Overfill water feeder problem.

RobCleaton

I have a 2 pipe system with a 9 year old (still feels new to me) boiler setup done by the local guys. Years ago the feeder was giving me issues and I started shutting the supply to it off and manually filling the tank whenever the sight glass got low. I would just open the supply and push the manual feed button until ready and shut the supply off again. It never wants to feed on its own. I think this is why I started manually filling in the first place.

Now the feeder is acting differently. As soon as the power is on the system the feeder is trying to fill and will fill until i shut it off. It will go way past the middle of the glass.

I am wondering if the feeder is the place to start looking for issues or the LWCO or even the probe not registering.

The setup is a Cyclegard CG450 and a Uni-Match WF2-U-120

Also is there a way to bypass this and get the boiler running while preserving the LWCO safety. I watch my water levels anyway.

Abracadabra

Try checking and cleaning the probe.

RobCleaton

Abracadabra said:

Try checking and cleaning the probe.

In the time since I typed the first post I headed out to buy a long enough wrench and do just that. Cleaned it off until it was shiny then made sure there were no oils or cleaner left on the probe. It looked fine but when installed it registered the low water and then the low water led went off as the water line passed the probe but it still overfilled.

How long do LWCO last? Is that the next logical culprit?

Abracadabra

No teflon on the threads? If you can, try manually grounding the probe to see if the feeder shuts off.

Fred

What Abra said about teflon tape. Even though you cleaned the probe, it could still be defective.It is also possible that the solenoid valve in the auto feed is sticking open.
Check your wiring connections between the LWCO and the auto feed as well. Make sure none of the wires are touching across terminals.

RobCleaton

I searched the forums first for solutions so I was already on the no tape route thank goodness. After doing what both of you said with grounding and checking connections (which looked good and felt solid) I drained the water below the probe and switched it on. Right away the Low water LED and the intermittent level test are on but as the water passes the probe the LW LED cuts off. About 72 seconds later the feeder shuts off and the test LED turns off. A few minutes after that and the test LED pops on for a minute or two but the boiler is not firing up even with the thermostat set high enough.

EDIT After getting annoyed I turned the system off and on again and it fired up. But the water feeder went on again and then filled it past the top of the glass gauge.

Fred

I'm guessing the LWCO is bad. If you replace it, I'd use a Safe Gard instead of the Cyclegard. The Cyclegard runs a "test" every 10 or 20 minutes and stops the boiler while doing that. The Safe Gard does not do that.
The auto water feeder is not tied into the safety controls (except to interact with the LWCO when there is a call for water) so it can't shut or keep the boiler from firing. maybe the contacts in the LWCO are arking and sticking closed from time to time??

Steve Garson_2

Check the dip switch that determines how much water to add for a cycle. It could be 1,2,4 or when probe is reached, I seem to recall. I found that the probe setting overfilled, but the 1 gallon setting worked fine.

RobCleaton

The switvh on my UniMatch feeder are M&M 1 and 2. It is set on 2.

I think I will install a new cyclegard in the off season as this one is 9 years old and hard to trust now anyway.