Heat fired for the first time this morning and......


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Old 09-25-12, 04:23 PM
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Heat fired for the first time this morning and......

I have a Crown Aruba boiler and baseboard heat. This morning, it fired up for the first time this season, and I noticed that the cycle was real short and the baseboards barely got warm. When I got home from work I decided to check it out, and I manually raised the t-stat in one of the zones from 68 to 74. The room temp at the time was 68. I heard the boiler fire up, and it ran for about 3-5 minutes, and then shut off. The boards were barely warm. I looked at the t-stat and the temp was 69. I would have expected the boiler to continue to run (or at least the circulator pump) until the 74 degree temp was reached.

Thoughts ?. Just trying to head off a failure when it is really cold.

For the record, I never shut the system off. Ever. In the summer, the pilot runs, and the power always stays on.
 
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Old 09-25-12, 04:43 PM
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It sounds as though one of the safeties may have tripped off the burner.

There are generally two on gas fired boilers, a FLAME ROLLOUT SWITCH ( FRS ) and a BLOCKED VENT SWITCH ( BVS ).

If there is any obstruction in the boiler heat exchanger, such as rust flakes, etc, or any blockage in the chimney / flue pipe, these will sense that unsafe condition and shut down the boiler.

When was the last time it was looked at by a technician?

Unless you are very handy, it would be wise to call a tech at this point.

Are you (handy) ? Do you want to try to check things out yourself? Do you own and know how to use a multimeter?
 
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Old 09-25-12, 04:55 PM
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I can handle a multimeter.........God I hope it's not a chimney problem.

Wait......it can't be because the water heater vents to the same chimney and I don't have any problems there.

I just opened the cover and cleaned out some spider webs from near the burners, but I am SURE that is not the problem. Maybe I'll try to fire it up with the cover off and see how the burners look ?.

I'd hate to shell out hundreds for something stupid. Any suggestions you have will be appreciated.
 
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Old 09-26-12, 05:14 AM
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Did you happen to check the rad(s) for air?
If you hadn't bleed the rads since they last where used, you may have gotten a bit of air in them.
 
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Old 09-26-12, 05:53 AM
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I'm thinking it's not one of the safeties... because:

The 'rollout switch' is a one time thermal fuse. If it opens, it stays open until the part is replaced. It is not resettable.

The 'blocked vent switch' IS resettable, but only manually. You would have to push a little button on the safety switch.

This leads us to Mike's thinking... if there is air in the rads, or for some other reason perhaps there is not enough water in the boiler, it would heat up very quickly, hit it's high limit and shut down. The same would be true in the even there was a problem with the circulator not running.

So, the next step is to take a look at the TEMP / PRESSURE gauge on the boiler and tell us what you see on that gauge.

When the boiler fires up, can you tell if the circulator is running or not ?
 
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Old 09-26-12, 06:41 AM
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I heard the boiler fire up, and it ran for about 3-5 minutes, and then shut off. The boards were barely warm. I looked at the t-stat and the temp was 69. I would have expected the boiler to continue to run (or at least the circulator pump) until the 74 degree temp was reached.

Are you sure the circ was not running? If it was not it sounds like a t stat issue. What make and model stat?

And yes post pressure and temp from boiler gauge.
 
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Old 09-26-12, 06:55 AM
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If my thoughts about air in the rad is incorrect, does your t-stat control the circulation pump or a valve?

Do you have more then one zone?
If yes, does the other zone work as expected?
 
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Old 09-26-12, 01:27 PM
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OK, so it would appear the circulation pump is working because the radiators did get warm, and that can only mean water moved thru the pipes. HOWEVER, when the boiler shut off...EVERYTHING shut off including the pump. Under normal operation, the pump should have remained running until the temp was reached. As for air in the system, I bled this system in early spring. I have a hard time thinking that enough air would have come in to make a difference. Last winter the rads were banging most of the winter until I got fed up and bled the system and then it was quiet as a mouse. As far as the pressure gauge, it went from about 12 to 20 psi which is close to what I have observed at other times....(in the really cold weather it may hit 22-24 on the gauge). Temp wise, it made it to 140 before it shut off. Normally I would see around 160 or so when running a long time.

Right at this moment, with the boiler OFF for 24 hours, the gauge shows ~15 psi and the temp is below 100. Allowing for gauge error, I am going to say this is normal ?.

Re: the t-stats.......I have 2 Honeywell CT3500 upstairs (one per floor).



Downstairs in the basement (where I did the afternoon test), I have a LUX 500.



All t-stats have been working with this system for over 8 years.
 

Last edited by fxcarden; 09-26-12 at 01:58 PM.
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Old 09-26-12, 01:40 PM
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Mike,

The t-stats control valves. I have 3 zones. It seems that the zone doesn't matter since all rads got to about the same level of warmth.
 
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Old 09-26-12, 04:30 PM
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Are the valves opening? What model/make valves do you have?
 
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Old 09-26-12, 05:27 PM
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OK ironically I have the lux t stats/ They failed after less then 2 yrs.... garbage IMO.

I e mailed lux. I had the 500 b series. He said there was a 3 yr warranty. He asked me the S/N and sent me two new. Sent me the 500E.

All I know is Lux....Su....


Anyway we will see how they do.


My issue? No heat in the morning....T stat not kicking on,,,, Etc. They kept telling me battery issue. I changed them all the time....


Although you may have a batt. issue. Start there. If no change e mail lux. They are very good.
 

Last edited by lawrosa; 09-26-12 at 07:33 PM.
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Old 09-26-12, 05:56 PM
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Well......somehow it seems to be working now

I tried the basement and first floor, and the boiler ran without shutting down.....

Maybe it needed to wake up after a long summer.
 
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Old 09-26-12, 07:36 PM
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Ok sorry to be vague. With the lux it was thew heat/cool switch that went faulty. Slide it up and down several times to make good contact. And change the batteries.....

Hope this helps.
 
 

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