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New System 2000 Energy Manager Issue?

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ctboiler28
ctboiler28 Member Posts: 13
in Oil Heating

Hi All,

Our EK1 was installed in February and has worked well during the end of the heating season in CT. Recently as we have switched our thermostats to central air, I have noticed that the Energy Manager will intermittently turn the circulator and Zone 1 on erroneously. We have hydro-air, so the zone 1 heat circulation is dumping heat into the HW coil on the air handler that is shared with the A/C condenser unit. So far I have not seen this happen when the A/C was actively working, but eventually it will and reduce the effectiveness of the A/C as the summer temperatures get hotter.

I noticed this by simply seeing that the Z1 light on the manager has come on, or at other times I have simply felt that the inlet/outlet pipes on the air handler HW lines are warm (not super hot). I have not seen the air handler actually blowing air when this happens, and I also have not seen the burner turn on. It isn't constant - sometimes the lines are cold. It seems to me that the EM is randomly circulating water to Z1, and whatever heat is left in the boiler at a given time (usually around 120 F) goes into the HW coil. The ZHW zone for our domestic hot water works normally and purges correctly.

I had our local oil company/installer come look today, and the tech suggested switching our zone 1 and zone 2 thermostats to see if it is a thermostat issue. I tried that, but the issue happened again this evening, which I think rules out the thermostat as the culprit.

Has anyone experienced the Energy Manager randomly turning a zone on like this, particularly when the house is set to Cool?

Comments

  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 7,512

    Right now the only time the burner should come on is to heat the water heater. When the demand for the domestic hot water ends, there's a purge cycle to dump remaining BTU's from the boiler. Usually this purge dumps into the water heater. Is it possible your Manager is programmed to purge into zone 1?

    If not that, then...

    Zone 1 continued to heat even after swapping thermostats. Were the thermostat sub bases swapped as well?

    What make and model thermostats? Are they 24 volt powered by the air handlers? (C wire connected?) Is there an HVAC or isolation relay at the air handlers, or both Rc and Rh at the thermostats are being used?

    For now you can at least take off the T1 (zone 1?) wire from the left side of the Manager so it doesn't get a heat signal if its electrical.

    A third possibility is the zone 1 zone valve is bypassing. But not likely on a new system.

  • Robertw
    Robertw Member Posts: 86

    @ctboiler28

    Sounds as though you may have a power stealing thermostat wired in. Or the theres voltage bleed from the ac transformer to the heat side of the thermostat. This causes what we call "ghost calls". Best bet is isolate our equipment with a Rib relay. If your installer needs help he can call me in tech support here at the office. 908-735-2066

    Robert W.

    Energy Kinetics

    szwedjpecmsg

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