LAARS Endurance EBP110 Gas Boiler

cpecci20

Hi, My LAARS boiler is continuing to go into Lock Out (LO) mode and requires to be reset it. In the last 8 months I've replaced the ignitor, control board and cleaned the burner and reinstalled with new gaskets. Gas pressure, CO2 levels ok and exhanust is pitched correctly and nothing is obstructing it. Any advice?

Sam81

I had once the same problem, after I replaced the wiring harness and the reset button it stopped

cpecci20

Do we just communicate on here or can we contact each other? Thanks.

Tom_133

Hey cpecci20, Laars Endurance's can be finicky. The burner cleaning is a good step but the heat exchanger could be dirty still which isn't easy or fun to clean. Also you say the CO2 is good but how are you testing that? How is the unit getting its fresh air? I have seen in the past the concentric style venting can get leaks and cross contamination shuts it down. Is it firing at all or immediately locking out?

cpecci20

Hey Tom, Thanks for the info.. I was told the CO2 was measured but I am doubting that now. The unit is 10 yrs old and I inherited this unit 1.5 yrs ago when I bought my house. It does have the concentric style vent and I bet as you stated I am getting cross contamination in one of the joints. When it locks out I hit the reset button and it fires back up nicely, no noises, etc.. Right now it seems to lock out every 8-12 hrs and its been consistent. I'm sure it's just going to get worse until I fix the problem. I don't want frozen pipes again this winter. I need to find someone asap to come here and verify the CO2. IS it possible to seal the joints with high temp. sealant? Any more advice would be appreciated.

Zman

You can click on the members name and send them a message by clicking a button in the upper right corner.
As for your boiler, not one of the finer products to come out of Laars.

Tom_133

I fully agree with Zman, it sounds like a plugged heat exchanger or needs a full clean and tune. If it fires back up and runs for 8-12 hours make sure the anti condensation switch is working. It may actually be stuck or broken and so for those 8-12 hours it's condensing and that will snuff out the burner due to the condensate in the heat exchanger. The anti condensation part is the black plastic piece that says honey well with the white spring loaded plastic switch on the left side of it. Unless your model uses the zone valve instead.

cpecci20

Hey Tom, thanks for the info.. I know I said my exhaust vent is clear and pitched correctly but LAARS tech support told me I could be getting cross contamination between the air intake and the exhaust. I think I will try to disassemble and reinstall my vent and re-seal with high temp silicone. The unit is 10 years old. What do you think?

Tom_133

I would be very careful with any venting there is substantial danger there. Make sure you are protected with CO detectors that work in your home. Also, the unit shouldn't run for 8-10 hours with cross contamination, and one way to find out if thats whats happening is to leave the front door off and allow the unit to pull fresh air from the room maybe over a 24 hour period. Again, make sure you are protected with CO detectors that work in your home. When the door is off it will pull air from the room and eliminate the cross contamination possibility. How are you draining the condensate that drips back in from the vent, is there a tee that you can see in the vent, is there staining from around the top of the heat exchanger?

cpecci20

Yes I have staining on top of the heat exchanger but it seems to be old stains and not new or wet. I took the panel off and will let it run for 24hrs and see if I get a LO. I do have wired CO detectors through out the house. I don't know if the condensate is draining or not? I will have to look into that.

Zman

I have had 2 customers that had chronic problems with this boiler. Both figured that it was worth putting money into fixing it because it was only 10 +/- years old. Both spent thousands on repairs only to replace the entire boiler a short time later.

Tom is absolutely correct in his concerns about the integrity if the flue, exchanger and the CO risks.

cpecci20

With the door off I had two lockouts today. I'm keeping the door off until tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll wake up to another LO. Tom, does that little white button on the anti-condensing switch suppose to slide back and forth? I can't get it to move much? Can it be taken apart? I'm getting close to sending this LAARS unit to the junk yard.

Tom_133

Yup that moves in and out to not allow the unit to condense, it's probably been bad for a while which means the HX is pretty plugged, they are hard to clean and expensive to replace. Im with Zman on this, not worth your money to continue trying to revive it. In fact most in homes that these are in require a lot less btu's to heat you may be able to down size the boiler a lot, and perhaps get an on demand for hot water.

cpecci20

Good morning. I cycled the heat on and off and the anti condensing switch is working. I agree I'll be throwing good money into a bad money by trying to fix. At this point I'm going to look into replacing the system. Thanks for all the help on here.

coremgt

I have 2 laars endurance boilers and i experienced many Lockouts(LO). i had to install a T-trap in the vent to collect the condensation. There was small amounts of water that was dripping into the unit (hot air mixed with cold air) and it destroyed a few ignitors. Make sure the vent is pitched correctly and use T-trap to collect any water

HVACNUT

> @coremgt said:
> I have 2 laars endurance boilers and i experienced many Lockouts(LO). i had to install a T-trap in the vent to collect the condensation. There was small amounts of water that was dripping into the unit (hot air mixed with cold air) and it destroyed a few ignitors. Make sure the vent is pitched correctly and use T-trap to collect any water

>>psst. (whisper) This thread is from 3 years ago.

cpecci20

Fyi- after all my work on this boiler i went full circle back to the main control board. Someone pulled a fast one on me and gave me an old board and claimed it was new. It was faulty. Since i installed a brand new board i never had problems again. Good luck with these laars.