keeping things safe ....

jpf321

So a friend of mine called me on Monday because he had no heat. He mentioned that his ignition control had melted (SF-8600). When I arrived, I think that it's lucky it melted. The following are the problems that he had ..



1) The bellows on his MM#67 LWCO float had accumulated some rust on the underside, therefore it would not freely drop when the water dropped .. it was being held up by only a few tiny specks of encrusted rust between the bellows sections. I could not believe that such a small amount of rust specks could keep the float from proper operation.



2) The *original 1989* 1/4" black street elbow that he had coming out of the top of his MM#67 to his brand new brass pigtail to brand new 404A Pressuretrol was plugged solid.



Obviously at this point he was sensing neither Pressure nor Low Water.



What had happened .. I think ...

On a cold day recently, the pop-safety blew and emptied all his water in fast action. The boiler kept going .. and melted his ignition.



We've since cleaned his #67 up nicely, we've replaced plugged black pressure El with a new brass one. We have replaced his pop-safety since he experienced it popped again on Monday night after we got him flame back monday afternoon. (after restoring flame on monday afternoon I alerted him to the problem with the #67 and we had scheduled it's overhaul for the next day, I did not notice plugged pressure elbow.)



I cannot stress enough that if you are reliant on a float-type LWCO (MM#67) you MUST test it WHILE THE BOILER is running to ensure proper operation.



The side of his boiler jacket was noticeably scorched. He was VERY LUCKY.