Burner Eats Controllers any Thoughts?

Dan Goodridge

Should have been able to tell that with a pair of wiggys

John Papendick

Burner Eats Controllers any Thoughts?

My Beckett Oil Burner has been going through Honeywell controllers at a rate of 3 or more per heating season. At times they simply quit. Other times it will not shut off without tripping the power switch, even with the button popped and light lit. The high pressure cut off does work, though. I've had many guys from "P" oil co. come and fix it. each time it was checked for proper wiring etc. and the controller was replaced. Each time with the same model Controller.

It just seems odd to be going through controllers so fast. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Anyone near West Orange want to take a crack at it?

I'm thinking of replacing the oil burner with a gas one.

Thanks in advance!

John

ed wallace

honeywell control

which model control are you talking about

John Papendick

Thanks for the reply.

They have all been Honeywell R8184G 4009 controllers.

John

Robert O'Connor_7

West Orange you say?

John, We are located in Glen Ridge. Do you need help?

Robert O'Connor/NJ

ed wallace

honeywell controls

might be a bad batch or maybe over/under voltage

BillW@honeywell

Try replacing it with an R7184U1020

Also check voltage, too high or to low can be problematic. Power surges can also cause premature failure; is any other hi-draw appliance on the same circuit as the burner? Were these new controls or rebuilds? Also check for any water leaks or condensation dripping on the oil primary.

Weezbo

I have seen this ,one major cause is the conduit was laying

against the fire box and oh duh...it ssmoked the wires..jo blow comes along thinks the controler is to fault....so does the next guy...and the next...nah says i its the wiring.now when You see the flex leaning on the fire box its Evident what the minor technicality is all about...however when your the 5 th guy looking at a group of controllers going left of center ...i would like to suggest this a wire that catches on fire is by code to be replaced..how many people replace the wires..how many even check them ..who can say. thing is the integrity of the wire may be underminded in the middle of a run just as easy as at the termination of the wire .....there is one major thing to keep in mind when doing service work...................The other thing that pushes controls over the top isnt quite as obvious it is due to Brown outs and over voltages.........

Ken_8

John,

I'm in W.O all the time.

I'm in Rahway, went to school in Caldwell and my wife's from Verona.

We can help. (732) 388-1794



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Al Gregory

Neutrual is switched

Ken_8

Good call!

Makes more sense than all the others combined.

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Leo

Has it been really cleaned?

I have seen units that needed a real good cleaning have a build up of back pressure over the fire creating excess heat leading to failed controls and failed transformers/ignitors. This is more common on cold start boilers that get the concrete like build up in the heat exchanger.

Leo

John Papendick

Burner Eats Controllers any Thoughts?

Just wanted to add a follow-up to my issue. I finally had the time to go over all the wires etc. on my furnace. While I was inspecting everything, it finally dawned on me that my problem began when we had an electrition upgrade our service from 60 amp to 200 amp. The braker for the furnace was not properly seated in the panel. Also, the polarity was reversed.

I ran a new dedicated line to the furnace and everything is now working properly.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply!!!

John

Rocky_2

Had similar problems

on a job I went to. The protecta-relay, the very one you mentioned, would go goofy. Changed it out and went on my way. Got a call the next day. Started digging a little deeper. Found the thermostat's heat anticipator was set way too high. Drawing too much juice from the control causing it to not draw in contacts, or release contacts. Matched heat anticipator to amp load on protecta relay and problem went away. check your thermo's heat anticipator. Good luck,
Rocky