Carlin 1150FD Flame Failures

JStar

Carlin 1150FFD with a Fireye control in a steam boiler. We did the maintenance, changed nozzles, electrodes, etc. Now we get random flame failures hours after running fine. The new nozzles were the factory recommended Semi Solid type. They gave us almost immediate flame failure. We put the old Solid nozzles back in, and now it will run for hours before failing. Seems to always fail overnight. It also won't run steadily unless the primary air is adjusted higher than normal.



I'm thinking a draft problem as the temperature drops at night...?

heatpro02920

Did it work before?

did this start after your maintenance or was the problem already there? I would make sure the the air shutter assembly {linkage counterweight, ect} is moving freely. When I come accross a problem with a 1050 or 1150ffd, I start over, get the specs from your carlin book and put everything back to start... Im talking, fuel pressures, drawer measurements, nozzles, ect.. Then go from there, measure the draft at breach, over fire... I had one of these drive us crazy, after we did a cleaning, it was running perfect until we did the yearly.. It would run for a couple days and lock out, and sometimes it would lock out 20 minutes after we left... But never when we were there... After a SOLID week, and at least 3 hours of service not counting the cleaning, I was there and it went to high fire but the second nozzle never kicked in, I replaced the solenoid and it never happened again... It had some debris inside it, maybe from when we changed the filters, but it was hanging up every once and a while and then the air shutter was blowing out the flame... 30gph of air is enough to blow out the first stage pretty fast... I have a plating factory I maintain that has 4 -1150ffd's all firing over 30gph in Weil mclain monsters... 120 gallons an hour is enough to heat all the houses in my neighborhood..

add

what is the failure code on

the FIRE EYE control.Since this is a commercial unit I  suggest to post again on the new commercial site '' HVAC COMMERCIAL".I just started this past winter with commercial units and i had a good share of draft issues. The fireeye controls that i encounter put me on the right track with their failure codes.Good luck.

JStar

Failure

It's always an MTFI or AUTO failure. Lights off fine, then fails during the burn.

JStar

Solution

Damn, I hate to admit this, but the fuel pump strainer was dirty. Too may late nights this week, I guess. Thanks, heatpro for the good direction.

heatpro02920

your welcome J

I know how it is, last week, I had a 1am service call, close to my house so I took it myself, beckett burner with a clogged nozzle, changed the nozzle started it up ran perfect, took off... About 5 minutes later they called to say it was leaking oil, I told them to shut it off, I went back... I never tightened the jet line, I tightened the jam nut instead{done it a million times just this time it was late I was tired and...whatever} it was only a small drip, about a 4" spot on the floor, tightened the line, speedy dry and odor kill, and all was good but, just one of them things....

I have been through them commercial boilers a lot, and there is simply too much that can be "off", I have done it more than once, start over, take it all apart and put it back together to factory specs, most likely you are going to find the problem or fix it with out knowing what it was, either way the end result is fixed...

JStar

Update

Ran for a week and failed again. Went there today. Cleaned EVERYTHING. Pump, solenoids, oil lines, filter housing.



If you dial in the numbers by the book, it won't even fire. Right now it's running. Startup/low fire flame signal in the 40's. High fire 70-80. I noticed the flame signal drop as soon as it transitions from low to high, but climbs to a good signal within 5 seconds. I think the high fire solenoid is opening slitly behind the increase in primary air, causing this to happen.

heatpro02920

hmmmm...

You watched your pumps pressures in conjunction with your signal? That should give some insight into whats going on....Setup a gauge on each stage

JStar

Update

Pump pressure stayed rock steady through all firing rates.



UPDATE

We installed 2 parallell 30 GPH filters right at the burner. Did that on Monday and haven't heard about it since. The original basket strainer had flakes and gunk after 1 day of operation. I think the tank is deteriorating, sending a whole mess of junk into the burner.

heatpro02920

This sounds like an oil problem

I am leaning towards oil problem.... Intermittent issues are the worse, good luck, keep us informed..

icesailor

Filters:

Did you add a couple of spin-on Garber type filters or add another POS canister type that lets all that crud slip by?

Notice who now owns GarBer filters? General Filters. They know that the competition had a better product. Diesel trucks and tractors do NOT use yarn spun filter elements in their fuel or hydraulic systems. Only pleated paper packs. Anyone still using cloth filters on oil is on the edge of being a knucklehead.

JStar

Filters

Sid Harvey's 265-12a 30GPH bio filters.



I liked the idea of being able to see the filter after hours of use.

heatpro02920

Garber filter or not,

I can live with out garber filters, I don't like the fact they are so tough to take off {untrained or in a hurry tech can cause problems from twisting too hard}, they can be punctured so easily {I seen this happen, a customer pushed an old milk crate by his tank and the metal corner of the crate sliced the garber open like a can opener, I don't know if you ever tried to tell a home owner how to shut a firomatic off while oil is pouring out of his tank but it is harder than it sounds}, You can not inspect them and return them to service {need to open them up to inspect}, they cost a lot more than a regualr fb4 or general element, they can make your pumps louder {I have seen this quite often}, they take longer to prime on a cleaning, and there are a few other down falls...



But I do install them on some systems, I like to install them above the tank though, on overhead runs, I install them on the wall above tank level on unistrut mounts....