Boiler Not Working - Pressure Still Building

UpstateNyer

Hi all,

I woke up this morning and noticed the temperature in the house was cold. I checked the thermostats and they were calling for heat. I went downstairs and looked at the boiler and the pilot was lit. I also noticed the air bleeders at the top of the returns were leaking a bit. So I had the wife start a fire to get some heat going to keep the kids warm. I called a couple of places but haven't heard back - it's a holiday so I understand.

I have an old Utica Boiler that we planned on replacing next year (one season too long it seems lol). The unit is a 150k BTU and the model is PGB150A. Tried a quick troubleshooting and turned the power to the boiler off. Gave it a minute and turned it back on. I had to manually relight the pilot light. I could hear the aquastat click on like it does when thermostats call for heat. The zone valves open up. Except the main burners did not fire up. I also noticed that my pressure is still high even though the temperature of the boiler is cold. I'm waiting to hear back from a tech but wanted to know if there were any suggestions from the board on what I can do in the meantime.

WMno57

What exactly is the pressure? Is the boiler cold?

UpstateNyer

WMno57 said:

What exactly is the pressure? Is the boiler cold?

The Boiler is cold and the pressure relief valve is dripping. It's hanging at just over 30 PSI.

WMno57

Let some water out at the boiler drain. Get it down to 15 psi.

WMno57

Any water park hotels near you? Take the wife and kids out for a New Years Day swim?

JUGHNE

Why did you have to relight the pilot? Did you shut off the gas also?

UpstateNyer

WMno57 said:

Let some water out at the boiler drain. Get it down to 15 psi.

I let some water out to bring the pressure down. its at normal PSI now.

UpstateNyer

JUGHNE said:

Why did you have to relight the pilot? Did you shut off the gas also?

The pilot light went out at some point when I powered down the boiler. Not sure exactly when so I relit it when I powered everything back up.

109A_5

Hello @UpstateNyer,
If you have a Multi-meter and can follow a wiring diagram this may help. You would have to determine which electrical version you have.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021738/uploads/editor/bo/jsz8h7dsjgdf.pdf

UpstateNyer

109A_5 said:

Hello @UpstateNyer,
If you have a Multi-meter and can follow a wiring diagram this may help. You would have to determine which electrical version you have.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021738/uploads/editor/bo/jsz8h7dsjgdf.pdf

Thank you for sharing this. I was looking earlier but came up with nothing. My system uses #4 on the page you shared. The pilot is no longer staying lit on its own. According to the schematic, it looks like its a thermopile and not a thermocouple - but I could be reading that wrong.

EdTheHeaterMan

If you have a Pilot Generator that is not able to keep the pilot valve engaged, then that's your problem. The pilot generator makes 750 Millivolts to operate the pilot valve and the main valve. The flame from the pilot is what is generating the 750 millivolts of electricity in the bulb section at the end of the wires. If the pilot flame is too small because the pilot burner is dirty, then cleaning the pilot burner by blowing air at it may solve your problem. I have used a plastic straw to blow air on a dirty pilot burner in the past.

If that does not work, then you need a new pilot generator or some other fix.

If it does work, then you may have heat for this evening, but it is time to get that equipment serviced so it will last the rest of the winter. A new pilot generator might not be a bad idea when the service technician does get there.

109A_5

Hello @UpstateNyer,
I would venture to say you may have multiple and possibly unrelated problems;
No heat, pilot was originally on.
The water pressure.
Now no pilot.

The type of gas valve will determine if it is a thermopile or a thermocouple. If either is bad the pilot probably won't stay lit.

With the original 'No heat, pilot was originally on' issue. If you had a L8148 Aquastat I'd say the circuit board solder joints to the relay were bad, but you may still have the L8048B, not sure if the L8048B had that issue.

Also the manual PDF is for the PGB150 and yours is a PGB150A so it may be a bit different. But I figure something may be better than nothing.

UpstateNyer

109A_5 said:

Hello @UpstateNyer,
I would venture to say you may have multiple and possibly unrelated problems;
No heat, pilot was originally on.
The water pressure.
Now no pilot.

The type of gas valve will determine if it is a thermopile or a thermocouple. If either is bad the pilot probably won't stay lit.

With the original 'No heat, pilot was originally on' issue. If you had a L8148 Aquastat I'd say the circuit board solder joints to the relay were bad, but you may still have the L8048B, not sure if the L8048B had that issue.

Also the manual PDF is for the PGB150 and yours is a PGB150A so it may be a bit different. But I figure something may be better than nothing.

A thermopile - I went back down to take a look. I'll have someone look at it ASAP tomorrow. Right now I have the wood stove pumping out heat to keep the house decently comfortable. I appreciate your help. I'll update the thread when I find out what the issue was/is.

Thanks again.

UpstateNyer

EdTheHeaterMan said:

If you have a Pilot Generator that is not able to keep the pilot valve engaged, then that's your problem. The pilot generator makes 750 Millivolts to operate the pilot valve and the main valve. The flame from the pilot is what is generating the 750 millivolts of electricity in the bulb section at the end of the wires. If the pilot flame is too small because the pilot burner is dirty, then cleaning the pilot burner by blowing air at it may solve your problem. I have used a plastic straw to blow air on a dirty pilot burner in the past.

If that does not work, then you need a new pilot generator or some other fix.

If it does work, then you may have heat for this evening, but it is time to get that equipment serviced so it will last the rest of the winter. A new pilot generator might not be a bad idea when the service technician does get there.

I used a straw to blow out the pilot burner. Then tried to relight - no joy. It will stay lit until I release the knob and then it goes out. I appreciate you trying to help. I might try and run over to the plumbing supply store in the morning and grab one if they have it in stock. I won't have an issue installing that. Either way at some point tomorrow I'll have a pro over to take a look and figure out what's going on.

109A_5

UpstateNyer said:

I have an old Utica Boiler that we planned on replacing next year (one season too long it seems lol).

Your present boiler has few parts and the few parts are not real expensive and fairly common. I would keep it until the heat exchanger fails. Wait until the maintenance of a new boiler gets hold of your budget and the very specialized parts are not available.

hot_rod

If pressure increases again, the fill valve may be leaking.

HomerJSmith

"A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum", Price Inflation. If the present boiler is "long in the tooth" and you're thinking of replacing it, what @109A_5 says makes sense. If you can afford it, figure out what you want and buy it now and put it in the corner of the garage until you need it. There are supply problems and price increases in the future.
I ordered a boiler (very hi altitude) and I was told it was 5-6 mo out. I ordered a sea level unit because it was available and a hi altitude conversion kit. I was worried about not getting a boiler. One in the hand is better than two in the bush. I got the boiler in two days. I got the conversion kit in 3 1/2 mo.
Supply is an increasing problem.

EdTheHeaterMan

HomerJSmith said:

"A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum", Price Inflation. If the present boiler is "long in the tooth" and you're thinking of replacing it, what @109A_5 says makes sense. If you can afford it, figure out what you want and buy it now and put it in the corner of the garage until you need it. There are supply problems and price increases in the future.
I ordered a boiler (very hi altitude) and I was told it was 5-6 mo out. I ordered a sea level unit because it was available and a hi altitude conversion kit. I was worried about not getting a boiler. One in the hand is better than two in the bush. I got the boiler in two days. I got the conversion kit in 3 1/2 mo.
Supply is an increasing problem.

That is great that you were able to get the boiler so quickly, All you needed to do was move the home closer to sea level for the 3 months or so until you got the conversion kit. That must have been a real bummer moving the house all that distance. But at least you had great views for a couple of months