HELP - Lochinvar KBN 106 Gas Boiler - Failure to Ignite

tao54tao

I have had my HVAC tech out for 4 days in a row now with Failure to Ignite errors on my 3 year old Lochinvar KBN 106 Gas Boiler. So far, he has checked the condensate drain pipe, replaced a few water temperature sensors (said they were broken) and the igniter, and cleaned the flame sensor. Ignition has been happening but not consistent and I was still getting occasional lockouts throughout the week after each repair attempt.

Today, I can not get it to light at all. Fails every attempt, lockout, reset, repeat.

I hear a gurgling sound when the ignition is attempting to happen. The sound goes away after ignition. I have not heard this before we started having ignition problems. See video below (yes it does successfully ignite in this video, but you can hear the noise)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTXC9XMiTs


Any ideas as to what is going on here? Fails to ignite every time today and continues to make the gurgling noise when attempting to ignite.

JUGHNE

Did he open it up for cleaning?
If it was never cleaned for the 3 years of use that would be my first guess.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Get someone out who has a manometer to check your gas (natural or propane) pressures. They should make sure the pressure doesn't drop more than 1" on ignition.
They should also have a combustion analyzer to check on your gas mix.

Zman

You need to find a qualified tech with a combustion analyzer and manometer. Guessing and randomly changing parts is not going to get this fixed.
The boiler does log errors, this can be a helpful troubleshooting tool.

tao54tao

After another visit, still having ignition failures after he left. It did fire up 4 times in a row no issues while he was here, but it must have been just luck. All he did was check the input air and flue lines to make sure they were not blocked and then unplug a bunch of stuff from the control board and plugged it back in and it suddenly started igniting. Of course, I get more failures to ignite and repeatedly locked back out at 2 in the morning with no heat. It has been working throughout the day today so I think I am going to try to make it through the weekend.

I think I need to find a new company/tech. Last guy did not have a manometer on him (Lochinvar tech on the phone was suggesting he check gas pressure as well as run through all the yearly maintenance items). Looking at my invoice from the service it had in November, I don't think they cleaned out heat exchanger then and he definitely has not opened it up during this past week.

I now have a $1,000 bill for parts and labor and I am pretty sure none of those things needed to actually be replaced.

I am thinking that yes, it could be a dirty combustion chamber or an issue with gas pressure. Hopefully I can find someone who understands what issues can be related to ignition and how to actually perform proper maintenance on this unit.

Ironman

The "tech" that you have is clearly clueless. Bad sensors don't cause ignition failure.

Check the contractor locator above.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

And if the "Find A Contractor" locator doesn't help, tell us what part of the country you live in. Someone close to you that has a manometer/combustion analyzer and knows how to use them may pipe up.

Zman

Showing up the first time without proper tools is one thing. Showing up 5 times without tools would suggest that they don't own the proper tools.
Don't let anyone look at it that doesn't have an analyzer or you will just be wasting your time and money.