alexdonnell
Feb 17, 2014, 07:26 PM
I have an intermittent problem with my oil furnace. It is a hot water baseboard system. Here are the symptoms:
Call for heat from a thermostat in a heating zone
There is a sound of air in pipes and boiler down to 80'F and not firing but circulation is occurring and zones are not getting up to temp.
No water pressure in boiler when cold (80 degrees Fahrenheit).
Burner didn't fire until down to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, even though the min and max temps on the Honeywell Strip Gauge are set to 140 and 180'F (see attached picture).
Pressing the reset on the Honeywell R8184 unit on top of the motor did nothing (see pic), I didn't know about the one on the side of the motor at that time.
After the boiler fired, the pressure increased to about 15psi and a few drops of water dripped out of the vent above the Extrol 30 expansion tank but stopped quickly. (See attached picture)
Boiler temp went up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit before turning off.
Extrol pressure measured 12psi while hot water was circulating through a zone. A few drops of water came out of the bottom of the extrol but it is not full of water under the diaphragm (top half of the tank is hot, bottom half is room temperature). When it was cold it measured about 10psi, so I charged it to 12psi but the problem returned a few days later.
Now that burner is running with a call for heat, it fires back up when the temp drops to about 190 and turns off at about 200.
Circulation sounds are normal with hot water circulating.
It happened again (circulation in baseboard with air sounds, boiler temp down to 60'F without firing, no water pressure on gauge) but boiler fired up when the plumbing system pressurized due to a flushing toilet. So I assumed that the problem was with the low pressure shutoff.
It happened a third time and I tried to trigger the burner to fire by forcing the plumbing system to pressurize but it had effect. That's when I noticed the reset button on the side of the Beckett Burner (see attached picture). I pushed that and everything fired up fine.
The furnace runs for days without problems before this issue randomly reappears. Questions:
Why did the temp get so low in the boiler? Why so hot? I don't really know when the temperature setpoints are for on the Honeywell strip gauge, I assumed they are for the operating range. Bad temp controller?
Why did the pressure get so low in the boiler? Should it have a pressure of 12psig even when cold? Or just when operating?
What are the proper temperature and pressure operating ranges? (see pic of Honeywell trip switch)
The reset button on the top did nothing but the one on the side got it restarted. What does that indicate?
I'd take the system apart myself but I can't risk any delay if something goes wrong with this weather we've been having in the Northeast. I hope that your guidance will save me some time and money! I'm leaving for a week long vacation at the end of the month and I am worried about leaving the house alone with a bad furnace.Thank you for your help!
Call for heat from a thermostat in a heating zone
There is a sound of air in pipes and boiler down to 80'F and not firing but circulation is occurring and zones are not getting up to temp.
No water pressure in boiler when cold (80 degrees Fahrenheit).
Burner didn't fire until down to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, even though the min and max temps on the Honeywell Strip Gauge are set to 140 and 180'F (see attached picture).
Pressing the reset on the Honeywell R8184 unit on top of the motor did nothing (see pic), I didn't know about the one on the side of the motor at that time.
After the boiler fired, the pressure increased to about 15psi and a few drops of water dripped out of the vent above the Extrol 30 expansion tank but stopped quickly. (See attached picture)
Boiler temp went up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit before turning off.
Extrol pressure measured 12psi while hot water was circulating through a zone. A few drops of water came out of the bottom of the extrol but it is not full of water under the diaphragm (top half of the tank is hot, bottom half is room temperature). When it was cold it measured about 10psi, so I charged it to 12psi but the problem returned a few days later.
Now that burner is running with a call for heat, it fires back up when the temp drops to about 190 and turns off at about 200.
Circulation sounds are normal with hot water circulating.
It happened again (circulation in baseboard with air sounds, boiler temp down to 60'F without firing, no water pressure on gauge) but boiler fired up when the plumbing system pressurized due to a flushing toilet. So I assumed that the problem was with the low pressure shutoff.
It happened a third time and I tried to trigger the burner to fire by forcing the plumbing system to pressurize but it had effect. That's when I noticed the reset button on the side of the Beckett Burner (see attached picture). I pushed that and everything fired up fine.
The furnace runs for days without problems before this issue randomly reappears. Questions:
Why did the temp get so low in the boiler? Why so hot? I don't really know when the temperature setpoints are for on the Honeywell strip gauge, I assumed they are for the operating range. Bad temp controller?
Why did the pressure get so low in the boiler? Should it have a pressure of 12psig even when cold? Or just when operating?
What are the proper temperature and pressure operating ranges? (see pic of Honeywell trip switch)
The reset button on the top did nothing but the one on the side got it restarted. What does that indicate?
I'd take the system apart myself but I can't risk any delay if something goes wrong with this weather we've been having in the Northeast. I hope that your guidance will save me some time and money! I'm leaving for a week long vacation at the end of the month and I am worried about leaving the house alone with a bad furnace.Thank you for your help!