Heatilater..

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woodmiser

Feeling the Heat
Oct 20, 2011
390
Garnet Valley, PA
This thing has a electronic controller and no pilot. It has two electrodes that both look the same and look like spark igniter electrodes. It will sequence and light but then it goes out. There is blue flame on the ends of the electrodes but the spark keeps going than it shuts down. I get the feeling one of these is a thermocouple of some kind and isn't working so the controller shuts it down? The gap is around 1/8" and the tips are about 1/2" above the burner plate.
 
It's been a while since I've worked on one of these guys,
but you're partially right in that one is the igniter.
The other is for flame rectification & actually completes the circuit
telling the module that the pilot is lit & the burner can receive gas flow.
I seem to remember that the gap needs to be 1/16", but, like I
said, it's been a while & I'm old...
The problem may be as simple as the ground screw. Look under where
the pilot assembly is located & trace the wiring. I believe Heatilator
used a black wire for grounding the system to the fireplace chassis.
You may be able to remove that screw & clean the threads & install
it in another location. Generally the screw is a 1/4" hex head "zipscrew"
& if you can use a screw gun or cordless drill it'll make the new attachment
easier.
HTH
 
Thanks,

The book says 7/64" gap which is .109"
The probe that completes the circuit? How does it do that? What kind of probe is it? It doesn't look like a thermocouple. They both look like spark electrodes.
 
woodmiser said:
Thanks,

The book says 7/64" gap which is .109"
The probe that completes the circuit? How does it do that? What kind of probe is it? It doesn't look like a thermocouple. They both look like spark electrodes.

OK. .109" sounds reasonable...
Not a physicist or an electrician, but here's how I learned it.
The rectifier completes the circuit by actually carrying the electrical
charge thru the flame. this charge is transmitted back thru the module
to the gas valve, which in turn opens to allow gas flow to the burner.
Doesn't make sense to my old brain, but that's the way it was explained...
I know there's more to it than that, but like I said, it's been a while...
Maybe one of the other gas guys like Franks or Dave Gault will chime in
& bail me out...
 
One is the sensor rod and the other is a grounding rod.

If you are getting spark and pilot ignition but the valve is not opening and causing the module to go into lock out (LED light flashes red/green) I'd try these few things:

*Make sure all the serial port wires are tight into the module (especially the ones on the front left as they control the valve and stepper motor)
*Make sure the wires on the valve are tight (espically the orange on at the front)
*Make sure the earth is tight
*Make sure the sensor wire is tight into the module
*If the sensor wire is twisted with the ignitor wire (the orange and white wires to the pilot assembly) untwist them
*Make sure gas pressures are good on inlet and outlet (but this sounds good as you are getting good rectification on the rods)
*Give the sensor rod a light rub with emery paper (very light sand paper) to ensure its clean of any deposits


If after all this you still get faliure, I'd be looking at the pilot assemby and making sure the porcilin is not cracked around the road and last but not least, change the module, it might be dead.

That should sort you out!
 
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