Oil Burner Issues

[jaoneill]

We had somewhat similar isues with our beckett last winter. Random shutdowns, no restart, etc. After a month of fiddling and the third (new) CAD cell we finally got one that wasn't inherently defective and haven't had a bit of trouble since. There was a day when you could assume that a new part would work as it should; those days are in the past.

 

[BoilerMan]

As a heating tradsman, I can't agree with that statement. Now if I bought all of my supplies from Lowes/HD that'd be a different story. A good meter and the know-how to use it is worth more than most parts.

TS

 

[jaoneill]

As a heating tradsman, I can't agree with that statement. Now if I bought all of my supplies from Lowes/HD that'd be a different story. A good meter and the know-how to use it is worth more than most parts.

TS

I don't disagree with you, but we maintain our own equipment for a number of properties and generally buy in bulk from a local supplier. There were a number of seemingly defective units, that failed prematurely in the last batch of Cad cells we had. Two of them performed similarly to the the issues described by the first poster.

 

[Nedly]

Sorry I have been gone, I am a full time college student and got swept up in mid-terms.

I replaced the aquastat and had the same issue, then replaced the low water cut off with no results. So I did further testing like suggested with the high limit / low limit settings on the aquastat and found (i think) that the high limit is not what is shutting off the system but something else, it seems to be getting to higher temps than what the diles are set to like it is overheating 200+ degrees. So I do not know what is shutting it off or why it is overheating...

 

[Nedly]

I am recapping on the thread and will be replying with information needed. I do have pictures but they do not show how it is wired....

 

[Nedly]

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Low and high settings are too high. What is energizing your circulator pump?

 

[ewdudley]

Low and high settings are too high. What is energizing your circulator pump?

Indeed! Don't even want to know how it got that way ...

 

[maple1]

Holy crap.

And money up the chimney.

Batman.

Turn those down, now.

EDIT: I will go further & suggest starting with turning down to lo = 160, hi = 190 (maybe even 180) for heating season. Then fiddle after seeing how things go then. Non-heating season maybe 140/160 depending on DHW output.

 

[Nedly]

They have not been that high this whole time. I had adjusted them to try and prove it was not the high limit shutting off the system.

I am not positive as to what is powering the circulator pump, I will check..

 

[ewdudley]

They have not been that high this whole time. I had adjusted them to try and prove it was not the high limit shutting off the system.

I am not positive as to what is powering the circulator pump, I will check..

Good answer! I apologize for assuming there was some undirected flailing about going on.

 

[Nedly]

What do you mean by "circulator pump"?? I searched the manual and could only find reference to a "clean cut pump", seems to be some type of fuel pump....

 

[Nedly]

Good answer! I apologize for assuming there was some undirected flailing about going on.

Thanks. I will admit I am a bit of a newb on furnaces, but I am a CIS major / mechanic so I am not too far in the dark.. : D

 

[STIHLY DAN]

That is not a furnace, its a boiler. There needs to be a pump in the water lines to pump the water out of the boiler to the house and back to the boiler. If you are not removing the heat it will stay in the boiler doing nothing.

 

[ewdudley]

What do you mean by "circulator pump"??

Somewhere in the piping in the mechanical room we would expect to find one or more circulator pumps, which all look the same except some are red, some are green, and some are black:

https://www.google.com/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&hl=en&as_q=circulator pump&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

Often circulation is enabled by a signal from the two terminals in the aquastat labeled "CIRC" C1 & C2 that we can see in the last two photos above. But there's nothing connected to C1 & C2. Alternatively signal ZC is used to enable circulation in some other control box, but there is nothing connected to ZC either, so we're curious what enables circulation and also what powers circulation.

 

[Nedly]

Ok I investigated to find 4 individual circulator pumps... Going to adjust settings and try it tonight.

 

[R Mannino]

Do we know what is controlling the circulators? Does the house have hot water?

 

[maple1]

Might be good to step back a couple steps & take more system pics too. I thought I wasn't seeing wires hooked to those terminals either, but on second look couldn't tell for sure - looked like there might be one coming in & bending under to catch one. Now looking again, it doesn't look like it. If you take more pics, start at the circs and work back to the boiler. Sounds like zoning by circ pumps & not zone valves too? Could be as simple as a wire not hooked to one of those terminals - but you should then have a cold house & DHW too, which we haven't heard about yet

 

[STIHLY DAN]

You may have a zone control, Altogether different control. Can you hear or feel the pumps running? Amps? At this point you should call a pro in. Should not cost much as I expect it is a simple control issue.

 

[Nedly]

Tried it again with the limits lowered. I can hear the circulators powering on, they seem to be working normally. Limits do not turn it off, basically it would not matter how low I set the limits it burns to 200+ and shuts down... Well I wont let it get to 200+ anymore I power it down, but it would heat that high if I let it.

Is there a chance the blower motor is bad? Maybe not giving enough oxygen?

 

[maple1]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the burner if it is overheating the boiler.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

I can hear the circulators powering on

Are they moving water? If the boiler is hot, ball valves are open, pumps pumping, you have heat.

 

[Nedly]

Suppose I turned down the limits to their lowest possible setting and then the boiler still heated up to 200+ eventually shutting down... What would you suggest the issue is?

That is essentially what I am facing..

 

[Nedly]

Yeah no it only runs the first cycle until it over heats shutting off, then wont run until it is cooled. It needs more than one cycle to heat water for the system...

 

[Nedly]

No matter what the limits are set to, it runs to a high temp, shuts down, does not start again.