Atomization burner with flexible fire rate

A burner, comprising:

• an atomizing chamber;
• a flame tube in front of the atomizing chamber, adapted to direct combusting fuel introduced by the atomizing chamber along an interior of the flame tube;
• a blower that provides combustion air to the flame tube;
• a gas sensor having an operating temperature and an amount of electrical energy needed to raise the temperature of the gas sensor to the operating temperature, the gas sensor being positioned less than a maximum distance from a front of the burner wherein the maximum distance is a distance such that, due to heat from the burner, and the gas sensor requires at most 80% of the amount of electrical energy to reach the operating temperature;
• a controller programmed to independently control rate of fuel flow to the atomizing chamber, rate of atomizing air flow to the atomizing chamber, and rate of combustion air to the flame tube, the controller being programmed to perform operations comprising:
• regulating, based on output of a gas sensor, at least the rate of combustion air provided by the blower to the flame tube to substantially maintain a first predetermined amount of excess air in the flame tube;
• and
• increasing, in response to an absence of reliable output from the gas sensor, the at least the rate of combustion air to the flame tube to transition to a second predetermined amount of excess air in the flame tube, the second predetermined amount of air being higher than the first predetermined amount of excess air.