Ok, Here it goes...

About a month ago I replaced the circulator pump and everything was working fine. Then the other day the heat stopped.. lol

The boiler turns on and fires for approx 4 mins, then stops.
The supply line is "warm", the return line is "warm"
The circulator pump is running, the zone valves run when set to manual and also on auto (tested by turning thermostat on and off).
The baseboards are cold. The first baseboard which is only (approx) 8 feet from the boiler in the first zone is cold to the touch.
The pressure gauage says 20 psi.

What I have tried...

1) Bleed lines to remove any air, alot of steam came out the first time around.
Fired the boiler up, rans for 4 mins stopped. Everything else continued to run.
2) Bleed lines a second time, again alot of steam.
Fired up boiler, again ran for approx 4 mins.
3) Let the boiler go cold, shut it down. Completely drained the system, both zones. Filled the system back up using zone 2 to fill and have zone 1 open to force any air out. Pressure back to 20 psi.
Fired up boiler, approx 4 mins run time, boiler shuts off and circulator and zone valves run. It also heats the hot water, which was hot. Baseboards, still cold to the touch, return line warm to the touch.

I am baffled that...
1) the boiler only runs for 4 mins (never did that before)
2) that the return line is "warm" to the touch but the baseboards are cold to the touch.

What should I try next.. Sledgehammer maybe?

 

Your problem has nothing to do with water or air in the lines.
If your boiler is not firing or for only 4 minutes....that's your problem.

Is this a nat gas, propane or oil fired boiler.
Make and model would be helpful too.

 

Have you verified the accuracy of the boiler gauge?
All valves open? Gate valves are notorious for the stem snapping off inside the valve.

 

Its an oil fired boiler and I am gathering up all the model info and will post that in a minute.

 

American Standard Boiler
ArcoFlame Oil Burner Model DH-5
Honeywell AquaStat Protectorelay R8182D

Temp Setting: High: 210 Low: 140 Diff: 20

SledgeHammer: 16 lbs

 

I am beginning to believe that it might be the aquastat that is bad.
It has been an hour since the boiler fired up and the ciculator is still running.
The thermostat on zone 1 is set to 72 and the pipes are cold so it seems that the aquastat is tlling the circulator to get moving but it is not telling the boiler to turn on or off correctly. Maybe I am wrong, I have read that the aquastats can cause alot of the problems.

 

What doess the temp read on the boiler?

But this would not make sense.

 

If it is not moving any water, it doesn't surprise me the burner only runs for a few minutes before shutting off.

Make sure the circulator is pointing in the right direction. Check the arrow on the casing.

 

There is no temp gauge on the boiler, so I could not even begin to tell you what that might be.

The circulator pump is pointed in the right direction.. lol.
I was very very careful and slow when installing that. I checked and double checked everything. PJMax even helped me out then with the wiring to make sure everything was correct.

 

Do you have any pics of the boiler you can share?

 

Ok, Here is an update...
I guess it really was the aquastat.
Late last night or I should say early morning I heard alot of noise and went down to the boiler room. When I opened the door, it was like the boiler was possessed, there was alot of "clicking" noises, the boiler was firing on and off. It got so bad that the boiler actually looked like it was rocking or maybe it was my tired eyes. I flipped the emergency switch off, took a look around and saw the transformer in front of the boiler smoking, the "B1" on the aquastat was smoking and now blackened.

So now I am going to take today and think about what to do. The boiler is very old and I was planning on replacing it this spring but was hoping to make it thru this winter.. oh well only (hopefully) a month to go before winter is over.

So now I come to ask a different set of questions.
Given now that I am going to replace it what would you replace it with?
What are your recommendations? Suggestions?
Do I switch over to electric baseboard heat?

Thanks for all the help

 

Take a pic of your system. Temporary you can replace the aquastat to get you through the rest of the winter.

One thing most important is to do a heat loss of the home. read the stickys at the top of this forum. You will find a heat loss calculator and some additional information.

Once you determine the heat loss you can then pick out a boiler based on that ,and whats in your budget.

You can stay traditional or go with a high eff unit, but the high eff will be substantially more $$$$

Prices will vary depending on where you are in NJ