Lock out

Steamhead

are bad connections (which may not appear bad all the time) or "swinging grounds". I remember an earlier thread in which there were some examples of newer controls that acted real flaky if they weren't properly grounded. If this "rustic hotel" is way out in the sticks, grounding or power surges may be an issue.

I'm sure all the Viessmann fans here would love to know where this rustic hotel is!

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[Deleted User]

System Lock-out

We all love intermintent problems. I have this system I built about 2 yr,s ago at a rustic hotel and the system has locked out 4 times now. The boiler is a Viessmann Atola Cast iron and simple. The only thing I can see that would cause a 100% lockout is an interuption to the gas supply.This I am told by the maintance man has not been the case. The ignition control is spark, LP, 90 second and works well with a good flame. Just love these problems. Any ideas? thanks, Mike

Dougie

I've had my share of these over the years. The problem with troubleshooting these nuisance lockouts is you're never really sure if you got the problem or not. You have to wait a year to see if it happens again. Check all of your electrical conections, especially your grounds and your spark wire. Check the insulation on your spark wire and make sure there's no bare spots that can arc to a metal. I had one that arced to a mounting screw on the ignition control. Re-connect all marrettes and terminal screws. Make sure your pilot valve is in good shape. Clean the pilot burner, check your flame signal. If you're sure that all of your electrical is good, you may have to change out the control. My usual fix for these is to change out the control for a multiple retry control. That almost always solves the problem, although i don't see enough viessmann controls to know if that's an option in this case. Good luck.

[Deleted User]

Got to love it

The rustic hotel is Detjeens, in Big Sur, calif. Thanks for your ideas around this intermintent problem. I will look further into this and yes these problems drive me nuts. Thank God they only come around once in a while. The connections all look and feel good and the control is a simple SU86 90 second, 100% lockout but continuious re-try. Every time I check it it works great. Power surge could be the problem but I have messed with everything trying to get it to lock out and the only thing that makes it lock out is a interuption to the gas during a burn cycle. Thanks again for all your input and I have enjoyed this sight very much over the past 3 yrs coming here every morning.M

Mark Eatherton1

Creeping manifold pressures...

We had 4 Buderi (is that that correct plural term for Buderus's?) that were locking out intermittently. About drove everyone in our company and our supliiers company nuts. They then asked me to take a look at it, and the only way I could get them to L.O. was just as you described, turning off the fuel source. I asked the local utility to place a peressure recording device on the outlet of the meter, down stream of their regulator. The recorder was going off the chart at around midnight every night.

We determined that there was a Pizza oven on the same service as the boilers. They shut of the ovens at midnight every night. The ovens had snap acting gas valves that can open against excessive pressure. The burners on the boilers couldn't. So when the ovens shut down, the pressure in the service would build up to the point that the Buderi couldn't open, and would lock out.

Find yourself a gas pressure recording chart (utility will probably lend you one) and see what goes on when no one is watching.

G'Luck and let us know how you make out.

ME

Ted S.

Does the local gas company have

interruptable and non-interuptable rates? This is a sign that the gas supply is not as reliable as it could be. They have that up in Plattsburg NY (in the "Nort-land" above the Adirondacks)

Ted S.

Dale

Pressure recorder

If you have a fluke or similiar VOM meter that has a high low memory they ( fluke ) have a pressure transducer adapter that will show the high read, a nice adder to the tool kit.

Dale

Another idea

Be sure the circuit to the boiler serves only the boiler. We had an intermittent were a water softener cycle took out the furnace if the burner was running, the other thing is that if you're in conduit it's a good idea to tie a green ground wire to the outside all the way back to the panel from the boiler ground. And, new controls are soft lockout which reset in an hour and can remove some headache calls.