Abstract: An oil feed system for an oil burner is disclosed. The feed system includes an oil preheater through which the oil is pumped to ensure that the oil fed to the burner nozzle is warm enough to ignite easily and completely. A purge line is provided to recirculate the standing oil in the supply line which leads to the burner nozzle back through the heater so that on start up cold oil is not sprayed from the nozzle. A solenoid valve in the purge line opens for a predetermined time initially during which oil is recirculated. It is not necessary to close off the burner nozzle during this period because the nozzle presents a considerably higher resistance to the oil than the purge line which is connected through the solenoid valve to the suction side of the feed pump with the result that the cold oil flows directly to the purge line.