Hot water heater keeps tripping?

[Muintir]

I am wondering if anyone more experienced can kindly point me in the right direction on what the cause may be as I am kind of noobish to home repairs and learning as I go. I have a Bock 32E hot water heater that keeps tripping after it heats up. I have to reset it a good 20-30 times every single time we need hot water before it finally catches on and starts running normally. The pilot is functioning normally, I have drained it out and flushed it, and there is no disruption of oil to the tank. Someone suggested cleaning the screened filter but for the life of me I cant find it. Can anyone guide me on where it might be? Google isnt being very helpful atm.

Big thanks to everyone in advance and if you have any other thoughts on what it might be than by all means suggest away

 

[Dana]

The problem is with the burner (probably it's ignition) and there are a number of burner manufacturer's/models that can be shipped with that unit. Which burner model it it?

Oil burners on water heaters need to be refitted with a new nozzle every couple of years, and tuned up for optimal efficiency. It may be time to call a burner tech and have them deal with it. (Most people don't want to own the combustion analyzers or get the training on how to properly tune up an oil burner as DIY.)

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Muintir]

The info on the burner says Bock model MSR.

http://imgur.com/a/DA8Cn

 

[Dana]

The info on the burner says Bock model MSR.

http://imgur.com/a/DA8Cn

The burner also says "Manufactured by Wayne Home Equipment" and "Oil Burner No. AJ-995962", and "Approval date 07/01/88". This thing is probably at least 25 years old, and is probably due for a replacement (probably the whole water heater, not just the burner.) It's probably the predecessor to the WAYNE MSR/371-001B, listed on p.10 (p11 in PDF pagination) of the manual.

The manual for the older Wayne MSR burners lives here, if you want to try to debug it yourself. Most ignition problems are related to the condition or position of the electrodes, or in dirty environments, the high voltage current passing through the dirt & crud rather than arcing. At the very least it needs a new nozzle (probably an 0.65 X 80A or 0.75 X 80A) and some cleaning up. Looks pretty corroded with flaking paint, I can believe an illegitimate arc-path/bleed keeping it from firing reliably. If there's any crud or soot near the ceramic insulators for the electrodes that should be cleaned up as best possible.

A burner tech with a combustion analyzer would need to adjust the air/fuel mixture, even if you did the clean-up and nozzle swap yourself.