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Top Ten List for Equipment Failures

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Comments

  • GaryDidier
    GaryDidier Member Posts: 229
    Kal and Jim

    You have both been awarded the flying fickle finger of fate!!!

    Gary from Granville
  • GaryDidier
    GaryDidier Member Posts: 229
    Failures

    My Knees ,Back, Eyes ,Elbows, Wrists, Neck, Ankles, Feet, Teeth
    And finally the mind. Oh, my mind still works. In fact it is just like a computer, but the delete bin is getting huge.!

    Gary from Granville
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member Posts: 201
    Silicon Carbide ignitors...

    The Norton company claims to have drastically improved their ceramic-intermetallic mini ignitor, which is composed partially of Silicon Carbide (mixed with Aluminum Nitride and Marley-Disilide). This development was introduced on their 240 volt ignitors. Maybe Kal and I will be sharing our Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award with them?
  • Kal Row
    Kal Row Member Posts: 1,520
    ahh, you kill me...


    as i understand it, the advantage to the mini-igniter is less thermal stress gradients due to it's small size - so it heats and cools evenly and doesn’t fatigue break – but bob – is right, for 24v you have to make the coating real thin – it would have to be a micro igniter – then you have to worry about oxidation effects cause you don’t have enough thermal stabilizing sub-mass – like trying to make an open air light bulb – and imagine sizing safety valve for such tight current flows - fuh-git-abow-eet
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member Posts: 201
    Ya vull, heir commandant!

    Ve haff vergotten about eat. Unt now let us go back to the laboratory und haff a leetle schnapze...(Young Frankenstein)

    These HSIs are a nightmare in certain applications. Oxidation is one problem that seems to have no solution. They come in 24v, 120v, and 240v, by the way - but I don't think any of that matters. I'm not thinking that "our" award is a prestigious one, Kal!
  • Kal Row
    Kal Row Member Posts: 1,520
    dots fronkenshteen ;)

  • Ranger
    Ranger Member Posts: 210
    Amen to that!...

    ...I think I know how Evil Knevil feals in the morning!!!...
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member Posts: 201
    Looks like John has some research material...

    for an article on lunacy too, now.

    "Hearts and kidneys are tinkertoys, I'm talking about the central nervous system !"

    Class is.....dismissed
  • John R. Hall
    John R. Hall Member Posts: 2,245
    Hmmm

    I forgot the question.
  • Kal Row
    Kal Row Member Posts: 1,520
    cm'on glen that was a long time ago - time to forgive...

    they make great stuff now
  • Glenn Harrison_2
    Glenn Harrison_2 Member Posts: 845
    I'll never forget those things,

    especially considering how much FUN it is to change the HX on those. Plus when you consider how much of a screw up those things turned out to be, its hard to forgive.

    I will admit that Rheem has finally come along with some decent equipment for the 21st century. Hope it stays that way because everything they made in the 90's was a total failure, IMHO.
  • Harry_4
    Harry_4 Member Posts: 2
    Hot surface ignitors

    I have never really figured out why these devices are believed to be useful. An intermittant spark, with or without a temporary pilot (for the duration of the burn), seems to make more energy sense. Gas appliance manufactures do not seem to pay attention to electrical energy costs.
  • Bob Tonner
    Bob Tonner Member Posts: 64
    You are right Harry...

    Costs considered by Manufacturers are primarily manufacturing costs and warranty costs. The customer base (present company excepted) really give very little concern to electrical energy costs, so manufacturers who focus on this area are not rewarded.

    Bob Tonner
    President
    InfinityLab Inc
  • John R. Hall
    John R. Hall Member Posts: 2,245
    One more time...

    ...with gusto!
  • Mike Reavis_2
    Mike Reavis_2 Member Posts: 307
    wow, I forgot about the Amana \"Energy Command\"

    "thingies". I put one in a relatives house. Set it up and it ran great. The motor took a dump once when I was out of the country. They have since moved, and I am not banging on the new owners door!
  • John R. Hall
    John R. Hall Member Posts: 2,245
    Bump

  • Mike Reavis_2
    Mike Reavis_2 Member Posts: 307
    anyone remember the GE furnaces with the cast-iron

    heat exchanger? What a monster that was.

    Here in humidity land, we often get ac coil drain lines to plug up, and drip down into the 80's/90's BDP/Carrier furnaces that had the board in the blower compartment with the molex going through the cabinet to the top of the board. What occurred next was that the water would drip on the board, short out the connection there, fry the wiring harness, and short the gas valve. My first one I burned up a second transformer before I realized that the gas valve was gone. A few folks wisely chose a new appliance.

    You can also count on Trane, and York equipment to toast run capacitors. Carrier runs a distant third in this category. Pretty much, if you find a "super-boost" on a system that has a flow restrictor type metering device, you can bet the run capacitor is bad.
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