Viessmann Lambda Pro...Flame sensing rods fouling up causing lockups

Derheatmeister

We installed a Viessmann Vitodens WB2B at approx 9000' which has had problems with the flame sensing rod.
It requires that the Flame sensing rods be cleaned every 2 to 3 months which is a annoyance to both us and the customers.
At first we thought that it was due to Pollen,Dust or additives to the Gas source.
The Boiler WAS side wall vented using Viessmann a concentric venting system.
We did observe some exhaust recirculation and decided to seperate the intake and exhaust approx 10 feet from each other to avoid the regurgitating of exhaust gasses.
yet this issue continues..
In the Past when we checked the combustion on these boilers we could not help but notice that at first they burn very "Dirty" until the "Combustion Control/Lambda Pro" kicks in. We know and understand that this is part of the combustion program but question if this tempurary "Dirty" burn in conjunction with a high altitude install may have something to do with this reucurring issue.
BTW : The boilers gasvalve is adjusted of the proper gas and it also has a high altitude chip
Any advise or experiences of the same nature would be greatly appreciated.

sunlight33

Use address 85 to do a full manual calibration, see if this helps.

GW

Pull the cover and let it burn air from the basement/house and see what happens

Derheatmeister

In the Past i have read about this Address but the Instruction are not straight Forward..
Initially, When we took Viessmann's Classes they said that you should not have to Adjust anything other than the Gas type...Have you negotiated this Parameter and Why?

Derheatmeister

GW said:

Pull the cover and let it burn air from the basement/house and see what happens

I did Try that around December...The Unit is located in the Garage..Did not help

sunlight33

Derheatmeister said:

In the Past i have read about this Address but the Instruction are not straight Forward..
Initially, When we took Viessmann's Classes they said that you should not have to Adjust anything other than the Gas type...Have you negotiated this Parameter and Why?

Here's a good explanation of the calibration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI2LrdURxw4 (starts at 42:55)

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Propane, I presume? If so, have you checked with the propane provider? Could be dirty gas.

Derheatmeister

sunlight33 said:

Derheatmeister said:

In the Past i have read about this Address but the Instruction are not straight Forward..
Initially, When we took Viessmann's Classes they said that you should not have to Adjust anything other than the Gas type...Have you negotiated this Parameter and Why?

Here's a good explanation of the calibration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI2LrdURxw4 (starts at 42:55)

Sunlight33.
Thank you for the Link to this Video..Looks like Viessmann Opened some of the Parameters for negotiations..

Derheatmeister

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:

Propane, I presume? If so, have you checked with the propane provider? Could be dirty gas.

Alan.
Thanks for the advise but it's on Nat Gas.
After watching Viessmann Training Video from last year and if the Customer calls us back we may have to check a couple things that are not so obvious.
Last week our 20 Year relationship with this customer was replaced by Ben Franklin which just replaced the Gasvalve...Hopefully they are not just throwing parts towards it..
Time will Tell.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Have you called your natural gas provider? If you're having problems, others in the area might have the same thing. What part of the country do you live in? Colorado?

And you're sure that combustion air is not pulling something in? Something that shows up intermittently?

Derheatmeister

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:

Have you called your natural gas provider? If you're having problems, others in the area might have the same thing. What part of the country do you live in? Colorado?

And you're sure that combustion air is not pulling something in? Something that shows up intermittently?

Yes..Summit County Colorado near Breckenridge
Our Installs are from 8700 feet to approx to 11.200 feet
Back in the Day when the WB2A was first introduced to the US Market we had the Highest "A Model" in the USA Installed at 11.200 feet on Propane.
Adjusting that Install was a bit of a challenge since they did not have any installs at around 3400 Meters in Europe and no real live experiances with it..

We have to deal with Propane,Frozen Gas Regulators,Dusty roads,Pollen,Bad Gas,Dry Snow blowing into Cabinets and Condensing on the Electronics,Lack of Oxygen,Voltage Fructuations,Prevaling winds,Sudden Barometric Changes which allow the Boiler to regurgitate its own exhaust,Bugs ...Anything Bad that you can think about throwing into that Equation,We have it.

This install WAS side wall vented using Viessmanns Concentric Venting system, I did observe a little Exhaust gas recirculation which made us go to a Two pipe with approx 10 seperation..Yet the Problem resurfaced..

I would like to put a Eletro Static Air filter on this one and see if that changes anything.

Come to think about it just about 1mile up the Road i have a Lochingvar Knigth that has had problems as well.

Thank you for your Advise.
Richard.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I remember the horse flies in Crested Butte!

That's crazy that you get such a build-up on the flame rod. I suppose that you've already spoken to someone at V. tech. support?

Derheatmeister

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:

I remember the horse flies in Crested Butte!

That's crazy that you get such a build-up on the flame rod. I suppose that you've already spoken to someone at V. tech. support?

In the past we reached out..We always like to be in front of the boiler with all the tools and parts kits when reaching out to tech support .Sometimes this waiting game for them to get you in the que,call back is very time consuming and it is also a hit or miss on if the viessmann tech understands the equipment and the enviroment that it is installed in.
On this one we got replaced by a different company but i still would like to figure out why this keeps on happening so that we can learn from it and keep our customers happy.
Since the boiler is hooked up to a notification system i will be notified next time it locks up...As i said before...Time will Tell if they fixed it by changing the gas valve or if they are just parts swappers..We will see.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I'd like to know, too!