benefits of yearly maintenance are efficiency, reliability and safety.

Actually, it doesn’t take a large number of animals to cause a problem with your system. Even one shedding dog or cat can cause a problem. The pet hair gets pulled into the air intakes, clogging the intakes. This causes the system to run inefficiently and with an oil system it can cause a puff back or fire and with a gas system, it can raise the carbon monoxide and increase the risk of a major problem.

Certainly not. On average people who neglect their system often wind up spending more money on repairs and increase their oil consumption due to inefficiency. In fact, a yearly maintenance is included at no extra cost with an oil burner service contract from Richard’s.

The boiler is opened up and all baffles and heat passages are vacuumed and brushed clean, this ensures proper venting and heat transfer. The smoke pipes and chimney base are vacuumed and brushed clean as well. Fresh air intakes at the burner are cleaned and all surfaces of the boiler also get vacuumed. The burner is tuned in air settings, electrode settings and pump pressure. New oil filter and gaskets, new strainer and gasket, and new nozzle are all addressed during a tune up.