Burnham ES2 firing problems

EricPeterson

Noticed tonight that the boiler was not firing up on a call for heat.
Heard the spark clicking but the gas never fired up.
Control panel was cycling between status 6 (Spark) and 10 (Retry Delay)
Went upstairs to study the manual, came down 20 minutes later to find the boiler running normally.
Then after the thermostat shut off, there was a Code 64 (Soft Lockout - Internal Failure).
I power-cycled the boiler, then on the next call for heat it started going between status 6 and 10 again.
Any suggestions as to what to try next?
I have a spare control board I could swap out.

Thanks,
Eric Peterson

EricPeterson

One of the wires (sensor?) had come loose on the pilot flame assembly. Sheesh, it was only held on by some blue goo which had come loose. Very cheap construction.
I reattached it by securing it with some copper wire.
Working fine for now.

Eric Peterson

jonny88

I have a few of them out there and had problems from the recall with their pilot assembly.In fairness the local reps here took care of the situation and no problems since now you are getting me nervous again.......

EricPeterson

Here is a photo of the separated wire. The other wire is clamped on which is fine. The one that came loose did not have any such clamp.

Jason_13

I have installed many of these and other boilers with the same pilot and replacement pilots for other boiler manufacturers with no problem. This is a fluke. It is far better than the old style with the orange ignition wire.
If it is new get a replacement under warranty.

EricPeterson

Well that's comforting.
Burnham won't even talk to me since I am a home owner.
So I have ordered a replacement from Pex Supply.

jonny88

Eric if your boiler is under warranty which it probably is you can go to your supply house and return this assembly and they will give you one for free.Go to where you got the boiler.

EricPeterson

Thanks jonny88. I will check that out.

Jason_13

How old is the boiler. Parts warranted for one year.

EricPeterson

Five years old. Guess I am out of luck on that one.

jonny88

Not necessarily they had a recall and boilers manufactured after 2014 got new pilot assembly but five years might be a stretch.If it was me I would buy it and install it.

EricPeterson

My boiler was made in 2009. I did buy a replacement assembly but will hold off installing it for now as my repair is working and heating season is almost over here in IL.
I also contacted the company (Pex Supply) where I bought the boiler and asked if there was a recall but they have not responded yet to my inquiry.
Thanks jonny88 for your help.

jonny88

There was most definitly a recall.No doubt.I was there on two of my boilers with the Burnham rep who switched it out.Then they got inundated with calls and plumbers were able to pick up assembly from supply house.I havent bought a boiler from pexsupply so I cant say how their support will be.

FranklinD

Yes, there is a recall. I received notice of it when I registered my new ESC's warranty on their website. However, neither the installing company, nor myself, have been successful in getting Burnham to ship a repair kit to either of us. Their instructions say to look up the kit and order from their website, which is what we have done. Several times now.

Any email I send is rebuffed because I am a homeowner, and they replied to my installer saying the unit would be shipped within the next three days...that was 3 months ago. Every email since (from my installer) has gotten roughly the same response.

I like the boiler, but it seems the company could use a little work internally. Not impressed by their 'recall' efforts.

DanLC

Allow me to clear up some information -- the pilot you have pictured is a Honeywell 2-wire pilot that was used on our products until we made the 2012 DOE compliance conversion. In 2012, we changed to a single wire pilot. Those 2-wire pilots rarely fail - it's unfair for me to guess what may have happened to your system. US Boiler has not had a recall on the ES2 nor on the pilots. We did experience some Honeywell single wire pilot failures during the past 2 heating seasons -- it appears the failures are attributed to the #22 size orifices in the pilot being close to, or out of, tolerance specifications for the opening size. The fix is to insert a larger, #24 orifice. We have been working with Honeywell to adjust their quality parameters, plus we now buy all Honeywell pilots with #24 size orifices. We cannot give homeowners technical information, nor send any replacement parts, due to liability issues. Contractors & distributors can contact our customer service group at 1-866-659-3927.

jonny88

Just to clarify and thanks for your input in the last 2 years I have installed 10 Es2 boilers with a failure rate of 70 % on pilot assembly.Rep was great and came and fixed problem.I must be mistaken but is there a play on words here.Not knocking the boiler but I had to deal with irate homeowners who got a new boiler that went into error code FLA 2 not reaching 12.Since I changed all assemblies I have not had a problem.Also what is with your tech support hours.Close at 4.30 daily.Not helpful at 8pm.Thanks

DanLC

Fair comments -- this discussion is larger than just the #22 orifice size. We saw more issues in the New York area than anywhere else --- we believe changing/fluctuating gas pressures has a part in this as well. There are thousands of ES2 in parts of the US where we haven't experienced any issues with the #22 orifice -- we believe this is a tolerance stacking issue with site conditions part of the stacking.

j a_2

jonny88 said:

I have a few of them out there and had problems from the recall with their pilot assembly.In fairness the local reps here took care of the situation and no problems since now you are getting me nervous again.......

I have in the past installed many Burnham boilers due to the fact I was in the oil to gas program…Johnny I totally agree the local reps are great….Glen,who i consider one, if not the best rep in the business..I once had a issue on a newly installed alpine, this guy drove from Ct. to Boston on a snowy night and took care of the issue…Glen S. is one very smart dedicated individual…His service as well as the others made me confident to purchase and install Burnham equipment…in peoples homes….U S Boiler heating helper booklet is a great tool for references...

jonny88

Agreed j a.I have no hesitations using their products.Heard a lot of bad stories about Alpine but then again stories were never backed up with pics.They say majority of time it is install errors with any boiler and I have been guilty of that in the past.

j a_2

Honesty, J88 thats exactly how I see it….Its near impossible nowadays for someone not to pipe the alpine correctly…They even provide big detailed pics…The problems I had were almost always improperly sized or the wrong application…The other problem was the inability for some to adjust the parameters preset from the factory, burnham or others for that matter can’t possibly set a boiler up for every application..But the single most important thing was installer be it plumber/owner/hvac co. did not have a combustion analyzer nor the training on how to interpert the readings…You don’t just stick it in and provide a printable readout…wash your hands and walk away….I have seen some ridicules cycles per hr run ratio…the units are so so quiet the owners have no clue as to how many times they start up and shut down….I have seen so many 5 year old units with the factory sealant still in the burner cover screws,and owner swore up and down it was serviced every year…We maybe just plumbers but were not stupid…totally…Clue number one is a dirty condensate u tube….

EricPeterson

Concerning Dan LC comments:

DanLC said:

Allow me to clear up some information -- the pilot you have pictured is a Honeywell 2-wire pilot that was used on our products until we made the 2012 DOE compliance conversion. In 2012, we changed to a single wire pilot. Those 2-wire pilots rarely fail - it's unfair for me to guess what may have happened to your system. US Boiler has not had a recall on the ES2 nor on the pilots.....

Here is what happened to my 2-wire pilot: the wire for the flame sensor simply separated from the ceramic seat where it had been attached with some blue compound. When I removed the assembly the wire was loose. The assembly had not been touched since the boiler was installed. So it simply failed on its own.

Pex Supply (where I bought the boiler) had not responded to my repeated inquires concerning the warranty. I bought a replacement assembly from them and based on your comments and the failure of my first perhaps I should buy a couple more to have in stock.

One of the reasons I bought the ES2 was due to its simpler design and fewer points of failure. Apparently I have found one of these which is good knowledge to have going forward.

I am grateful to those on the Wall that take to time to respond to inquiries such as mine with usually helpful responses.

Eric Peterson