Watson524
Member
Hi all,
On Saturday, our boiler started randomly putting itself into lock out mode. This was only noticed because my husband said he had a cold shower. We have a Weil McLain oil fired boiler, oil hot water baseboard heat and a Boilermate tank for hot water. As a result of this thread (https://terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?41210-Hot-coming-out-of-cold...-Boilermate-Coil-issue) I disconnected the blue wire on the hi/low control so that we had cold start and also have the valves to/from the boiler coil shut off. Not at all saying that is causing our current issue but I wanted to be clear on what's what and also note that since that was done, we haven't had a lick of problems until now.
The boiler was installed new with house construction in May 2002. We now have a 8184G primary controller because in November 2006, our original primary controller (a 60200 Weil McLain - the one with the big red rubber button) went faulty so the oil company replaced it with the 8184G.
We also have a power vent vs a chimney. I've read about the general disdain for those but since our builder didn't even give us an option when we were building and I didn't learn of the issues until after, it is what it is and has been ok so far.
When my husband reported cold shower, we went to the basement and the primary controller was locked out but on the panel, the boilermate was calling for it. We hit the red reset button and it heated up to the 180'ish we'd expect it to and all was normal. Later that day, we checked again and it was locked out (I think this was after running a load of laundry). Hit the reset button and nothing. Flipped the little black switch on it, that did the trick. Ran the normal on/off cycle. Similar behavior yesterday too. We thought perhaps the barometric dampener flap on the flue was sticking because it wasn't rotating quite freely but a gentle nudge unstuck it. Also, for a test, I forceably held flap shut with my finger while the boiler was running but it ran the normal cycle. We did clean just inside the flap area with a wire brush while running a vaccuum hose there just in case, but it flips freely now. Also, I opened up the little inspection plate to check for flame. I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like but it's a big bright orange flame This morning my husband went down to check and it was locked out again though nothing would have called for it since the last reset since showers and laundry were done last nite, though I guess boilermate could have needed warm up.
This year when the oil company cleaned the boiler in the fall, I didn't get their slip to show what was done. We've had some issues in the past with various size nozzles (one time the "eye" in there was sooted up and they cleaned it off) but for the last at least 4 years at cleaning, the nozzle is the 85-80b and has been working well.
Is there anything I can check before I call the service company for what might be something stupid and easy?
I thought about opening it up and seeing if I could determine if the eye was just dirty but it seems odd that when we're standing there, it comes back on and runs fine and when we walk away, it doesn't. I know that that whole front panel swings open after you unbolt the one bolt on the left there but I didn't know if the oil line swung with it (copper line, can't imagine it'd bend easy) or if that should be disconnected somehow.
Any help would be great. If anyone needs pictures or anything, just let me know.
thanks!
P.S. yes I know about the master power off switch and we shut the system down while cleaning dampener area
P.P.S. oil tanks are plenty full.
On Saturday, our boiler started randomly putting itself into lock out mode. This was only noticed because my husband said he had a cold shower. We have a Weil McLain oil fired boiler, oil hot water baseboard heat and a Boilermate tank for hot water. As a result of this thread (https://terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?41210-Hot-coming-out-of-cold...-Boilermate-Coil-issue) I disconnected the blue wire on the hi/low control so that we had cold start and also have the valves to/from the boiler coil shut off. Not at all saying that is causing our current issue but I wanted to be clear on what's what and also note that since that was done, we haven't had a lick of problems until now.
The boiler was installed new with house construction in May 2002. We now have a 8184G primary controller because in November 2006, our original primary controller (a 60200 Weil McLain - the one with the big red rubber button) went faulty so the oil company replaced it with the 8184G.
We also have a power vent vs a chimney. I've read about the general disdain for those but since our builder didn't even give us an option when we were building and I didn't learn of the issues until after, it is what it is and has been ok so far.
When my husband reported cold shower, we went to the basement and the primary controller was locked out but on the panel, the boilermate was calling for it. We hit the red reset button and it heated up to the 180'ish we'd expect it to and all was normal. Later that day, we checked again and it was locked out (I think this was after running a load of laundry). Hit the reset button and nothing. Flipped the little black switch on it, that did the trick. Ran the normal on/off cycle. Similar behavior yesterday too. We thought perhaps the barometric dampener flap on the flue was sticking because it wasn't rotating quite freely but a gentle nudge unstuck it. Also, for a test, I forceably held flap shut with my finger while the boiler was running but it ran the normal cycle. We did clean just inside the flap area with a wire brush while running a vaccuum hose there just in case, but it flips freely now. Also, I opened up the little inspection plate to check for flame. I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like but it's a big bright orange flame This morning my husband went down to check and it was locked out again though nothing would have called for it since the last reset since showers and laundry were done last nite, though I guess boilermate could have needed warm up.
This year when the oil company cleaned the boiler in the fall, I didn't get their slip to show what was done. We've had some issues in the past with various size nozzles (one time the "eye" in there was sooted up and they cleaned it off) but for the last at least 4 years at cleaning, the nozzle is the 85-80b and has been working well.
Is there anything I can check before I call the service company for what might be something stupid and easy?
I thought about opening it up and seeing if I could determine if the eye was just dirty but it seems odd that when we're standing there, it comes back on and runs fine and when we walk away, it doesn't. I know that that whole front panel swings open after you unbolt the one bolt on the left there but I didn't know if the oil line swung with it (copper line, can't imagine it'd bend easy) or if that should be disconnected somehow.
Any help would be great. If anyone needs pictures or anything, just let me know.
thanks!
P.S. yes I know about the master power off switch and we shut the system down while cleaning dampener area
P.P.S. oil tanks are plenty full.