Woodmaster Electronics Bypass

[m_kenney]

Well, my neighbor who i adopted as my stepdad is having boiler trouble again (different boiler this time). The boiler in question is a woodmaster, he is thinking the control board is fried. His 4th in 6 years. The boiler is at one of his rental properties. Upon inspection, there doesn't seem to be an aquastat, but some sort of temperature sensor that sends data to the control board to turn on the fans. Last week, one of his units was cold, while the other unit was fine but the digital temp gauge on the boiler read 216. That lead me to believe the taco pump that feeds that unit was bad. I had to work away most of last week, so I didn't get a chance to troubleshoot further.

I am thinking about cutting the electronic control board out of the equation, running power through the float switch, then to a mechanical aquastat strapped to the discharge pump on the boiler (as there is no well), and then powering the fans.

Am I making a mistake in doing this? My thought is that a $200 aquastat is cheaper and easier to replace than a $600 logic board. That and there are no more woodmaster dealers within 100 miles.

Thanks for the help!

 

[m_kenney]

Not sure if anyone is interested but I bypassed the control board, installing an aquastat, it seems to be controlling the fans effectively. The tenants in this house usually feed and monitor the boiler, and inguess ran it out of water last weekend. I am getting good temperature at the boiler, but the two units (separate zones) are still cold. They've been on oil since last night. Yesterday morning one of the zones was at 59°f. Does it sound plausible that the circulator pump is no longer doing it's job effectively? I can hear it making noise, but am wondering if it isn't moving water like it should, after being run dry.

 

[brenndatomu]

Does it sound plausible that the circulator pump is no longer doing it's job effectively? I can hear it making noise, but am wondering if it isn't moving water like it should, after being run dry.

Yup, it happens...sometimes the impellor is so worn it does a little bit of nothing...if cavitation happens, that is VERY destructive to the pump.

 

[m_kenney]

Yup, it happens...sometimes the impellor is so worn it does a little bit of nothing.

I put my clamp meter on the pump yesterday and it was only drawing half the amps it was supposed to so im leaning towards the pump. The old man picked up a replacement but we're going to look at a tractor today so we'll see what happens in a couple of days. Thanks!

 

[brenndatomu]

1/2 the known operating amps?
If you are seeing half the FLA listed on the tag, then that is probably about right.