Near-Disaster (Steamhead)

EBEBRATT-Ed

Good catch Frank!.

I often wonder why there arn't more explosions and burndowns with gas and the lousy 24 volt wiring.

As an electrician I admit I am biased but if these are safety controls in a safety circuit (which I think we all agree they are) than they should be wired in a safer wiring method emt, greenfield etc just like line voltage is.

Many years ago some of the old rotary burners used 220 volt control circuits which were outlawed for the same reasons. If One leg of the 220 would go to ground (and it was the one with the safeties in it)with the oil solenoild already open it would get 110 volts and stay held in.


KA_BOOM

Ed

Steamhead (in transit)

They never checked the safeties

when they installed this boiler a few years ago.

I have a new neighbor who is restoring an early 1900s house with one-pipe steam. I had looked at it this past summer but we didn't start it up then since all the rads were disconnected for plastering and painting. When it got cold enough this fall, they fired up the boiler. Two problems became apparent- the boiler was overfilling, and they could smell flue gas.

The boiler is a gas-fired Columbia CEG-300 with Honeywell S8610 spark-to-pilot ignition and the usual lousy near-boiler piping. It had been installed several years before the house was sold. Having been told of the flue gas smell, I went there this afternoon to look at it. The overfilling was caused by a loose probe connection at the LWCO. But when the connection loosened enough to trip the LWCO and call in the feeder, the burners kept running! I tried opening the Pressuretrol, spill, roll-out and the stack damper end switch, and none of them would stop the burners.

It turned out the 24-volt hot and neutral connections were reversed at the spark module. So all the safety switches- LWCO, Pressuretrol, spill, roll-out and last but not least the stack damper end switch- were in the neutral leg as far as the spark module and gas valve were concerned. On the CEG and the similar Utica PEG boilers, the LWCO, Pressuretrol and damper end switches are wired into the 24-volt line before it actually reaches the spark module, and the spill and roll-out are wired between the module and the gas valve. Since the spark module, gas valve and the rest of the ignition system are grounded- as they should be- this allowed the gas valve to open and the burners to fire any time the thermostat called for heat, whether or not the safety switches were closed.

I shudder to think what might have happened if the feeder had not worked when it was called, or if the boiler had fired for an extended period of time with the stack damper closed when there were people working in the basement.

It's possible the boiler came from the factory miswired like this. The local Columbia rep is quite good and I'm sure he will want to know if any other CEG boilers built in that time frame had similar problems. But the original installers- whoever they are- are still at fault, BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THEY DIDN'T CHECK THE SAFETY CONTROLS TO SEE IF THEY ACTUALLY WORKED!

Fortunately, we got to this one in time.

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lchmb

and that

And that explain's why I sit and test each and every safety. I have learned over time that the only way to do it right is to test, test and retest. Not only do I test all the safeties, I run the system through a full cycle. Thanks for reminding everyone of the importance of testing.

Mad Dog_2

Thank God YOU were there

you know alot of techs would fire her up and let er rip...ok you have heat now bye. vbery scary good goin, frank. Mad Dog

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Long Beach Ed

Another safety

You know, all this talk is sending me down the basement to put another pressure control on my boiler. I have a whole barrel of those cheap pressutrols anyway -- might as well use 'em.

Ed

Boilerpro_3

I seen similiar problems....

when installing honeywell stats and Dunkirk steamers. If you wire the stat according to the instructions on the stat, you will bypass all the operating safeties. ALWAYS test the safeties before leaving.

Boilerpro

Wayco Wayne_2

Good catch Frank.

It's a battle to remember to check everything. I have had the power and nuetral reversed on occaision and caught it thankfully. Usually it's not the manufacturer though. I know what you mean about the Columbia Distributor in Baltimore. I dealt with them around Thanksgiving and found them to be very professional and helpful. WW

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JACK MARTIN

SAFETIES CHECKING SAME

A long time ago we had a terriable accident up here that claimed a life from someone who did not believe in leak checkeing his installations. He said in court that he " always socked his fittings in with the power threader" so why leak check? The cap from the gas drop was never tightened up so it worked it's way loose and the explosion claimed a life. Since that time I have made a check listI goe through on each job and check the items off. No one remembers everything all the time! In the event something horrible happens and the manure truly hits the fan at tbe very least you have something in writing to defend yourself. In law the spoken word is as much use as a snowball in a hot oven -- none. The job was also cleared by our local authority to be turned on. It was years ago but: never do I do something on any system ,that can have results that can hurt someone that I do not think about this incident. The installer had been installing for so long his arrogance eclisped his common sense. Thankfully, he has retired long agp -- however I am sure he still has some very bad nights. We are all human so make a list and follow it and keep updating as you run into new systems and experinces. Good luck and hug your kids we are the past they are our furure.


Jack Ennis Martin

Steamhead (in transit)

You'd need double-pole switching

to make those old 220-volt setups work properly. I'm thinking it might be a good idea on 24V too. But I can hear control and boiler makers whine about how much it would cost.....

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gerry gill

people are lucky you looked at it..

i hope they realize you may have saved their home and their lives..well done..hopefully they appreciate it..

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