Spacepak loses 24 volts after brief power glitch, returns if 240 volt breaker cycled off/on

109A_5 · August 19

I wonder if that is a date code, 16th week of 1989.

Jamie Hall · August 19

A glitch with that thing could cause all sorts of hard to track down problems!

EBEBRATT-Ed · August 19

The suspected "Utility Problem" IMHO is the first problem to follow up on IMHO.

Troubleshooting IMHO is not only the process of looking for the problem which sometimes results in tunnel vision but just as much about eliminating any possible problems.

How long would it take to walk around and ask the neighbors if they are having power glitches?

If they are not then fine cross that off the list. The OP said the service drop to the house has already been changed so if the neighbors have no issue cross the utility off the list. The cost is basically "0" to do this.

EdTheHeaterMan · August 19

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1902327#Comment_1902327

As far as solving the problem on the Pulse furnace where the problem manifested itself, I believe the next generation of ignition controls had the WatchGuard device built into the control. So the problem was solved with the “Band-Aid patch” inside the control, and you did not see it. Since this patch worked so well (customers stoped complaining) we may as well use it. Why bother trying to fix it in the first place when we can just patch it.

Jamie Hall · August 20

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1902348#Comment_1902348

Mostly insatiable curiousity, @EdTheHeaterMan !

Jon_23 · August 20

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1902347#Comment_1902347

As I have stated previously:

" I have bothered the power company plenty. Short of buying a very expensive Fluke line monitor, it is going to be hard to catch anything to get them to look harder. I am one of 3 customers on my transformers and my neighbors also notice some 'glitches' during storms but it doesn't seem to cause any problems to their equipment. "

EBEBRATT-Ed · August 20

It's pretty simple

Ask your neighbors to note the date and time when you have a glitch. See if it coincides with your issues.

if you don't want to then don't.

Jon_23 · August 20

I have asked them and 'yes' they occasionally notice 'glitches' during storms but none of them have any problems with their equipment shutting off, so they just think it's part of living where we live. I have also put in another request with my power company to leave a power quality monitor on my line again. We have a lot of late afternoon storms this time of year so probably the best chance for them to document it.

Jamie Hall · August 20

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1902401#Comment_1902401

"none of them have any problems with their equipment shutting off".

That tells me, right away, that your equipment, for some reason, is unusually sensitive — or outright faulty. Particularly in situations like this, it is essential that you check your own setup first, and rule out any possible problems with that.

pecmsg · August 20

Trouble codes

109A_5 · August 21

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1902406#Comment_1902406

Waiting for storm

109A_5 · August 21

Unless the neighbors have the exact same equipment they may never experience the same inconvenience with their equipment.

I could better explain what I see with that control board (assuming it is the control board locking out and not the WetSwitch) however you all would probably fall asleep in your Beer.

Intplm. · August 21

Line loss glitch…maybe a transformer needs to be installed on a pole near you??

Storms with wind and rain? Do branches hit the wires, causing the brownout glitch issue? It's something to look into and should not be ignored.

Jamie Hall · August 21

I give up.

109A_5 · August 21

This is AI so it may not be 100% accurate, but I found it interesting. The exclusion of "brief fluctuations under five minutes" is maybe why they are not overly aggressive finding the power quality issue.

109A_5 · August 21

(I'm not a Lawyer) So I guess this could be read as; If you have equipment that is too sensitive to specific infrequent fluctuations or Voltage anomalies that negatively influences or agitates your equipment you are on your own to resolve the issue. (cough, cough) Double-conversion (online) UPS with good battery maintenance (cough, cough). Expensive, but works well if well maintained.

Nice…

It appears the embedded electronics / software folks need to do a better job. Asking the question; "Do I really need to be locked out if the fault goes away in milliseconds and the fault is very infrequent…".

To me, in this case it sounds like a timer to invoke an 'as needed' A/C system reset for the Win.

Unless you prove it is the WetSwitch and go with another moisture detecting device or you prove it is the control board and find another control board that is a later revision that addresses the power quality issue.

I do not believe your present control board is actually defective, just an unfortunate gap in design oversight.

EBEBRATT-Ed · August 22

Back in the day on commercial oil & gas burners we used a lot of Fireye combustion control programmers in our area. They worked better than Honeywell at that time and Fireye used to be located in Cambridge, Ma.

Those older controls you mounted a sub base and wired the sub base and then mounted the control on the sub base. They were all tubes, mechanical timers and relays back then. 1970s

1980 they came out with and electronic version of the control. It fit the same subbase. The old control was a model 5022. The new electronic version was D-5022

Occasionally you would notice a burner short cycle on low water. With the 5022 the burner would shut down -post purge-pre purge and it would get some condensate back in the time it took to purge and light off again.

Took us a while to figure out if you had to replace that old control with the nw electronic D-5022. when it shut down on low water if the contacts in the LWCO chattered instead of the burner recycling it would go into lockout-flame failure.

Of course Fireye said this was not possible but that's what happened on many jobs so we would have to find a way around that issue. nothing was mentioned in their troubleshooting chart about that it took us a few jobs and quite a few hours to figure that out.

Spacepak loses 24 volts after brief power glitch, returns if 240 volt breaker cycled off/on

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