Edited: Periodic failure to restart burner when temp drops below thermostat setting

QueenAnneVictorian

I'm back!!! I have a combo one/two pipe system. @Steamhead was out last year to take a look at it, and we have an appointment to replace nearly my entire system (boiler, basement piping, remove traps, condensate receiver tank and pump, etc.) BUT he can't get here until May, and he lives miles away in another state, so there is some issue with licensing in the city where I live. SO, I am trying to baby my boiler along until he can fix all that. My knucklehead heating guy isn't making it easy. We had been having problems with the boiler feed pump failing to shut off and filling the rads with water, so at the last cleaning he did something which probably stopped it (although the problem was so periodic that its hard to know if it's really fixed yet) BUT now we have another issue.

We returned home from a week away to find our heat had been off - it was set to 65, but it was 55 in the house. We were able to get it restarted by hitting the reset on the top of the water feeder/low-water cutoff combination (on the right of the picture of the whole boiler, also the one with the close-up, labeled IMG_3237.) But it shut off again after a couple of minutes. So, we hit it again, the pump activated and it ran for a couple more minutes and shut off. This crap went on for a few hours, with the burner running a few more minutes each time until the temp in the house got above about 66, then it stayed on and operated properly. We can also get the burner to start back up by draining a little water from the blow-down valve.

The knucklehead thought the float inside the water feeder/low-water cutoff unit was gummed up because there had been a lot of rust and some of the pipes had leaks and needed replacing anyway. So, they replaced some of the piping (which does in fact look very nice.) He waited to make sure the thing was running and cycling properly a few times, and left. 20 minutes after he left, it shut off and wouldn't activate itself again. Most of the time it works fine, but we keep noticing that the thermostat reading has fallen below the set temp and sure enough, the boiler isn't running. We go down, drain a little from the blow-down valve on the feeder/cutoff, and the feeder activates and it starts right up. This is happening a couple of times a day for the last two days.

My husband is going to be out of town a LOT this next couple of months, and I just can't handle this by myself. I need to know that we're going to have heat if I'm out of the house for a few hours. I get the sense that my knucklehead is either out of ideas or ready for me to go away. I've taught the kids what to do, but fixing it would be better. Has the float inside the feeder/low-water cutoff unit just gone bad? Do we have to replace both of them? If you look at IMG_3235, you'll see that there are two. We've just been using the one closer to the front of the boiler to deal with the current issue. Can you help? I would be most grateful! I hope this is clearer after I brushed up on my terminology from Mr. Holohan's book.

QueenAnneVictorian

Was it something I said? I apologize if I came across negatively! This forum has been so helpful in the past. I'm really disappointed not to have a single reply after 45 views. @steamhead Anybody? The problem has continued, and I don't want to pay for another service call until I have ideas from somebody who knows what they're doing.

Mark Eatherton

I think peeps are trying to figure out exactly what it is you are resetting... (I know I am ) It could be something simple, and then again, possibly not. What do you have to press to get it to start again? The low water cut off or the burner, or?

ME

QueenAnneVictorian

Thanks, Mark. I edited. I hope that's clearer? I am so lucky it's been warm in Delaware this winter!