EK E130 errors

HeatingHelp · January 7

This discussion was created from comments split from: ENERGY KINETICS REVIEW.

mrcoder · January 6

I would like to add a perspective from a customer who had this system ( Resolute rt) for a bit longer than 3 years. Before pulling the trigger on one of these, look into who will be servicing your unit, and what is their
hourly rate.

Here in Southern MA we have exactly one dealer/EK certified service provider. They happen to be pretty expensive. True, some parts have a lifetime warranty, but many common parts ( pump, igniter, solenoid, Air inducer and the like) are only covered for 3 years. My Resolute worked like a dream for the first 3 years. If you asked me a year ago, I would have given it a 5 star review. Quiet, clean. efficient. I did not even know it had a reset button.

A couple of months ago started having trouble with sporadic "ho flame" lockouts. 3 service visits later the Solenoid was diagnosed to be faulty, and replaced to the tune of $580. This did not fix the sporadic lockouts, but made them less frequent. To this day, it has never been definitively diagnosed what causes these.

I notice a couple of days ago the air inducer become loud, makes a sound like a bearing screech. Likely will have to be replaced, the part is about $400. I am getting an estimate tomorrow on labor. The return temp gets unreasonably hot, to the point that the unit throws E130 errors (seen 3 in the last 3 months). Maybe it is related to the air inducer. maybe some sensor…

My impression is that it works great when it works, but the maintenance can be a problem. It sounds like an attractive proposition, but the repair costs in the past couple of month will likely wipe out any savings I may have achieved due to the high efficiency. Plus there is an extra premium up front.

Perhaps there is something to be said about a less efficient, common, simpler system, that any average burner tech can work on, a reasonable hourly rate. Knowing what I know now, I would probably not chose an EK system again.

Roger · January 6

Thank you for your post, @mrcoder .

Please PM me or contact us with your location so we can connect you with our territory manager in your area to help you can get support and a quick resolution. We’d like to find out more about your specific circumstances and what is happening with your system. For reference, the E130 diagnostic code is often a circulator issue, and, like the solenoid valve you mentioned, both parts are industry standard and not unique to the system.

Thank you,

Roger

mrcoder · January 7

I have my EK dealer tech coming out tomorrow ( actually it is today now) to look at the Air Inducer issue. Let's see how that goes. How fast does EK typically ship out a replacement part? That Air inducer sounds pretty bad.

Roger · January 7

We keep a deep inventory of parts and ship the same day if the order comes in time for UPS pickup. If the inducer is making noise, we will want to get it back from your tech to run a failure analysis.

pecmsg · January 7

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1832489#Comment_1832489

Its not the manufacture but the people servicing the equipment.

bbick · January 7

where are you located & who is your heating contractor

HeatingHelp.com · January 7

@mrcoder, we've started a new discussion for you here so that your questions don't get lost at the bottom of an older discussion. This will help avoid confusion as we help resolve any issues with your system.

mrcoder · January 13

Kudos to EK for their outstanding customer support, and standing behind their product.

The Air inducer was replaced, and the Taco 007E circulator was proactively replaced by a simpler, more robust model. My EK territory manager Brian came on-site with my service provider to give a hand with the Air Inducer upgrade. The new an improved Air inducer looks good, quiet as a mouse.

Brian noticed my high return temperature, and he immediately replaced the return temp heat sensor. The burner now shuts off if it goes over 170 -180, as it should. It is likely the sensor was the reason for the E130 errors.

Just an FYI, about 8 days ago I added a couple of oil rated check valves at the oil exit point at the tanks. This was recommended by Carlin. This is also recommended by Roth. It did not make an apparent difference. I checked the 4 nuts on the 2 flex lines to the Tigerloop. These all seemed a bit loose, I was able to turn them about 1/4 turn with minimal effort. For some reason these came loose, (they worked fine for the first 3 years).

Update on lockouts: I have tightened those flex hose connections several times now, and this seems to eliminate the lockouts for a week or three, then start having problems again. Finally, I took apart the 2 connections on the Tigerloop side, cleaned off the old dope, and re-applied an oil rated pipe dope ( the dope that EK sells). After dong this, the problem finally went away for good. I notice that there was strain on these connections. The installer apparently put on the articulating connections on the pump side first, so he had to twist the flex lines when tightening the Tigerloop side (those nuts are "fixed" to the line there). This twisted the line, causing a twisting force on those connections, which, combined with some vibration would cause the nuts to come lose, and an air leak to develop.

mrcoder · January 15

I asked my service tech about the nuts on the flex lines to the TigerLoop. He did not have any suggestions as to why those nuts would have come loose. Vibration?

The only comment he had to offer was "No idea, but be extremely careful tightening those nuts, you may crack the fittings on the oil pump, which would be all on you". Sounded like a bit of fearmongering, and it scared me enough to order a spare oil pump just in case, before I touched those nuts. Of course nothing actually broke :-)

Given that I have been complaining about the frequent lockouts/daily loss of prime for 3 months, and they never really diagnosed or fixed this problem, (other than replacing my solenoid) I was a bit disappointed.

Anybody seen this issue of the flex line connections coming lose to the point that they can cause loss of prime? These look like male NPT on both ends of the line Looks like the threads were heavily doped when they installed them. Does anyone have recommended torque to tighten these?

techforlife · February 7

My company has been installing EKs for about 15 years. Well over 1000 of them. Never any issues other than the occasional defective standard part not manufactured by EK. I think that the degree of tech support is well illustrated here.

EK E130 errors

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