Intermittent oil burner ignition


  #41  
Old 01-17-15, 03:09 PM
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I checked the cad cell. The reading fluctuated between about 870 and 930 ohms. Is that good enough? It's certainly over 800, but I thought the spec was really higher than that. The controller is Honeywell, if that makes a difference.

Before checking the cad cell replaced the electrodes and set the gap with the gauge. I actually now have two gauges since the electrodes came with one. The Z dim was quite a bit off. I guess it wasn't too easy to get that one right with a ruler.

I'd been thinking it's the ignitor, since I know some high voltage electronics can be intermittent, but it tested good and I hate trying to fix problems by throwing parts at them. But with intermittent problems, sometimes you have to take your best guess. If it's common for igniters to fail, then that would make that a good guess. I have a Carlin electronic ignitor on my unit. Are these known to be problematic, or is that Beckett ignitors that are.
 
  #42  
Old 01-17-15, 03:37 PM
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It's certainly over 800, but I thought the spec was really higher than that
Actually, LOWER is better... When a CAD cell is DARK it reads very high resistance.

Yours seems a bit on the high side.
 
  #43  
Old 01-17-15, 04:16 PM
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So after writing my last post, I went to clean up and I found the safety had tripped again. I opened the window a bit and hit the reset. I heard the motor spin up, and I saw some smoke come out the window, but it didn't light. I hit the safety trip to shut it down. I didn't want it spraying a bunch of fuel in there and then lighting with that window open. So I closed the window and hit the reset. Again I heard the motor, but no flame. So I flipped the ignitor up and again it tested fine. So I put the igniter back in position, hit the reset, and it fired right up.

Well, if it's not starting, it's not a cad problem, so at least that seems to be eliminated. That basically brings me down to ignitor or controller. I think those are the only things left. So I think I will install a new ignitor and see what happens.
 
  #44  
Old 01-17-15, 04:42 PM
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Man, I hate intermittent problems. I think I'd try the ignitor. I had a couple that would arc when open but not closed. Figure that one out.
 
  #45  
Old 01-23-15, 10:07 AM
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Well I did install a new ignitor and so far so good. I hope I'm not too early in declaring success. It's been almost a week and so far all looks good. As frustrating as this whole thing might seem, I take comfort thinking about how much money the DIY thing saved me. I bet it would have taken a pro at least 2 or 3 visits to get it fixed. Either that or he would have installed a whole new burner, which would have cost a pretty penny as well. Thanks all.
 
 

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