Pure Pro Boiler Furnace malfunctioning again?

Dani

Hi,



I'm new here so I'm hoping I'm in the right place for this question.  We just had a brand new Pure Pro Trio P4 Model #T403096 installed in our home.  The plumber who installed it changed our heating system two a two zone system with a thermostat downstairs and upstairs. 



The furnace worked great for weeks, then the same company came out and installed programmable thermostats, one up and one down.  That's when all the trouble began.



Zone 2 upstairs started malfunctioning. The furnace was sending heat, when it was not being requested.  Turning the thermostat down all the way made no difference. it kept sending hot water upstairs and the temps upstairs reached near 80 degrees.  The furnace continually would cycle and run, the hi temp warning light on the computer box thing would turn on and then the furnace would shut down, but as soon as the temp of water went down the warning light would go off and the furnace would turn back on again... 



After being on the phone with them all afternoon and evening, they walked me through removing the programmable and had me re-install our regular one upstairs. That didn't help, it continued to do what it had been doing. 



Upstairs was well over 80 degrees by morning and finally I got the plumber to come out.  They said something about the computer system getting tripped or something because their person who installed the thermostat upstairs must have touched the wires against each other?



They said they  "reset" the computer system somehow ... and it was working for about half a day, but we woke up the following morning to an extremely over hot upstairs again.  The system is doing the same thing again, upstairs is hovering at about 70 degrees this time... and furnace keeps running, then trips, cools off, then starts up again....



Downstairs has a programmable still, and the downstairs is functioning normally.....



Getting a hold of this plumber is nearly impossible, doesn't answer phone and doesn't return calls.  Which is ticking me off cause its only a month old and it was fine until they installed these thermostats.



Has anyone had any experience with this hot water furnace?  I have no idea about this kind of stuff....



any help and or insight would be greatly appreciated.



thanks



Dani

STEVEusaPA

it's possibly...

the wiring of the upstairs thermostat.  The easiest way to test, is for a qualified service tech to disconnect the thermostat wires at the control.  If the wires are disconnected, and the circulator runs, or the zone valve is still letting hot water pass, then we'll check something else.

 Do the 2 zones have zone valves or circulators?

Reading further down on your post, are you telling me the lazy a$$ contractor had YOU reinstall the thermostat?  Yeah it's possible you couldve shorted out something, or he couldve shorted out something when he installed the programmables, but thats his fault, not yours.

Here's what I would do.  Tell him if he doesnt wish to come out and fix this pronto, you'll call the manufacturer, have him & one of their recommended contractors come out and do the plumbers job, and of course you'll send the plumber the bill.

A few more questions....

When you said the furnace would shut off on high limit, was the upstairs also getting overheated?

It's possible he burned out something in the control.  I would call the manufacturer for help.  They want their product to work, and they also want to know who can't install them correctly

Dani

an update

Hi,



Thank you so much for  trying to help me out with this. I appreciate it so much!



Yes, unfortunately after multiple phone calls that night back and forth where all they kept telling me was to lower the preset temperature on the upstairs programmable... At nine o'clock that night I was walked through the process on the phone of removing the new programmable and putting back the old honeywell thermostat which we luckily kept.  Their reasoning was it was too late and it was a long drive so they had me do it....  That didn't fix the issue, it kept getting hotter upstairs. The pipes never cooled down, they stayed piping hot.



Yeah, the yellow light on the control box would light up and highlight the "hi temp" and the furnace would shut down, but the hot water never stopped going upstairs. so by the time morning hit we were over 80 degrees upstairs even though we had the thermostat set to 50.



They told me today to stop worrying about the yellow hi temp light that comes on, because all that does is tell you that the furnace is heating up.  I looked in the pamphlet that came with the furnace but from what I read the yellow light was a bad thing....



I managed to finally get a supervisor on the phone and basically told him what you recommended I tell them... and after three back and forth calls they came out.   They said that a new valve they installed for the second floor plumbing was broken/stuck open, when I asked the plumber if it was new (because believe it or not, he used old pieces off my old furnace on my new furnace which he had to replace previously...) he got all nasty with me and said of course it was new and that it wasn't his fault that it wasn't working.



He drained the system and took the valve out and the inside of it was filled with all kinds of gunky stuff that was keeping it from closing.   The plumber wanted to scrape it out and leave it but the supervisor told him to replace his dirty/broken "new part" with another "new part" Somehow I don't think it was new.....  (they tried blaming town water on the issue, but i thought that my heating system was a closed system)... Either way we've been here almost four years and we never had this problem with our old furnace...



I added pictures of the system and I hope that will make sense of what is actually down there... I don't understand any of this stuff.... The last picture, that was the part that he replaced. 



Right now I don't know if that fixed it, cause its so hot upstairs still the furnace hasn't turned on yet... but it isn't cycling repetitively so we'll have to see... I really am concerned about this apparent fly by night shady crew..... I really wish they would have let me choose my own plumber....



 

Dani

never say it cant get worse....

now we dont have heat in zone1 downstairs.  and pipes upstairs are only making gushing and gurgling noises... 

AMH112181

Would not fly here

Just using the Romex wire to the circ pumps would not pass inspection here(maine). Looking at that I can only imagine what the rest looks like.

Dani

and it just keeps getting better and better.....

Now it looks like the "new" valve he installed for zone1, our downstairs broke in the closed position, the pipe from the circulator for the downstairs is cold too.... everything this plumber touched is going to heck in a hand basket....



apparently he spliced and capped pieces of wire together for my thermostats too.... they cant come out until sometime tomorrow now.... so no heat downstairs.... and we're in Vermont.....



i think this plumber has completely destroyed my new furnace..... (he's also responsible for the wiring as I got lectured by him that he's a master electrician and licensed plumber and this stuff not working is not his fault.....

Paul48

bypass

Where's the bypass for that low mass boiler? Oh boy.....If all else fails, read the directions.That's not directed at the poster,just the installation.

Dani

whats that?

What's a bypass?



I'm gonna go downstairs and look for the manual...





ok the only manual i have is for the led control box... he didn't leave me a manual for the furnace...actually I have no paperwork.

STEVEusaPA

I really am sorry for your frustration

Youre right to be diligent. You're getting a BS rap from this guy. The 3rd pic in your second post is a flow chek. It's job is to prevent flow into the zone NOT calling. You should have 2. In all likelihood the crud is a result of the replacement. If I saw that much crud in the check valve, I would've removed/checked the other one. Probably just as cruddy. At this point they should flush the entire system. But the worst part is, they still haven't solved your problem.

'Stop worrying about the yellow light' is an asinine statement made by someone who just isn't good at their job.

The gurgling noise is because after draining some of the system, he didn't take the time to bleed the system properly.

Master electrician/licensed plumber? He's a hack, plain and simple. Have an electrical inspector come over and tell him he did a professional job.

Judging by the latest pics/post, the main problem is probably the thermostat wiring.

Ask if it he wants to reimburse you when you bring over an actual professional. If he doesn't want to take the time to get this right, he should step aside, maybe even stop over when the pro is fixing it, and learn a thing or two.

Dani

gonna have to make phone calls tomorrow

I looked, there are two of those things.  He didn't bother to look at the second one, and now that one isn't working. 



All of that piping and those flowchek things were installed new when the new furnace went in, they are only four weeks old.... so this crud appeared because of the removal of the old furnace?



We asked about them flushing the system. They said they wont do that, they were only hired to remove the old one and put the new one in, and that to flush the system would be an extra expense.



I was also told this evening on the phone that if another plumber works on the system it will void my warranty.   this furnace and all its systems are just barely over a month old....

Paul48

documentation

You should have documentation for everything installed with the system. I believe this is the manual for your boiler http://trioboiler.com/pdf/PurePro_Boiler_10-1-11_Manual.pdf

Dani

thank you!

thank you for that PDF file of the manual! I've been trying to get paperwork for this furnace since it was installed.... just getting the run around....



Gonna load it and print it out so i have a hard copy.

Paul48

info

Get the information off the circulators, and any of the other components that have make or model #'s on them, and you can get the literature online.

Dani

defective pieces

So the plumber is back, and now according to FW Webb the flochek valve for the second floor is defective, they wanted him to cut it out and bring it back and they would give him a new one to replace it.  He told me that he was going to leave the valve and put in a secondary set of checks to prevent any more leaking past the leaking one.



At that I put my diminutive foot down, and said absolutely not which wasn't easy for me.  Told him that this is a new system and you will not knowingly leave a defective part in there. 



Since I have no choice but  to let him do the repairs to keep my warranty I will let him do this stuff.  Then I will have an inspector come in and look at the system, and then go from there.

kcopp

Where in ....

the Green Mtn. State.?  I hail from there and was just up that way this past weekend... doing work @ my brothers place.