2 years ago, largely based on the excellent information and individuals on this forum I upgraded our old oversized cast iron boiler to a Westinghouse WBRUNG080W (which is the same as the HTP UFT-80w). I did most the prep work and plumbing myself but then got a professional to come by on installation day to hookup the gas and check the flue gases etc. The boiler heats our home in MN, as well as heating a 50 gallon domestic hot water tank.
Since installation the boiler has worked wonderfully and never given us any problems until about 3 weeks ago. Starting at that time, intermittently and randomly the boiler will fail to light due to error code 10 (Flame has extinguished 5 times). I have therefore run through the suggested diagnostics and checked all that I can check on my own (electrical connections and flame sensor voltage change when boiler is lit). In both cases of those cases, everything is normal.
In performing these checks however, I have noticed two things about the flame viewing sight glass which I would greatly appreciate some feedback on:
1) Both the sight glass and the viewing glass that the flame sensor use, are quite cloudy and hard to see through. With ambient light you can see nothing but a reflective surface, but with the basement lights off you can see a mottled orange glow (Pic attached).
Is this normal? I don't remember what the sight glass looked like when the unit was new so I have no way to tell how it should look?
At this point, I am actually leaning towards the idea that the ignition failure is due to the cloudiness of the sight glass behind the flame sensor. This theory is supported by the fact that twice when it would not stay lit, I removed the flame sensor from its bracket and held it up to the diagnostic sight glass. In both cases, this allowed the boiler to achieve proper ignition after which I returned the sensor to its bracket and the boiler operated normally for a few days before stopping again. I therefore hypothesize that the sight glass under the sensor is sometimes too dim when the boiler first lights, and therefore it cancels the full ignition. Does this sound plausible? If so, is there a way for me to clean the sight glass?
2) I also noticed as I was reading through the manual that in their reference to the sight glass on page 71, it says "blue flame picture". As you can see in my photos, my flame is clearly orange seems wrong to me. The boiler is running on NG so an orange flame seems completely wrong, should it not be a nice blue like the burners on our stove? If orange is wrong, does it mean the original pro that came out didn't set the gas pressure correctly? Or is it possible that something has changed in the gas line to create the orange flame? Again, I don't remember looking at the sight glass when the boiler was new, so I have no frame of reference. For reference, the piping between the boiler and the gas meter includes 14 feet of 1in cast iron with 10 elbows, and then 7 feet of 3/4in flex pipe with two more elbows before the boiler.
Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Since installation the boiler has worked wonderfully and never given us any problems until about 3 weeks ago. Starting at that time, intermittently and randomly the boiler will fail to light due to error code 10 (Flame has extinguished 5 times). I have therefore run through the suggested diagnostics and checked all that I can check on my own (electrical connections and flame sensor voltage change when boiler is lit). In both cases of those cases, everything is normal.
In performing these checks however, I have noticed two things about the flame viewing sight glass which I would greatly appreciate some feedback on:
1) Both the sight glass and the viewing glass that the flame sensor use, are quite cloudy and hard to see through. With ambient light you can see nothing but a reflective surface, but with the basement lights off you can see a mottled orange glow (Pic attached).
Is this normal? I don't remember what the sight glass looked like when the unit was new so I have no way to tell how it should look?
At this point, I am actually leaning towards the idea that the ignition failure is due to the cloudiness of the sight glass behind the flame sensor. This theory is supported by the fact that twice when it would not stay lit, I removed the flame sensor from its bracket and held it up to the diagnostic sight glass. In both cases, this allowed the boiler to achieve proper ignition after which I returned the sensor to its bracket and the boiler operated normally for a few days before stopping again. I therefore hypothesize that the sight glass under the sensor is sometimes too dim when the boiler first lights, and therefore it cancels the full ignition. Does this sound plausible? If so, is there a way for me to clean the sight glass?
2) I also noticed as I was reading through the manual that in their reference to the sight glass on page 71, it says "blue flame picture". As you can see in my photos, my flame is clearly orange seems wrong to me. The boiler is running on NG so an orange flame seems completely wrong, should it not be a nice blue like the burners on our stove? If orange is wrong, does it mean the original pro that came out didn't set the gas pressure correctly? Or is it possible that something has changed in the gas line to create the orange flame? Again, I don't remember looking at the sight glass when the boiler was new, so I have no frame of reference. For reference, the piping between the boiler and the gas meter includes 14 feet of 1in cast iron with 10 elbows, and then 7 feet of 3/4in flex pipe with two more elbows before the boiler.
Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
