help would be much appreciated!


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Old 10-30-05, 08:25 PM
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help would be much appreciated!

A trip to visit my Mother turned into a weekend of trying to repair her hot water gas boiler (American Standard probably 50 yrs old) It started out as solving the leak from the pump so I replaced with a new motor /pump/circulator (armstrong S25). I then filled the boiler and bleeded the radiators of air. I turned on the circulator and turned up the thermostat and the burners won't fire up. The pilot is on although it appears to be a rapid blue only flame. Although I've heard to replace the thermocouple if the pilot light dosen't stay on, I replaced it anyways. The result - same blue fast flame and burners not firing up. When replacing the thermocouple I also vacumned the inside of boiler and cleaned the orifice (I'm basically doing everything it says in this book...I'm a novice when it comes to heating although I kinda know my mom;s boiler having turned it on for winter many times)...ok so I think the problem may be the thermostat. The book says to test for bad thermostat by running a jumper wire between the two leads...I also tried touching the 2 wires directly (there are only 2 wires that come out of wall to thermostat. The burners don't light up and so now I'm thinking there is some problem with the wiring....that there may be no power. The fuse that powers the circulator is operating and the wires from the thermostat run to the boiler on the side with 2 screws. I'm at a lost as to what the problem can be. What other test could I possibly perform? Inside the biler where the bx cable runs into...there is power as I checked with voltage tester. I know the thermstat wires are low voltage and I was touching them. Could this be a gas problem? The pilot is on so I assume gas is reaching the area but I'm sure there is some gadget that controls the full output of the gas. Does this sound like anything you have dealt with? My mom would have called a heating guy but times are hard and the property taxes have to be paid. Thx for any info
 
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Old 10-31-05, 06:11 PM
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Thermostat wires

The thermostat may be either a 24 volt or millivolt thermostat. Most likely it is 24 volts. Use a volt meter to check voltage at the thermostat. If 24v is present, make sure gas valve is set to "on" & not pilot. If no 24v, the transformer is likely bad.
 
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Old 11-13-05, 01:08 AM
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Smile problem solved

Thx Grady, it was indeed a transformer/wiring problem. Ok now that has been corrected, I have a question about a much bigger boiler...supplying 24 units. Its a gas fired steam boiler and recently started making very loud banging noises (shoes in the dryer) Its not as bad now but initially some tenants thought the building was hit. We had the boiler guys come out and they replaced 5 main steam vents as I found them on the floor near boiler. It was unfortunate that they didn't get to hear the banging because they came later in the day and the banging only occured first thing in the morning when system is much cooler.The guys will be coming mon morning to do a cold start so they can hear it for themselves. I will shut down boiler late sunday night. When I talked to the boiler guy on the phone had the attitude like hey we get this all the time and we cant guarntee the noises will stop..what in the world could be causing this noise?...ive heard of knocking but this noise sounds destructive...like metal is going to give way....oh and one thing i notice was that the noise continued for about 4 minutes after the boiler shut off and then it sounded like running water in the system. One other note: due to increasing fuel prices, they have the boiler running less frequently...a lot of tenants are complaining that they are cold. Any feedback or thoughts would be appreciated
 
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Old 11-13-05, 06:10 AM
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Banging noise

My initial reaction would be that there is too much water in the system. Quite possibly due to a condensate return problem.
 
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Old 11-17-05, 12:26 AM
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Smile update

i am posting an update from the boiler repairs in case u should run into this another time. It turns out that the old boiler was still tied into the new one, so the guy isolated it and drained the old boiler. There is no more terrible banging noises. Also new Gorton no. 1's replaced the old main steam vents. He says they are the best vents you can buy.
 
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Old 11-17-05, 06:55 PM
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Thanks

Always glad to hear what the cause was. Glad you have it fixed.
 
 

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