Liquid oil must be mixed with air and turned into a vapor before it can burn. When the oil reaches the burner’s nozzle, it’s broken into small droplets. This process is called atomizing. The oil burner takes the droplets, vaporizes them and then mixes them with air.
How efficiently this is done depends on the design of the burner. The newest burners contain electronic pre-purge and post-purge controls to ensure ultra-clean starts and stops. With a new burner, the oil in your system has the capability to burn 99.9% clean. New burners also have an efficiency level that’s 5% –15% higher than older ones.