Abstract: An oil burner comprising an oil/air jet nozzle has a central oil orifice and an outer air orifice; a chamber for oil connected through a control valve to the central orifice; means for supplying air under pressure through a pressure responsive switch and a control valve to the outer orifice, for atomizing oil from the central orifice; means for supplying combustion air through a conduit around the nozzle; an electrically operated ignition means adjacent the nozzle; means for detecting the absence of ignition; and control means operated by the detecting means and the pressure responsive switch for closing the valves on absence of air under pressure, for actuating the ignition means on the detection of the absence of ignition, and for closing the valves on failure of the ignition means to ignite the oil/gas mixture from the nozzle.