Carlin 41000 ignitor premature failure solution

Roamer46

My oil-fired boiler/wh stopped lighting a few weeks ago. Turned out the Carlin 41000 ignitor cooked itself. I'm a DIY type and found a thread here about Carlin 41000 premature failure. A few suggestions required swapping out the control unit for one that cuts off voltage to the ignitor after a few seconds while the fuel pump/blower is running. That was a very expensive option (>$750).

Since my original controller works as designed, I ordered a 110v 0-10 second relay (H3Y-2 timer relay online) and wired it in the ignitor circuit on the relay's normally closed output pins. I set it for 5 seconds, switched it on, and it works great. The new ignitor comes on immediately, runs for 5 seconds, then shuts off. The boiler keeps going until it reaches the set temperature.

Here's what I did:

Cut the white and blue/white wires midway between the controller and the ignitor.
White goes to relay pin 13.
Blue/white goes to pin 14.
Put one jumper wire from 14 to 12, and another from 13 to 9.
Attach the white wire from the ignitor to pin 1.
Attach the blue/white wire from the ignitor to pin 4.
Drill holes in the base plate and attach the relay to it with screws.
Close the base plate and secure with screws.
Fire it up!

EdTheHeaterMan

That setup may work fine, however it may void warranty and any safety feature built into the OEM design. That may void said safety feature and may be a reason for denying an insurance claim if something catastrophic may happen (like burning your house down) regarding oil burner operation.

I would replace the existing Primary Safety control with this one to get the feature you want

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Carlin-Combustion-70200S-Pro-X-Universal-Oil-Primary-Control-120-VAC?_br_psugg_q=carlin+primary+control

Also, operating your burner without the ignition on during the burn cycle may cause the flame to perform differently. You should get a combustion analyzer and make sure the burner is set up properly. Since the combustion analyzers are expensive, you may just bite the bullet and get a Pro to use their analyzer for you.

Roamer46

The boiler is >30 years old, so warranty concerns went out the door ages ago. There are no safety features involved. The ignitor is pigtailed to the fuel pump/blower so in OEM configuration it runs 100% of the time the pump/blower is on. The flame detector and high temp cutoff are the only safety features on this old girl. If it detects no flame/high temp and turns off the blower, juice to the ignitor turns off, too. This relay simply eliminates unnecessary ignitor run-time.

It looks like that Carlin controller would do the same thing as my relay at 7x the cost. I also found complaints online about Carlin products, including that controller, just not lasting like they used to. Time will tell if this is a lasting solution. It certainly is better than manually lighting the boiler with extra long matches while waiting for the new ignitor to arrive! lol

EdTheHeaterMan

Warranty issues are not what Im talking about. The safety designed into that control that connects the primary to the ignitor and the motor (and valve if any) is what I'm talking about. That is timeless. If you have the original control from the original boiler and you modify it, you have voided any safety feature that control offers. Although your idea is good and in theory is doing the same thing, the modification is not an approved modification.

On the other hand, the Carlin 70200S-Pro is an approved upgrade to the burner. It says so in the instructions! This control replaces: and names all the controls that apply. Including the one that is on your burner.

As far as quality issues, I find that particular control is pretty bullet proof, and it comes with a 5 year warranty from the date of manufacturer by Carlin. It also has several diagnostic features built into that control, that have helped me in the past to diagnose an intermittent failure that the control you have will not.