Cyclegard green light blinking and clicking rapidly - boiler wont fire

yorks6988

I woke up to a chilly house so checked the boiler. The green light on the Cyclegard was rapidly blinking and there was a rapid clicking noise. I tried turning it on and off a few times, but it continues to do the same thing.

I lowered the water level and the amber light came on, but the green light was still blinking rapidly.

I turned it off and back on again, and raised the water level. The amber light is off, the green light is now solid (not blinking), but the clicking is still happening and the burner doesn't fire.

EdTheHeaterMan

Raise the water level 1 inch

Clean the probe

Check for a good ground wire connection.

ethicalpaul

Low water level or even a bad connection to the probe shouldn't result in a rapid clicking sound. Prepare to replace the LWCO

mattmia2

Is there anything else with a switching power supply involved in that circuit?

EdTheHeaterMan

Agree with @ethicalpaul, but I would rule out the free stuff first. The time delay in the circuitry would eliminate the rapid clicking of the Cyclegard LWCO, But with anything electronic, you never know what that machine is thinking.

Open the Door Hal. Open the Door Hal.

You're traveling through another dimension where you believe you are sitting in your basement watching your Cyclegard, but really you are caught in a time and space wilderness with unknown electronic devices far beyond the ordinary items you are familiar with

Your are in the…

ethicalpaul

@EdTheHeaterMan with the obscure Zork reference!

@yorks6988 you should ask around because I know for a fact there are dozens of removed Cyclegards in a lot of installers garages around here!

mattmia2

could be that whatever load the cycleguard is controlling is shorted or otherwise drawing excessive current so the relay closes, the voltage from the xfmr drops, the relay opens because the voltage is too low to pull he relay in, the voltage form the xfmr rises, the relay pulls in, the volatage drops, the relay opens and it keeps repeating. I'd try disconnecting the load from the cycleguard before condemning it.

JUGHNE

I have 2 Cyclegards on the shelf. CG450 1560….never used.

Had to change because of needing manual reset LWCO and using feeder pump controls.

These are 120 Volt.

Good deal for someone…..PM me.

Big Ed_4

It needs to be replaced …

Hope this helps..

yorks6988

So from reading the forum a majority of people do not like the Cyclegard. What would be the best replacement?

I see this:

Hydrolevel Safgard 550P is a 120V commercial-grade low water cut-off w/ long probe, manual reset and test buttons for Gas or Oil-fired hot water boilers (or as a secondary LWCO on steam boilers).

But it mentions it is a secondary LWCO.

Is there a better primary?

ethicalpaul

@JUGHNE 's ones are the best ones for you as long as yours is 120v. Direct swap. Cyclegard is fine

mattmia2

you probably want the auto reset version is you go with the safegard. the manual reset is mostly for secondary controls on commercial boilers or hot water boilers where something has gone very wrong if the lwco trips

EdTheHeaterMan

I believe @mattmia2 may be on target:

The bell or buzzer principal is a very short cycle that has a set of contacts that are closed and when powered the electro-magnet pulls in the clapper to ring the bell. At the same time the normally closed contacts open and the electro-magnet loses power and the clapper will fall back to the normal position closing the contacts again which powers the electro-magnet to pull the clapper to ring the bell, which again opens the electro-magnet contacts to turn off the power to the electro-magnets… All this happens by design very quickly until the power to the bell is disconnected by lifting your finger off the push button that operates the bell.

The same thing happens to a relay when the Normal Open contacts close, and a short circuit is made because the control is wired wrong. Once the short circuit happens the power to the relay coil is interrupted and the relay contacts open. Once the relay contacts open there is no longer a short circuit so the relay coil is energized again causing the short circuit…  and this continues until the transformer burns up or the low water condition is resolved or the mis-wired condition is resolved.  

 I believe you may have had the insulation on a wire wear thru and you have a short circuit somewhere causing the chattering relay. 

STEAM DOCTOR

Not necessarily the LWCO. As stated above, a short anywhere in the circuit, can cause the chattering. Look for frayed wires, touching the boiler jacket. Or hot/ neutral wires touching. We're there any recent changes? Did anyone add a smart thermostat and change some wiring? How old is the boiler? Was there any construction done in the house? Is it possible that someone put a screw through some wires?

STEAM DOCTOR

You can temporarily bypass the LWCO and see if the boiler fires

yorks6988

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1855960#Comment_1855960

It starts right up if I bypass the LWCO.