To ensure that your furnace will continue to heat your home all winter, you need to clean the sensor on your oil furnace motor on a monthly basis. You have to be aware that the sensor is designed to shut down your furnace motor if your stack has become too dirty or if the burner does not ignite. Also, you need to check first your fuel tank if needs to be refilled before taking your sensor assembly apart. Another important thing to keep in mind after cleaning the sensor is to press the reset button on the stack sensor control.

Below are the tools and material you will need in cleaning:

• Wrench
• Screwdriver
• Bucket
• Bottle Brush
• Dish Soap
• Warm Water
• Work Gloves
• Soft Cloth
• Refractory Cement
• Newspaper

Step 1 – Remove Stack Control

First, you should turn off the power in the oil furnace motor. For the dirt to be easily collected, place newspaper under the surface you are working. Use wrench or screwdriver to remove the bolts which connects the stack control to the venting chimney. Then, you need to remove the sensor together with the housing from the vent.

Step 2 – Clean Sensor

Scrub the soot from the sensor with the use of a bottle brush and warm soapy water. Be sure that you are able to clean all of the soot from the sensor. Then, dry the control sensor with a soft cloth.

Step 3 – Clean Stack

It’s time to wear your gloves. Remove now the venting stack in sections. While holding the stack over newspaper, hit it firmly on the floor. Repeat it for a couple of times for every section to remove soot as much as possible. After that, reconstruct the venting stack.

Step 4 – Reinstall Stack Control

Put back the sensor and its housing in the vent stack. Also, reattach the bolts to secure the stack control to the vent. To reseal the joint between the stack control and the chimney, use refractory cement.