munchkin trouble

Mikes mad pipes

I installed a 140M natural gas in oct. 02. I went to the customers house to watch and listen today. The boiler was off when I got there, temp. of water was 55. Turned t-stat up boiler fired and it sounded like the flame was shuttering and the boiler shook for 1/2 a second. Boiler got up to temp. and it's running ok. Customer said it doesn't happen every time just now and then, also he gets a strong smell sometimes after when it really has a hard time firing. Sorry to say I've called and left 2 messages on the dreaded voice mail, 1 friday the 7th and 1 today no response from the tech. dept. I just want to know what to look for and how. I contacted my supplier about training the last time I had a problem but haven't heard back. I work hard to keep my customers happy,theirs no excuse for not hearing back from them.

Mark Hunt

Was there


an error code flashing?

Mark H

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

munchkin-man

checked all my phone notes

I only have one call from you at 4:00pm on 03-11-03. I will contact you today at some point.

Dennis Bellanti

Sounds like you may have delayed ignition. Sometimes opening up the spark gap can solve this problem.

Mark Hunt

Or


a grounding issue.

Call John Sawyer.

Mark H

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

Dan Law

Rumbling

Hey Jeff, I'm not in the residential biz, and Munchins are new to our area this
year, so really no experience. However, I've had similar wackiness in low mass,
high efficient boilers used on Snowmelt application. (Raypak ADBs). Except it
wasn't a couple of seconds problem that the burner worked itself through, our
resulted in lockout.

Ultimately, we corrected the rumbling and lock out by
increasing the EWT to the boiler by throttling discharge and increasing bypass
(80% by pass w/ 20F loop glycol - PS pumping)

My read on it was that the condensation of flue gases on the heat exchanger
surfaces (present with insufficient bypass) were creating excess back
pressure on the burner head (screen in the Raypak case) and therefore affecting the flame
propagation rate, causing the loss of flame retention, rumbling and lockout. When
we got the EWT up, the
issue resolved.

First time I'd had flow problems cause such an extreme reaction on the
combustion side. I’m wondering if in your opinion Mike's post could be similar
physics on a smaller
application, given he reports an initial water temp of 55F.

john wood

Gas piping issue???

Am finding more and more that the VOLUME in the gas line feeding a munchkin is critical. They apparently are sensitive to gas pressures fluctuating as the service regulator and the equipment regulator "look" at each other. Small short piping exacerbates the problem. Try a big drip leg somewhere in the piping close to the boiler.