Pilot safety switch chronic failure
 

Sixty year old furnace.

(Please don't chide me about inefficiency - it is in warm area of
country where for 8 months of the year the furnace doesn't run at all -
so payback for new furnace would be long time from now.)

Has Baso brand pilot safety switch, and has been going through
thermocouples.

It won't accept the cheap Honeywell universal ones from Home Despot,
either. They will fit, but they either work once then fail, or not at
all. It wants the genuine Ba$o ones from the out of the way specialty
shop that is only open on weekdays, and the one I put in 8 months ago
has just failed. When I inspected the furnace today, the pilot was
out. We had some wind gusts, and one probably blew it out. I re-lit
the pilot and held the button down for 30 seconds, as prescribed on the
still legible decal on the Baso switch, but could not get the switch to
go into the "on" position when I released the button. I tried at least
five times. Since it failed on a Saturday evening, all I could get on
short notice was a 30 mv Honeywell thermocouple from HD, and it would
not work at all - the switch will not latch in the "on" position. I
either need to figure out what is killing the Baso thermocouples, or get
a whole different switch and thermocouple setup. I wouldn't mind doing
that if it was more reliable and used a thermocouple that was readily
available. Any suggestions?

At present, for the remainder of the weekend, our heating setup is as
follows:

No furnace.

2 small electric heaters

And a 75 foot garden hose taped to the bathtub spout, with a trickle of
hot water going through it. The hose runs out into the hallway, in and
out of two bedrooms, then back into the bathroom and into the tub.It is
taped to the tub so it can't fall out.

Jim

Pilot safety switch chronic failure
 

Jim wrote:
Sixty year old furnace.

(Please don't chide me about inefficiency - it is in warm area of
country where for 8 months of the year the furnace doesn't run at all
- so payback for new furnace would be long time from now.)

Rather than inefficiency let me suggest safety.

I suggest you hire a professional to come and take a look at this puppy.
At 60 years old it is quite likely to have some problems with the heat
exchanger exchanging more than heat. This can be deadly. At the very least
buy a few CO detectors. The tech can check out the controls at the same
time and figure out if it is possible to find some sort of replacement or
maybe identify the reason for short thermocouple life.

Frankly I would replace it, but that is going to cost more than a new
thermocouple.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Pilot safety switch chronic failure
 

On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 09:19:00 GMT, Jim
wrote:

Has Baso brand pilot safety switch, and has been going through
thermocouples.
Google the following: Baso "safety switch"
Start thru the list. See if there isn't someone who can help you ID
and trouble shoot.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lieftime