MTcummins
In the Trades
Hey All,
I have an A.O. Smith BTX-80 commercial water heater that I use for both potable water and radiant floor heating in my house. A year ago, an idiot developer tore down the row house next to mine and ended up doing significant damage to my house, so I drained the whole system to avoid freezing until things were repaired. Now I'm trying to get the heating system filled and running again, but have run into a problem.
So this is a power vent tank with all the fancy electronic controls. When I turn the unit on, it cycles through 3 attempts at lighting, then goes into lockout mode. In each attempt, I can see that the ignition element is glowing bright, fairly certain its as hot as it always was before.
When the power vent fires up on each attempt, about 5 seconds later I get an error code. Here's the troubleshooting guide's info on that error:
Problem:
Pressure switch remained open longer than 5 seconds after the combustion blower was energized.
Solution:
1. Pressure switch wiring is incorrect
2. Pressure switch tubing not connected correctly
3. Air intake or exhaust obstructed
This tank was working fine before, and was not effected by the damage to the house, so I can't imagine that the wiring could be a problem. I don't think anything is obstructed, but its possible. I currently have a flexible tube coming off the power vent and going straight down the side of the tank and tying into a T fitting on the 1" PVC drain that goes from the pan under the heater to the floor drain. Is this an acceptable way to run this tubing line? I do think I've gotten that error before, but it would still light and operate fine, so I just left it alone. I don't know a lot about what this pressure switch is or what it does, so not sure how to troubleshoot it. Any help here would be very helpful.
So, it does this 3 times, each time giving this error, trying to light, and failing. After the 3 attempts, I get another error code, with this description:
Problem:
System in lockout
Solution:
1. Gas supply is off or too low to operate
2. Hot surface ignitor not positioned correctly
3. Low voltage to the water heater
4. Electric polarity to the unit is incorrect - test and correct
The gas was turned off for this whole time while the house was being repaired, but it is back on now and both my stove and gas drier work fine since turning it back on. It may be possible that the valve at the street isn't fully open, but this doesn't seem to be causing any problems for the other gas appliances. I don't think the ignitor would have moved... nothing really has changed, other than the tank being exposed to a bit colder of an environment than usual. The electric hasn't changed, other than a new panel being put in while the new service line was installed (old one was cut out after damage to house as a precaution), so again, I doubt that there is any problem with it.
Any thoughts on how to correct this problem(s)?
Thanks!
Mike
I have an A.O. Smith BTX-80 commercial water heater that I use for both potable water and radiant floor heating in my house. A year ago, an idiot developer tore down the row house next to mine and ended up doing significant damage to my house, so I drained the whole system to avoid freezing until things were repaired. Now I'm trying to get the heating system filled and running again, but have run into a problem.
So this is a power vent tank with all the fancy electronic controls. When I turn the unit on, it cycles through 3 attempts at lighting, then goes into lockout mode. In each attempt, I can see that the ignition element is glowing bright, fairly certain its as hot as it always was before.
When the power vent fires up on each attempt, about 5 seconds later I get an error code. Here's the troubleshooting guide's info on that error:
Problem:
Pressure switch remained open longer than 5 seconds after the combustion blower was energized.
Solution:
1. Pressure switch wiring is incorrect
2. Pressure switch tubing not connected correctly
3. Air intake or exhaust obstructed
This tank was working fine before, and was not effected by the damage to the house, so I can't imagine that the wiring could be a problem. I don't think anything is obstructed, but its possible. I currently have a flexible tube coming off the power vent and going straight down the side of the tank and tying into a T fitting on the 1" PVC drain that goes from the pan under the heater to the floor drain. Is this an acceptable way to run this tubing line? I do think I've gotten that error before, but it would still light and operate fine, so I just left it alone. I don't know a lot about what this pressure switch is or what it does, so not sure how to troubleshoot it. Any help here would be very helpful.
So, it does this 3 times, each time giving this error, trying to light, and failing. After the 3 attempts, I get another error code, with this description:
Problem:
System in lockout
Solution:
1. Gas supply is off or too low to operate
2. Hot surface ignitor not positioned correctly
3. Low voltage to the water heater
4. Electric polarity to the unit is incorrect - test and correct
The gas was turned off for this whole time while the house was being repaired, but it is back on now and both my stove and gas drier work fine since turning it back on. It may be possible that the valve at the street isn't fully open, but this doesn't seem to be causing any problems for the other gas appliances. I don't think the ignitor would have moved... nothing really has changed, other than the tank being exposed to a bit colder of an environment than usual. The electric hasn't changed, other than a new panel being put in while the new service line was installed (old one was cut out after damage to house as a precaution), so again, I doubt that there is any problem with it.
Any thoughts on how to correct this problem(s)?
Thanks!
Mike