Burnham furnace driving me crazy - need some help please

Bostonian1976

Hi all -



My Burnham gas/steam furnace (fairly new) has an issue going on.



When water level gets too low and the low water cutoff shuts the furnace off, simply refilling it won't get it going again despite hearing the 'click' of the low water cutoff (Honeywell gray box) coming back on. I have to bang on the thing to get it to ignite- even then it's touchy and can shut itself back off again if I were to bump it or sometimes on its own. The weird thing is once it's fine, it's fine until next low water situation. Please help. Is it simply just a bad low water cutoff switch? Thank you

nicholas bonham-carter

is this steam?

it apears that you have two problems at least-a leak [how often is this happenning] and a faulty pressuretol. if you can give us more information, we can help. some pictures downloaded here would be helpful.--nbc

World Plumber

pigtail

When you say little gray box. Do you mean like 3'X3" the pressuretrol. If so you probably have sludge in the pigtail. Is it black or brass?  If it is black have it replaced with a brass one. It could be sludge on the low water probe. There are numerous possibilities. Those are the two most likely.

    Does the water level bounce a lot? If so there could be oil in the system which would need to be skimmed out.

    How often are you adding water? You shouldn't be adding that much. If you adding more than once a month you have a leak, poor venting (leaky, not enough main) possibly over fired.

     Since I utilized what I learned at dead men don't lie steam class. I fill my boiler in November.

Oak Park Electric

Bad Burnham

The gray Honeywell box is your pressuretrol.  It shuts the burner off if the steam pressure reaches the setpoint, which is adjustable and should be low.  The low water cutoff, if you have a standard one, is a black cast iron triangle located somewhere near the gauge glass.  ( Where you see the water level )  Its job is to prevent a cracked boiler or explosion if you run out of water. Post a few pictures of the boiler, all sides, and point out what you have to hit.  Anytime the controls on a steam boiler are not working normally, it is very important that they be fixed right away and by somebody who knows what they are doing.  If it is the cutoff that is causing the problem, you have a critical safety issue and it MUST be repaired or replaced immediately.  How often is it needing water? Does the water line in the gauge glass move a lot when it fires?

Bostonian1976

Details

thanks all for the help so far.  This is a steam Burnham, and it's not too old looking at all.  I'll take some pictures when I get home.   There is a gray box directly on the side of the unit that goes into the boiler (I'm assuming that's the low water cutoff?) and then another gray box higher up with a numbered switch that can be moved up or down - I assume that's the pressure switch



The water doesn't move much when the boiler fires (if at all)



I'm pretty sure I'm just losing my water (have to fill once a week) through a radiator in my bathroom that hisses and never shuts its vent.   The dining room one recently started doing this as well.  I'd assume if the vent doesn't shut, moisture will keep coming out of it, correct?



This all started when I unintentionally overfilled the boiler past the glass tube.   It picked up a TON of crud and I had to flush it about 6-8 times just to get the water remotely clear (the water was actually thick the first time I flushed it after the overfill

World Plumber

Have it serviced

I would suggest you have the boiler serviced by a qualified service person. I have an idea of what is probably causing this. But you need someone who knows how to test and adjust the safety controls. Other wise your sitting on a bomb. Explain to him what is happening and that it was over filled. 

World Plumber

Have it serviced

I would suggest you have the boiler serviced by a qualified service person. I have an idea of what is probably causing this. But you need someone who knows how to test and adjust the safety controls. Other wise your sitting on a bomb. Explain to him what is happening and that it was over filled. 

Bostonian1976

Bomb

How am I sitting on a bomb? Please explain



My thought was just that the low water cutoff got clogged with crud and now everytime it gets too low it gets stuck in 'low' mode til I bang it back to 'full'



Am I off?

Gordan

It's sticking in low mode now...

But next time it could stick in the other mode. Given that you know you're losing water, a temperamental LWCO should put the fear of bad stuff happening into you.

Bostonian1976

thanks

I appreciate it - I just like understanding things





Well luckily it's a manual feed boiler, so the other mode would only tell it that it has water, correct?



Don't get me wrong - I don't like things not functioning 100% - but I don't see safety as a concern in this particular case?

Gordan

The other failure mode would tell it that it has water when it doesn't.

In other words, it would tell it that it's safe to fire when it isn't.



Whether the failure to have water has to do with a manual feed or an automatic feed will make little difference when that boiler decides to take flight (or at least self destruct) during a dry fire.

Bostonian1976

lwc

oh yeah that's scary - ok thanks I'll monitor the water level closely until fixed

World Plumber

Bomb

If your fortunate and only the LWCO is malfunctioning the boiler will crack. Less fortunate the house burns down. Tragedy someone dies. If the pressuretrole is getting pressure trapped in it and holding the boiler off. What happens if it doesn't see pressure? You could find your house in more than one county.

    I STRONGLY ADVISE HAVING SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO CHECK AND TEST THESE SAFETIES CHECK IT OUT.

MC