Got my Beckett igniter at Home Depot in Middletown. They had 2 on the shelf. It was $37 and came with foam for the cad eye sensor, and new screws and hold-downs. Even new wire nuts.
Installation was pretty simple.
- Remove two screws (mine was missing one) and pull back the old igniter on its hinge. Those springs ride on the rods inside and conduct the ~10,000V to the tips where the oil sprays out.
- Remove flare nut, pull line away from nozzle cartridge, and remove the nut that holds it to the burner housing.
- After that the cartridge just slides right out. This is basically all the labor required when changing the nozzle, other than removing the nozzle from the cartridge. It was exactly as easy as it looked on Youtube.
- Mine was not really dirty at all, reinforcing that my system is running clean. Last service of this component was over 3 years ago.
- FINALLY I can identify my nozzle. Since things are working so well I assume it is the right spray angle and the air (for rich/lean) is tuned correctly for the nozzle size. It is a 1.25 GPH with 80° spray. Now that I know what the nozzle is I can order a new one. Or still consider downsizing to a 1.00.
- Bonus maintenance: I sanded and then lightly wire wheeled off the rods where the springs make contact. They were a little grimy.
- Now loosen the screws and remove the controller. This one looks original to the furnace judging by the rust. Everything is just wire-nutted together.
- I had disconnected the cad eye from the igniter and got one of the two screws out. The last one was rusted, requiring vice grips. Compared to cars in the snow belt, this was nothing. I carefully removed one wire at a time and connected the wire from the new igniter because both wires on the controller side were black (of course).
- Finally got the new igniter installed with the included screws. Got wires connected with included wire nuts. Punched out the new foam and installed the cad eye, and slid into its locking tabs on the igniter.
- All done! New hold downs and screws. Now my Beckett burner has a Beckett igniter. Makes sense.
Only real issue was that fitting I removed. I had trouble getting it to stop leaking. I will keep my eye on it and snug it down little by little until it stops because I don't want to strip anything. I actually remember the furnace guy having the same issue when he serviced it back in late 2014.
Total time: about 45 minutes. It took longer to drive to the store and back.
I look forward to tomorrow morning. If the heat turns on without me having to reset it, then it is fixed. I am sure it is fixed anyway.
For any natural gas doubters, I've been here 3 years and have now had to replace parts on both oil burners. My natural gas furnace at the old house, from 2007 (probably before) until now has only required one wiring repair which caused it not to shut off (a wire actually melted due to being run too close to the burners). That repair was free. Other than that, zero annual maintenance required, 10+ years.