Burner Parts

Burner Parts collection banner for Sun Brite Supply of Maryland

Burner Parts

Pressure Washer Burner Parts

When the burner quits, a hot water machine becomes an overpriced cold water machine, and hot water is the reason your customers pay you. Sun Brite Supply stocks burner parts for Beckett and Wayne burners plus the gas valves, cad cells, transformers, and blower wheels that keep diesel and propane fired coils making heat. Stumped on a no-fire? Call 301-519-9274 and describe what the burner is doing. We troubleshoot these on the phone every week.

Diagnose Burner Parts by Symptom: Fuel, Air, Spark, Signal

Almost every oil burner failure lands in one of four buckets. Fuel: the pump has to push clean fuel at roughly 100 PSI through a fine atomizing nozzle, so a clogged filter or worn nozzle starves the flame. Air: the blower wheel supplies combustion air, and a loose or dirt-packed wheel gives you smoke instead of a clean burn. Spark: the ignition transformer steps line voltage up to around 10,000 volts across the electrodes, and a weak transformer or fouled electrodes means fuel mist with nothing to light it. Signal: the cad cell is a light sensor pointed at the flame, and when it cannot see fire through a layer of soot it shuts the burner down even though everything else works. Work the buckets in that order and you will find the fault without guessing.

The Cad Cell Lockout Trap

The most misread symptom we hear is a burner that lights, runs a few seconds, then slams off. That is not a fuel problem. That is the primary control cutting fuel because the cad cell never confirmed flame. Sometimes the cell is dead, and a replacement is cheap. Just as often the eye is coated in soot and a wipe with a rag fixes it. Check the eye before you buy the part, and if the cell keeps sooting up, fix the air and fuel mix that is making the soot.

12 Volt or 120 Volt: Know Your Burner Before Ordering

Truck mounted skids usually run 12 volt burners fed by the battery, while shop and trailer machines with generators run 120 volt components. The parts do not cross over. A 12 volt Beckett motor kit will not save a 120 volt burner, and a 120 volt transformer is useless on a 12 volt skid. Check the data tag on the burner housing before ordering, and if the tag is unreadable, send us a photo of the burner and we will identify it.

Beckett 7006U cad cell flame detector, a common pressure washer burner part

Burner Symptom Lookup

Symptom Likely Fix Part Price
Fires briefly, then locks out Clean or replace flame sensor Beckett 7006U Cad Cell or 7135U Cad Cell, 54" leads $36.99 to $40.74
Fuel flows, no ignition Replace ignition transformer Allanson 120V Transformer $151.30
Sputtering flame, white smoke Change burner fuel filter 1540170 Fuel Filter for Burner Nozzle $6.06
Weak fire, sooty burn Replace blower wheel Beckett 2288U Blower or Wayne 12V Blower Wheel $34.64 to $43.63
12V burner motor dead Install motor kit Beckett 12V 1/7 HP Motor Kit $210.00
Propane pilot will not hold Replace gas control valve White-Rodgers 24V 36C03-300 or Millivolt 36C03U-400 $160.00 to $182.00
Scale-choked heating coil Descale the coil Ko Koil Kleen coil cleaner $49.35
Burned or soaked combustion liner Reline the burner chamber Cerwool Insulation $125.81
Swapping a burner motor brand Match the base plate Beckett A/AF Base Plate or Wayne E Base Plate $27.95 to $30.92

If your machine is gas fired rather than oil fired, start at the pilot and the gas valve instead of the fuel pump, and mind the voltage on the valve coil. The two White-Rodgers valves above look alike and do not interchange.

Cerwool combustion chamber insulation, burner part for hot water pressure washers

From the Field

Two patterns from the counter. First, soot is a symptom, not dirt. When a customer buys a third cad cell in a season, the cell was never the problem. The air band drifted or the nozzle wore, the flame went rich, and soot blinded the eye again and again. Fix the burn, then the sensor stops dying. Second, winter kills more burners than summer. Untreated diesel gels, gelled fuel plugs the filter, and the pump strains against it. Guys who blend kerosene in cold months and keep a $6 filter and a spare nozzle in the truck box do not lose heat on a job site. The parts are cheap. The lost day of hot water work is not.

Related Collections

Near Montgomery County? Bring the burner assembly to our Gaithersburg shop and we will match parts on the bench.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my hot water pressure washer burner not firing?

Check four things in order: fuel reaching the nozzle, combustion air from the blower, spark at the electrodes, and flame signal from the cad cell. A clogged fuel filter, a weak transformer, and a sooted cad cell are the three most common finds.

Why does my burner light and then shut off after a few seconds?

The primary control is locking out because the cad cell cannot confirm flame. Wipe the sensor eye clean first. If lockouts continue, replace the cell, and if the new one soots up fast, correct the air and fuel mixture causing the smoke.

What is a cad cell and how do I test it?

It is a light-sensitive resistor aimed at the flame. Resistance drops sharply when it sees fire. If the burner runs only while you hold the reset, or an ohm check shows high resistance in front of a bright flame, the cell has failed.

Why is my burner producing black smoke?

The mix is rich: too much fuel or too little air. Look for a worn or oversized fuel nozzle, a slipping or dirty blower wheel, or an air band knocked out of adjustment. Running rich also soots the coil, which chokes airflow and makes the smoke worse.

What fuel should a diesel burner run in winter?

Number 2 diesel or home heating oil most of the year, blended with kerosene or winter treatment once temperatures drop toward freezing. Gelled fuel plugs filters and starves the pump, which reads like a dead burner but costs only a filter to fix.

How do I know if my burner is 12 volt or 120 volt?

Read the data tag on the burner housing. Battery-fed truck skids are almost always 12 volt, and generator or shore powered machines run 120 volt. Motors, transformers, and kits do not interchange between the two.