Aero burner needs varied times reset

Johnnyboy1

Hello I have an Aero oil fired hot water boiler. For the past year I've had to hit the reset button on a sporadic cycle. Meaning it will run for a day or 3 days or 10 days at a time then need to have the reset button depressed to have it fire right up. I've replaced the motor thinking perhaps a dead spot in motor, I've replaced the transformer, I've changed the pump filter, I've changed the cad cell. All this over a span of a year only to have to push the reset button and with no hesitation it fires right up. I've had regular maintenance such as cleaning on a yearly basis. The tech can't figure it out either. I've changed the components mentioned above myself. Listening to other techs with suggestions has led me to replace the parts mentioned above. There are 2 275 inside oil tanks that feed the hot water heater and a bolier, the boiler never fails to ignite. The only thing I didn't replace is the controller. When the water heater is firing properly I pushed the reset button to test the relay and it does kill the ignition, releasing reset button has the unit firing back up. So it passes the relay test. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Jamie Hall

Bad ignitor, bad electrodes, incorrect electrode setting... a bunch of possibilities. A competent oil burner tech should be able to get it straight.

EBEBRATT-Ed

This is what the world is coming to....parts changing.

@Johnnyboy1 , 2 choices. get a competent technician or just keep changing parts. Maybe you will get lucky.

On the other hand, maybe you won't.

No one wants to read about this on the news. You make the decision.

Oil burner work isn't a hobby

You need to do combustion testing when this thing is fixed

STEVEusaPA

Show me a picture of how the 2 units oil lines are piped. Also post a picture of how the 2 units are vented.

Steamhead

And, where are you located? We might know someone near you who can help.

Johnnyboy1

Phillipsburg, NJ

Johnnyboy1

Just downloaded a picture of the oil line feeling the 2 units. There are individual lines coming from each oil tank going into filter. After the filter one goes to Peerless and the other to the Aero hot water boiler. Looking above this paragraph I don't see a photo but an https statement, I hope you can see photo clicking on what I assume to be link.

newagedawn

think?,...the only thing you havnt changed is the primary control, an 8184 will work or the new beckett too or a carlinn, i like the 8184 15 sec 30 sec or 45 sec its up to you

Johnnyboy1

I'll look into that . FYI there is a White-Rodgers control on it now. My investigation has led me to there is no replacement for it. My unit is 17 years old and has never given me an issue in all these years. Replacing what I have done so far hasn't been a killer in costs at this point. Yearly maintenance with a I'm assuming a qualified licensed tech keeps me up to proper specs with combustion.
I don't have test equipment for that aspect and do have a licensed party do it. The Aero burner works at proper spec when it fires. There's got to be something that just makes it trip. Like I stated It could run a day, or 3 days, or as long as 10 days before it trips and needs to be reset.

CTOilHeat

If I was looking at your issue I'd probably look for a tiny air leak between that filter and the HWH. If that checked out I'd look at the coupling between the motor and pump. I'd also check the ohm reading of the cad cell and the condition of the combustion chamber it's firing into.

At this point honestly don't put a lot of money into it. 17 years is more than I'd give to a water heater.

BornForDying

When customer reports intermittent trips, I start with easiest thing first, which I find solves the issue much of the time. Nozzle, filter, strainer. Verify correct firing assembly settings, test spark, pump pressure, and Cadcell resistance. Check safety, fire it up, and run draft check and combustion test.

Johnnyboy1

Twice I've had the service man here. I can only assume he knows what he's doing as far as adjustments etc. . He's got a good reputation so as far as strainers, which I also replaced just in case, changed nozzle, checked pump pressure, I too checked the coupling and it's in great shape, spark gap, stack draft etc. All tuned to specs according to my service guy

STEVEusaPA

There is also something you could do-actually 2 things.
1. Have a tech hook up an OnWatch data logger to the system. Then when it locks out it will pretty much tell you why.
2. Have the tech install a Carlin ProMaxx primary. It has the bettter diagnostics onboard and may tell you why the unit didn't fire.
I would also investigate the oil line a little more. I'd prefer, General filter, then spin on, then branch to both units, or General at each tank, branch, spin on at each unit.
We've all had (at least I have had) nuisance lock outs, where you think its this or that, because it usually is, turns out to be something else.
But a full diagnostic check out is always the right way to go.

~The reason why I ask about venting is I want to see how the 2 units are tied together. Improper drafting could also cause this problem. If you could post a pic of the venting, and describe the chimney-height, 3 sided exterior, north facing, how high above the roof line, diameter, etc. Pics of that would help too.

Johnnyboy1

Good input here. Just one question or thought if I may. Nothing has changed in the setup or arrangement of piping or venting or flue or anything in 16 of the 17 years we've had this. The tech at one point thought perhaps one of the feed lines was clogged. The oil tanks are inside the basement although they go back beyond the 26 years I've been living at this home. At the time within the past year we realized one tank was depleting faster than the other when they should be going down at the same rate. So he came in and with a CO2 arrangement he put pressure thru the feed from the right hand tank if you will, to make sure it wasn't plugged of sludge. We heard it gurgle up and now both tanks are going down at the same level. I thought it might be a cavitation thing going on and causing a slight vacuum to trip the primary control if it was taking the 30 seconds to ignition and then detect no flame . It still stumps us as to the sporadic behavior. It can work just fine for up to 10 days before I have to reset it. Or it just may be the next day I need to reset. There is no consistency to failure. The OnWatch Data logger is something I need to look into. The tech suggested i just tie the hot water line into the auxiliary water heater jacket that is on the Peerless boiler. But I'm stubborn like that and need to know the why's and the wherefore of what's actually going wrong and correct it. The Areo hot water heater is a 32 gallon capacity firing at .65 gph. The boiler consumes more oil at 1.25 gph. I like burning less fuel per hour. As a footnote the Peerless never has an issue. Again no problems for 16 years. Then suddenly, yeeks..issues.

HVACNUT

Looking from the outside in, it sounds like a restricted oil line. If the boiler and water heater are running together, the pump on the Aero loses. Is there good gravity flow from the tanks?
That's a new burner motor? I know the Aero is a 1725 burner but they do make PSC motors.
The $$ you've spent on parts and labor could have been used as a nice down payment for an indirect.

Johnnyboy1

Parts cost is one thing, understood. Labor on the other hand is all mine. I do like to play and am sane enough to know my limits. Many a time I've come to check on something not working correctly to be a very simple fix... loose wire, split insulation, loose fitting, dirty filter. Usually something very simple and have avoided a 100.00 house call. That's why I look first. And I do learn from investigation. In this case the varied times of failure has me totally intrigued.
Yes that is a new motor. The units age hasn't deterred me to spend the bucks on the parts I've replaced. Considering the age, an upgrade with some parts didn't bother me. I did shop around for techs and was quoted 200 for them to walk in the door. One tech told me that there was perhaps a dead spot in the motor. He was going to replace the motor and see if it continued to fail. Hence I purchased the motor myself and put it in. The resulting failure is the same. But I justified in my mind I replaced a 16 year old motor. I kept the old one. Down the road I'll "invent " something for its use. Bottom line I periodically go to the basement to reset boiler. Rest assured if it's not resolved at some point in time I'll break down and get professional help. I've spoken to 3 service houses and their comment considering the age of the unit want to replace it .... at a high dollar figure. This is why I investigate first.

Grallert

One thing that will often cause nuisance lock outs is a clogged crushed plugged leaking fuel line. Two appliances sharing a fuel line can cause trouble when coupled with a faulty fuel. If the pumps check is stuck one unit can pull some fuel from the other.

STEVEusaPA

STEVEusaPA said:

There is also something you could do-actually 2 things.
1. Have a tech hook up an OnWatch data logger to the system. Then when it locks out it will pretty much tell you why.
2. Have the tech install a Carlin ProMaxx primary. It has the bettter diagnostics onboard and may tell you why the unit didn't fire.

As I stated earlier, doing one of these will most likely give you your diagnosis.

Johnnyboy1

First and foremost I wish to thank all who gave me input into tests I can do and possible solutions to our problem with the Aero Hot Water Heater. I'm thinking too the possibility of the larger boiler "robbing" fuel from the hot water heater. There may be a suction thing going on here since the units share a common feed after the filter. One of my experiments was to turn off the fire stop valve on the line that is questionable with having a partial clog. So at that point I was only getting oil from 1 tank. I had a good 2 day run before I needed to reset the primary. So still perplexed on the theory of a clogged line. With that scenario the big boiler never failed . Just the H2O heater. I never have a problem with the larger boiler.