Help no heat propane boiler

king stud

Help ! I have a propane hot water boiler that fires up but wonyt stay running. Boiler hasnt been running since the fall,we had a new propane tank installed and filled with fuel @ 60% level. Boiler lites but runs for 10 minutes then shuts down, does this repeatedly. The stove and dryer seem to be fine, any help would be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

troubleshooting that could get

complicated, but your 1st possibility would be to check/test your flame sensor for cleanliness/electrical connection, and possibly millivolt output. but then again, this may not be the best format for that +. why not ask a local pro to look at it?

steve_170

i would look in the burner box for the flame rod and remove and cleanit with steel wool or worn out emory cloth and then wipe with clean cotton shirt.

Stephanie Custis (yes, Mark's wife)

Old dollar bills

work great for cleaning flame sensors.

Mark Eatherton

I don't know who started that rumour...

but it is GARBAGE. If you're going to clean a flame rod, CLEAN IT TO THE METAL, and quit dinking around with George Washington and his group of cohorts.

I suspect it was a manufacturers training agent who came up with it, who never actually tired it in the field, and it does not work.

Use scratch cloth, or if need be, the blade of a knife, drug along the flame rod at a right angle to get new metal exposed.

ME

Stephanie Custis (yes, Mark's wife)

OK

So try the green scott scratchy things. Depends on how dirty the flame sensor is.

king stud

Hey Steve thanks for the reply, the boiler is a slantfin victory ll propane boiler md# ch-90ep with a condensate pump.The green indicator lite is blinking indicating there is a problem.is the flame rod located in the area where you view the pilot lite burning,also the drain tube to the pump was clogged and the drain line was plugged up, could some sensor be sooted up from that. Thahks BOB ROTA.

king stud

THANKS FOR THE REPLY MIKE.

Unknown

King Stud

what is the number on the electronic control? Is it a United TEchnology 1012 number? With that information I can elp you diagnos your problem.

As for cleaning flame rods the only thing you should be using is a soft clean emory cloth or if you have one a Jewlers Burnishing Tool. Do not remove a lot of metal from the rod just clean it. Sometimes they get a silica coating on them from outgassing from the igniter cable. When that happens replace the igniter and cable. You can ohm out the rod and cable and should not get much more than .2 to .5 of an ohm of resistance, anything more than that replace rod and cable.

The drain tube from the pump being plugged will cause the presuure switch to keep knocking the job off. That should not soot up the sensor, if you have soot then you have combustion problems which will require a professional to look at it.

king stud

thanks Tim for the info.Had a service man look at it, he replaced the roll out switch and cleaned out the unit seems to be ok now.

Mark Eatherton

Why is that Tim...

You said "As for cleaning flame rods the only thing you should be using is a soft clean emory cloth or if you have one a Jewlers Burnishing Tool. Do not remove a lot of metal from the rod just clean it."

I use to follow this procedure, and had to keep going back for low flame signal lockouts. I gave up on trying to be gentle, and started taking the more abrasive/aggressive approach, and the call backs went away.

I looked up a jewelers burnishing tool, and can't tell, but it looks as though it has an abrasive finish (powered diamond?) on it, no?

Are these steel rods really THAT delicate that they can't take an annual aggressive cleaning?

They really don't lose much in the way of parent metal, but it knocks of that glazing that is acting like an insulator to the flow of electricity through the flame and rod.

Thank you for sharing your years and wealth of experience and knowledge.

ME

Unknown

Mark when I worked

with Honeywell the engineer Chuck Schilling (no relation to Curt) who invented the single rod system advised me that if you had to be that agressive with cleaning then replace the rod entirely. One of the things that happens is the bonding of silica from the outgassing on the cable due to hi temps near the rod or pilot depending on application. The ceramic can also break down at over 1000° (F)and coat the rod. This coating can't typically be removed by cleaning and will be indicated by a high ohm reading when running your meter probe up and down the rod (normal ohm reading .2 to .3 of an ohm). I cover this in my Electric Ignition Systems manual Vol I in the checkout procedure for all systems.