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Problems with my Trianco-Heatmaker

Tony_23
Tony_23 Member Posts: 1,033
It controls and maintains the tank temp which dictates whether you get HW w/o a call for heat. It's possible your coil needs cleaning (internally, you can't see it).

Where are you located ?

Comments

  • Matthew Oliver
    Matthew Oliver Member Posts: 3
    Trianco-heatmaker...not enough hot water

    Actually sometimes my family and I get very little if any hot water and the baby doesn't like cold baths (can't blame her) It's a 10 year old unit in a 10 year old house. The previous owners did nothing but live here, no maintanance to be seen on the unit tag. Our home inspection just covered to see if it was safe and up to code, not whether it was operational but we moved in in the Summer so we didn't notice the problem..We do not have excessively corrosive water at all as I've read the coil may be corroded or restricted from max water flow. For now the way I'm circumventing the problem is setting the digital thermostat for 15 mins before we get home from work and by 7:00 if the furnace is running we'll get hot water. if we just turn on the faucet in the middle of the day, you get luke warm water until the unit turns on, after its on for a while (5-10 minutes of running water) you get all the hot water you need. When the unit isn't running the temp gauge shows well below 100F. I'm thinking this isn't correct operation.
    Any help is greatly appreciated, at least if you can point me in the right direction I can get an idea of what i'm up against. Please post if you need me to be more specific and I'll fill in any holes i might have missed.
    Model: trianco-heatmaker markII
  • David Woycio
    David Woycio Member Posts: 107
    Heat maker

    Used to put a lot of these in. If you have a temp valve (code) on the hot out check and make sure that it is not mixing too much cold. If you are only getting 100 deg. when off I think you may have a limit problem. On your model there might be a snap switch on the top of the tank mounted to the domestic hot out under the insulation that may be malfuntioning. This controls the hot temp. Make sure that it is under the insulation or it will not funciton properly.

    There should be a flow restrictor (I think 3 gpm) on the hot out. These units can produce alot of hot water only at a fixed flow rate.

    Turn all your stats down and open a hot faucet....what happens? What's the temp of the boiler? Do you have BB or radiant?

    If you can get your hands on the operating manual you should be able to pinpoint. Try the manufactures web site.

    Could be a bad coil but if it was going bad I would think that the flow rate would be considerably lower when using you hot water. On extreme cases the finned coils are corroded so bad you won't get the exchange.

    The unit should fire, when using hot water, between 180 - 210 F for good DHW production

    Hope this helps
  • Matthew Oliver
    Matthew Oliver Member Posts: 3
    heatmaker

    That's a lot of info and exactly what i was looking for thanks.

    Let's see if I can answer your questions. We have baseboard heating. If he thermostats are down and you use the Kitchen sink you'll get cold water that will warm up briefly and then go back to cold. Also on the second floor we have a temptrol single knob shower/tub faucet and when you turn the faucet to hot (3 0'clock, turning counter clockwise) the flow of water is noticeable lower/restricted compared to just plain hot which made me think i had a mixer problem in that faucet. I dissasembled that and everything looked nice and clean with no signs of sticking or wear.

    I have an operaters manual but didn't find it too comprehensive at all, however they do say unsufficiant hot water can be a dirty coil or not having a flow restrictor. website just shows a parts listing really.

    I'm located in Lincoln RI

    I read about the flow restriction valve, only allowing a certain amount of water to pass over the coils so it can heat up to optimum temp, but I won't be able to see that without dissassembly correct?

    Also we do have a control valve (scald valve i've heard them called) on the outside of the unit, it's all the way up. I also insulated all of the hot pipes leading out of the unit to no avail.

    This board is the best, at least I have a few things to check before I call in a professional.

    In summary, if I have the stats up and there is a call for BB heat (which is nice and warm) we will get hot water all around the house.....heat down or off and we get nada...
  • David Woycio
    David Woycio Member Posts: 107
    Heat maker

    I'm in Denver.

    Don't think it's you coil. To test a temp. valve, run hot water and feel the hot going into the mix valve. Let run for a bit. Use a faucet that has a separate hot and cold if possible. If the cold to the mix stays cold your mixing, maybe when you shouldn't. I've seen plumbers replace entire water heaters when the problem was the mixing valve.

    I'm really suspecting your hot out control snap switch. Have you located it? It will be very close to the top of the tank strapped to the hot line out. If it is malfunctioning the boiler will throttle too cold for hot water production.

    The fact that you have hot water when the unit is heating tells me that the mix valve is "probably" ok. It's when there is no call that your having the problem.

    Good luck!


  • Rick K
    Rick K Member Posts: 13
    heatmaker

    Hows it going im a service tech out on long island maybe this will help alittle.....i had a customer today that had the same problem.....what i found was that the low limit on the triple aquastat was too low (140 degrees) and when you opened a faucet after about 15 seconds the water was still cool.....the temp. in the boiler dropped rapidly to about 130 degrees before the burner came on,once it came on after 5 min the water temp was fine. By raising the low limit to 170 and the high to 190 this kept the temp around 160 when you are running water and the boiler can now keep up with the demand..... Now with your boiler when you say the temp in the boiler is under 100 degrees when the heat is not on it sounds to me like your boiler is a cold start boiler which means it only runs when there is a demand for heat...i dont know if im missing something i didnt hear you say you had a seperate water heater hooked up to the boiler (aquabooster or indirect waterheater) if you dont have a seperate tank and all you have is a coil then this is a problem the boiler needs to be rewired so it will maintain temp. all the time. Hope this helps!
  • Tony_23
    Tony_23 Member Posts: 1,033
    Non-adjustable

    Low limit on these.
  • scott inM.E.
    scott inM.E. Member Posts: 68
    The cold domestic inlet....

    should have a flow restrictor in line. They are sweat in, should be 1/2". I have had several service calls from diff. customers who move into a home and have the same prob. Even with the system installed 10 plus years no one had put in a flow restrictor.

    Metro man is right, and the owners man. that should be in a plastic pouch on the side of your boiler has a good trouble shooting section.

    Other thing's you want to look for is the internal exhaust pipe. Your system is a vent pipe inside a fresh air intake. It's a 3" in a 5". There were some installations up here in Maine were contractors were using a plastic vent pipe. Over time the pipe would fail and you would get short cycling problems from cross contamination. This may be an issue if you have short cycling problems now or in the future.

    Teledyne Laars has built the endurance boiler to replace these heatmakers, their website may help. I do not have it. Hope this helps.
  • Matthew give me a call

    I run a training center in RI for gas systems. I can give you the name of a company that specializes on Heatmakers here in RI. My number is 401-437-0557.
  • RadPro
    RadPro Member Posts: 90
    mixing valve

    My mom had this same boiler in her house, she had the same trouble. After 3 service techs told her it was the coil I went down and took a look. Here is what I found. I located the mixing valve (3 pipes connected) Hot, cold, mixed. when the hot water was first turned on the mixed or output was warm as it should be. after a min or two the outlet or warm water pipe would get cold, yet the hot water pipe to the mixing valve was still very hot. this lead me to beleive the valve was malfunctioning. We purchased a rebuild kit for the valve she had ($14) and now the system works perfect with endless hot water. My sugestion is you go to the boiler and do this same test with the most sofisticated test equipment available ( your hand) and see if the hot water inlet stays hot before spending $100's of your hard earned money to have tech after tech mis-guide you becaues they have no clue how a heatmaker operates. A word to the wise- don't give up on the heatmaker for lack of knowledgeable service techs, Mom did when a fan went bad in hers and nobody would work on it. She replaced hers with a Crown boiler of the same size with an external storage tank for domestic hot water, now she consumes almost 3 times the amount of propane to operate the new boiler. her heating costs went from about $1,500 to nearly $5,000 this is before the cost of fuel skyrocketed. She has had several techs and factory reps look at the new system and the all say it is working properly and sized properly for her house. I am now trying to talk her into junking the Crown boiler and replacing it with a Monitor wall hung gas boiler that is equal to or even more efficient than the heatmaker. Of course I am concerned about her spending all her money on heating because she is spending my inheritance to heat the house.
  • RadPro
    RadPro Member Posts: 90
    mixing valve

    do not contact author it is incorrect, I arrived here thru a search engine and somehow was able to post under this guys name and e-mail don't know how and I apoligize for this. but the post on the mixing valve is 100% valid.
  • Matthew Oliver
    Matthew Oliver Member Posts: 3
    thanks

    I really appreciate all the help, this forum is incredible. I have a few leads and will be following up with them all. Also thanks to Tim in Riverside, I have a call into the Gas Dr. as we speak...
  • Paul B._2
    Paul B._2 Member Posts: 62
    Service for Heatmakers

    Tim,

    Thanks for jumping in and posting on this,and putting him in touch with the Gas Doctor. Hope you're having a Happy New Year, and if your in the Rochester area sometime stop in at the Factory and visit. I'll make sure your service info is up to date.

    Sincerely,

    Paul B.

    Laars Heating Systems
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