View Single Post
  #10   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
jackson jackson is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 174
Default Old Burnham Boiler Shuts Off


wrote in message
ps.com...

Hi All,

I am writing because I am pretty much out of ideas. I am hoping that
someone on this group will have more expertise than I have.

Anyway here is the situation (all that I know). I have a 20 year old
Burnham Oil Boiler. It provides hot water for heating and a tankless
hot water system for the house. It was serviced in the fall by the oil
company.

The heating in the house is in 2 zones, one zone is programmed to
change temps during the day to save on heating, and the other is
maintained at a temp of 62F.

The furnace seems to shut down erratically. Sometimes at night,
sometimes during the day. There does not seem to be any pattern to
when the furnace shuts down. Once the boiler shuts down I have to
press the reset button to get it re-started, and when I do that it
fires up first time with no problem, no loud noise and no puff of
smoke.

I called the service people out, and they have so far replaced,
filter, electrodes, nozzle, cad cell relay, pretty much everything.
The service man also said there is a good amount of current, a good
stream of oil and good oil pressure. None of this seems to have made a
real difference.

The boiler still shuts down every couple of days in the New England
winter, and much less frequently in the summer.

I thought that short cycling was to blame, and therefore changed the
Cycles per Hour on the thermostats. This also did not make any
difference.

If anyone has any ideas on what to check or try I would really
appreciate it, as I am pretty much out. Other than a new boiler


Instead of hitting the reset button, next time it does it 'gently' rap the
motor with something like a small rubber mallet or screwdriver handle to see
if the furnace fires. It could very well be the motor is failing (sticking
like a car starter) as well.