Start up sequence for boiler?

jim_14

Hi All,

I have a Burnham gas 1 pipe steam boiler with a hot water loop for the basement. I was wondering what process the boiler controls goes thru before it actually starts the boiler when I call for heat via the t-stat (for the steam heat- i have a seperate tstat for the basement hot water heat).

I have a damper,LWCO,pressuretrol,high pressure cutoff, roll out switch (i believe i do), etc.



I know from experience, that one time my boiler wouldnt turn on until I switched the damper off, and that allowed it to come on. So I am thinking that the damper was the first step in the process and when it failed to open it cut off the rest of the sysem.

I dont know why that happened, but on the next firing up for heat the damper did work (obviosuly I switched it back on before hand)



Can someone walk me through the start up sequence? I am curious as how all the safety controls work and possibly troubleshooting it in the future if one should fail..

Rod

Some Things are Best Left to a Pro

Hi Jim- I'm not quite sure how best to answer you. Some of these controls are important safety items and if you don't really understand how they work, you should leave troubleshooting and repair to a pro. 

If you want to learn about the controls I would first read the installation manual for your boiler cover to cover particularly the wiring diagrams and I would also get the manuals for the individual controls and study them.  After doing that, if you possess an elementary electrical  and mechanical background, the function of the controls and trouble shooting should be self evident.  Even if you do learn these, some things are still better left to a pro as they have the proper tools (like computerized combustion analyzers) and the experience.  Example: You might be able to figure out part "X" was bad but a Pro on finding "x" was bad would know that means part "Y" and "Z" also should be replaced.

If you have problems finding the manuals let us know as we may have them.

- Rod

jim_14

I understand what you mean

and I doubt I would get into it that deeply in the event of a problem ( i used a pro to install it and ive called pro's in the past for my previous boiler)



I am really just curious on what the system goes thru, step by step, before it allows the burner to fire

Rod

Burnham I&O Manual

Again I would suggest reading the I&O manual that came with the boiler. Burnham manuals are pretty good at describing operation.

- Rod