Different indirect HW setup

jrc2905

I answered a service call of smoke in the house. The problem was a HW 8184 where the relay was welded together. The primary would not shut off, it was lucky the homeowner had an office outside the boiler room and was home to shut the system off when he saw smoke coming from the boiler. The boiler had lost its flame and was just pumping oil. This is why I do not use this type of primary control.
But while I was there I checked out the entire system back to the service switch. The boiler had some really screwy piping. What caught my eye was the indirect. The indirect circulator was operating off the indirect aquastat. This circuit was pigtailed off L1 at the triple aquastat. No relay controlling the indirect, just power to the circulator on/off controlled by the indirect aquastat.
So I asked the homeowner how his hot water was, he said great. Five people in the house and they always have plenty of hot water. His oil consumption was better than mine at my house having state of the art equipment and out door reset.
So I asked myself why am I using a circulator control relay when installing an indirect on an existing triple aquastat when a simple system like this does just as well and maybe better?

Joe Brix

I guess

he had the low limit set very high? Just like you would if you had a tankless coil. If this was a high mass boiler it might be more efficent then letting the boiler cool off too much between hot water calls and then wait 15-20 for the burner to bring it back up to temp.

Ted_4

8184

The possibility of welded contacts makes me uncomfortable too. Lucky the homeowner had the good sense to shut things down! What primary control do you prefer?

Tundra

I have had good luck with the Carlin 40-200 and 60-200 primary controls.

jrc2905

I use Carlin primary controls. I did not mention it before but the homeowner told me that he had a service tech there a few weeks ago who kept making “sparks” and went through 3 primary controls. The tech blamed it on the service switch, I am sure that had something to do with the control welding together.
I did check the entire electrical system to make sure it was ok. This was a million dollar home with a Steinway grand piano in the hall, I was wondering how do you clean soot out of a grand piano?

RianS

no flame

The transformer must have gone bad too. I would have never thought that could happen.

Guy_6

wiring

If the transformer was on it's way out, it may have been causing a back feed or high amperage situation which ultimately led to the control(s) failing. 3 controls??? Something else was up there, not JUST the controls

jrc2905

Somehow the boiler lost its flame because there was smoke in the house due to the oil being pumped into a hot chamber. Perhaps there was a power surge for a moment. Now that I think about it there was a construction company working out side on this house with air compressors, maybe they tripped a breaker. Will never know.