oil furnance intermitently trips on safety
#1
12-22-09, 01:40 PM
oil furnance intermitently trips on safety
Hi,
I am currently living in a rented house (Westchester NY). The furnace had its yearly pre-winter service about two months ago and in the past week has been failing to turn on when the temperature drops below the thermostat set point. This has been happening early in the morning.
If I push the reset button the burner starts right up, with a full nice looking yellow flame, runs for about 30 seconds and shuts off. If i push the reset button again, it does the same thing. About 30 seconds after it trips again, the central heat blower starts (I am assuming the furnace has gotten hot enough that the blower start limit is reached). While the blower is running if i push the reset one more time the furnace continues to run and does the normal turn on heat and turn off cycles until it trips again usually a few days later. This has happened three times so far.
Mercury type honewell thermostat
Honeywell blower limits set at 100 150 and 200
Forced air blower
Oil fired
One oil supply line with inline filter
Hallmark furnance, not sure of the age
Becker burner, not sure of the age
during the latest maintenance, the furnace was cleaned and the fuel/air was set but I'm not sure what else was done.
The furnace is pretty old and rusty. I would rather fix this myself than have to deal with my landlord
Any ideas?
I am currently living in a rented house (Westchester NY). The furnace had its yearly pre-winter service about two months ago and in the past week has been failing to turn on when the temperature drops below the thermostat set point. This has been happening early in the morning.
If I push the reset button the burner starts right up, with a full nice looking yellow flame, runs for about 30 seconds and shuts off. If i push the reset button again, it does the same thing. About 30 seconds after it trips again, the central heat blower starts (I am assuming the furnace has gotten hot enough that the blower start limit is reached). While the blower is running if i push the reset one more time the furnace continues to run and does the normal turn on heat and turn off cycles until it trips again usually a few days later. This has happened three times so far.
Mercury type honewell thermostat
Honeywell blower limits set at 100 150 and 200
Forced air blower
Oil fired
One oil supply line with inline filter
Hallmark furnance, not sure of the age
Becker burner, not sure of the age
during the latest maintenance, the furnace was cleaned and the fuel/air was set but I'm not sure what else was done.
The furnace is pretty old and rusty. I would rather fix this myself than have to deal with my landlord
Any ideas?
#2
12-22-09, 04:15 PM
Banned. Rule And/Or Policy Violation
Frankly, I would be very cautious about getting in between you and your landlord's responsibility to make the heating system work.
Possibly someone will have something simple you can check that might be the problem. But beyond that, I's spend my time motivating the owner to do the job you are paying him to do with a rent check.
As a landlord myself for 22 years now, this is by far the worst time I've had re renting my one remaining rental house. A good tenant is GOLD these days who should be coddled.
My suggestion is to take advantage of your bargaining power and require the owner to do his job.
Possibly someone will have something simple you can check that might be the problem. But beyond that, I's spend my time motivating the owner to do the job you are paying him to do with a rent check.
As a landlord myself for 22 years now, this is by far the worst time I've had re renting my one remaining rental house. A good tenant is GOLD these days who should be coddled.
My suggestion is to take advantage of your bargaining power and require the owner to do his job.
#3
12-22-09, 04:43 PM
Yeah.
And why would you be afraid to deal with your landlord regarding something that is required of the landlord? Got a dog or cat there that you are not supposed to have? Or owe him back-rent or something?
It's too bad in a way, because with your post and pics and all, you would probably like to learn something about furnaces, and maybe get some hands-on experience.
And why would you be afraid to deal with your landlord regarding something that is required of the landlord? Got a dog or cat there that you are not supposed to have? Or owe him back-rent or something?
It's too bad in a way, because with your post and pics and all, you would probably like to learn something about furnaces, and maybe get some hands-on experience.
#4
12-22-09, 04:53 PM
Originally Posted by ecman51`
Yeah.
And why would you be afraid to deal with your landlord regarding something that is required of the landlord? Got a dog or cat there that you are not supposed to have? Or owe him back-rent or something?
It's too bad in a way, because with your post and pics and all, you would probably like to learn something about furnaces, and maybe get some hands-on experience.
And why would you be afraid to deal with your landlord regarding something that is required of the landlord? Got a dog or cat there that you are not supposed to have? Or owe him back-rent or something?
It's too bad in a way, because with your post and pics and all, you would probably like to learn something about furnaces, and maybe get some hands-on experience.
Yea I am interested in hvac. Took some classes on it in college and I think next year I am going to take the class for the NYC hvac engineer test.
Oh well, I guess I'll call the landlord tomorrow. Any thoughts though on what the problem might be?
#5
12-22-09, 06:40 PM
Banned. Rule And/Or Policy Violation
Personally I was always glad to explain to people how their equipment worked or wasn't working, and to explain the diagnostic methods I was using. That might be an education.
Good luck!
Good luck!
#6
12-22-09, 06:59 PM
The fact you can reset it and have it run for all those seconds -every single time you do it, may be an interesting clue. If a fuel delivery issue, could be from pulling a vacuum in the oil tank or clogged filter or screen issue. Because in each of those cases, after shut down, there could be some recovery again.
But if the shutdown is abrupt without fluttering it's way to a stop - maybe something like the cad cell might be dirty, shot, or detecting a bad flame. Can they really go 30 seconds though in such condition or with a poorer than desired flame, I do not know.
Maybe one of the oil burner experts and/or mod might help you "learn" what may be wrong, without telling you so much that you take some legal risk and try to fix what in essense is your landlord's property and his legal responsiblity - regarding al phases of legality, including supplying heat to tenants, and being responsible for any risk that could happen as a result of any work on the furnace. Even your landlord would likely be required to have a professional fix it, from an insurance liability standpoint. You stand a lot to lose if you tamper and mess something up! Don't even think about moving one part on that thing!
But if the shutdown is abrupt without fluttering it's way to a stop - maybe something like the cad cell might be dirty, shot, or detecting a bad flame. Can they really go 30 seconds though in such condition or with a poorer than desired flame, I do not know.
Maybe one of the oil burner experts and/or mod might help you "learn" what may be wrong, without telling you so much that you take some legal risk and try to fix what in essense is your landlord's property and his legal responsiblity - regarding al phases of legality, including supplying heat to tenants, and being responsible for any risk that could happen as a result of any work on the furnace. Even your landlord would likely be required to have a professional fix it, from an insurance liability standpoint. You stand a lot to lose if you tamper and mess something up! Don't even think about moving one part on that thing!
