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Boiler will not start, troubleshooting question

underdog32
underdog32 Member Posts: 91
in Strictly Steam
My boiler (peerless 62-14) is my backup heat, but i try to fire it up a couple of times a year to keep things moving. Last year at the beginning of the season it wouldn't start and I kind of just lost interest in getting it started. Now I'm trying to get it started again.

The issue:
The automatic igniter sparks but the pilot does not light and the boiler does not start without manual intervention.

If I hold the manual pilot light button in for the backup pilot the boiler will fire and stay on until i release the button. As soon as I release the button the boiler shuts off. I believe that when I release the button gas stops being fed to the pilot and the flame proving sensor triggers the control module to shut it off.

Possible problems:
1) Flame proving sensor?
2) Clogged pilot tube?
3) Pilot valve needs replaced?
4) Main valve is no longer feeding gas to the pilot valve?

Any other ideas?

Comments

  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,279
    Can you explain or show the manual pilot light button and the back up pilot light?

    Actually show us the entire boiler gas valves etc.
  • underdog32
    underdog32 Member Posts: 91
    JUGHNE said:

    Can you explain or show the manual pilot light button and the back up pilot light?

    Actually show us the entire boiler gas valves etc.



    OK, the pilot assembly is on the top right. The manual pilot is on the right and the auto pilot is on the left. The pilot tube feeding the right manual pilot crosses over into the left auto pilot. The manual pilot will light and stay on if i hold the button (but shuts off when the boiler shuts off). The manual pilot is normally not light because the auto pilot generally lights the boiler.
  • underdog32
    underdog32 Member Posts: 91
    An here are the pilot lines traced out. Red comes from the manual pilot, then over to the main valves. Yellow is the automatic pilot valve that goes to the automatic ignitor:


  • underdog32
    underdog32 Member Posts: 91
    I should also say that I replaced the red lines last year when I was troubleshooting this because they were rotted? out and filled with a crystalline substance. I also replaced the thermocouple, and the ignition module. For all i know they were always like that and i just found it while investigating this.
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,485
    I would suspect the thermocouple as a first step.
  • underdog32
    underdog32 Member Posts: 91
    EBEBRATT-Ed said:

    I would suspect the thermocouple as a first step.

    Me too, which is why i replaced it, but after i replaced it i wonder how it could make a difference? The automatic start doesn't use the thermocouple, it uses the flame proving sensor. I'm pretty sure that the pilot that uses the thermocouple hasn't been light since I've owned this house.

    However, that valve on the right with the thermocouple is a baso h17, and the manual indicates that the button i'm pressing is a reset button. Now i'm thinking that that might also open the valve and feed the automatic valve to the left which feeds the auto ignitor pilot.

    I'm wondering if the baso h17 even belongs there with the intermittent ignitor. It seems counterintuitive to have the pilot always light to keep the thermocouple hot when the intermittent ignitor is supposed to be a gas saving device? But then how did it ever work? It definitely used to work the way it is.
  • underdog32
    underdog32 Member Posts: 91
    This is all worked out. i think typing out the issues helped me figure it all out. The peerless 62-14 had 3 pilot setups, standing, electric, and dual. Mine was set up for dual. I don't know why anyone would choose to have a standing pilot when they have an electric one, but that's how they set it up. I still don't believe I ever had that standing pilot lit, but it must have been.

    I just removed the standing pilot from the system and went with the "only electric" option and now the boiler fires up.
    JUGHNE
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,485
    @underdog32

    I don't know why it has two pilots. I have seen large boilers with multiple pilots where some were flame sensed and some were not.

    And I don't understand if it has two pilots you say it would run with the automatic pilot only when the other pilot is not lit. That doesn't make sense to me.


    It sounds to me like to run this thing you are supposed to light the baso pilot hold the button down till it proves and the the baso valve will allow gas to the solenoid valve for the auto pilot.

    OK I found a Baso catalog on line. The Baso valve looks like their model #H17 see if your valve has those #s on it

    The way it works (I think) is you hold the button down and light the Baso pilot. Holding the button down only lets gas go to the baso pilot not to the other pilot solenoid valve. After the baso valve thermocouple proves the pilot is light it will allow gas to go through to the other automatic pilot valve.

    You can find the BASO catalog on line page 53



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