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Triangle Tube Challenger combi boiler

partlab72
partlab72 Member Posts: 7
in Gas Heating
Greetings. Challenger Combi natural gas combi boiler. 1800 sf home with power heads and five zones and domestic hot water. Unit was installed around eight years ago.
More than occasionally the homeowners will enter a cold house. The boiler shows an error code for low pressure and 5 psi on the digital read-out. The analog gauge shows too that there is low pressure.
There is one gate valve between the city supply and the boiler. The valve feels like it is operating properly. Looks good etc.
If the homeowner runs the domestic hot water for 5 mins or so the boiler will fire up and the heat side will resume normal operation.
Research shows that the pressure switch/LWCO may be the culprit.
Anyone out there have any experience with similar issue? Any help or suggestions appreciated.
Hope youre having a good day.

Comments

  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 3,076
    But the gauge reads low pressure too .. Did you check the boiler pressure reducing valve ? Is there a union before the PRV to check water flow ?

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

    rick in Alaska
  • partlab72
    partlab72 Member Posts: 7
    I did not. I guess I'll add that to the list of components to check.
    The gate valve has a drain. Tons of pressure there.
    Thx for response.
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,848
    @partlab72

    Put another pressure gauge on a boiler drain or on a spare tapping to confirm what the boiler gauge is reading
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,474
    There should be an automatic water feeder just for the boiler to keep it at 12 pounds or so. It will be located between the city water supply, and your boiler, along with a backflow preventer. That is where you need to be looking.
    Rick
  • CJBULL
    CJBULL Member Posts: 3
    more than likely you will need to add water to the system. if the autofill is not operating properly, it should be replaced
  • kcopp
    kcopp Member Posts: 4,488
    If the water quality in the system is not great it certainly can futz up that sensor. I have had that happen on that boiler and other wall hung units that have a built-in pressure sensor.
    The reason why the hot water works fine is that it is a separate coil....works completely independent of the heat side.
  • partlab72
    partlab72 Member Posts: 7
    > @rick in Alaska said:
    > There should be an automatic water feeder just for the boiler to keep it at 12 pounds or so. It will be located between the city water supply, and your boiler, along with a backflow preventer. That is where you need to be looking.
    > Rick

    There is no fast fill or the like. No flow check. Nothing just main shut off and one gate valve.
  • partlab72
    partlab72 Member Posts: 7
    > @kcopp said:
    > If the water quality in the system is not great it certainly can futz up that sensor. I have had that happen on that boiler and other wall hung units that have a built-in pressure sensor.
    > The reason why the hot water works fine is that it is a separate coil....works completely independent of the heat side.

    I've read on another page that the sensor can get gunked up. I'm going to start there.

    Why does running the DHW get the heat going though?
  • partlab72
    partlab72 Member Posts: 7
    > @CJBULL said:
    > more than likely you will need to add water to the system. if the autofill is not operating properly, it should be replaced

    There is no external auto fill.
  • kcopp
    kcopp Member Posts: 4,488
    partlab72 said:

    > @kcopp said:

    > If the water quality in the system is not great it certainly can futz up that sensor. I have had that happen on that boiler and other wall hung units that have a built-in pressure sensor.

    > The reason why the hot water works fine is that it is a separate coil....works completely independent of the heat side.



    I've read on another page that the sensor can get gunked up. I'm going to start there.



    Why does running the DHW get the heat going though?

    It probably heats up the block enough to get heat moving through the block. That heat warm up may also change the way the sensor senses the water pressure.
    partlab72
  • partlab72
    partlab72 Member Posts: 7
    Thank you very interesting
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,474
    I need to see a picture of the piping. The boiler side has to have a fill valve on the piping somewhere, or it was just filled manually when it was first put on line. If that is the case, it will have to have water added manually to get the pressure up.
    I am thinking the gate valve from the main line into the boiler is just on the domestic side of the boiler only, and does not get to the boiler side.
    Rick
  • CJBULL
    CJBULL Member Posts: 3
    If you look on Triangle Tube's website, there is detail of how this condition comes about with a difference between what the electronic pressure sensing device sees and the pressure gauge on the system reads. You might want to investigate that and be sure that the expansion tank is doing it's job and is not water logged.
  • partlab72
    partlab72 Member Posts: 7
    Gave some bad info. When I got to the job indeed there was a amtrol fill valve/tank/scoop. Sorry I didn't investigate further before I posted. Thank you to everyone who responded.
    So yes the prv was all scaled up and the exp tank pressure was low.
    I also cleared out the condensate trap (not related) which had a lot of sediment in it.
    Removed the pressure switch/lwco which is extremely simple. It was all gunked up so I cleaned that up.
    So anyway now it is humming g right along at 12 psi no error msg and a warm house.
    Sorry for the crappy initial post!!!
    Thx again!
    rick in Alaska

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