oil furnace help..

[newtonfb]

I joined this site because i have a pellet stove and now i have an oil furnce problem and maybe/hopefully someone can help me.

For the past year ive heated my house with just the pellet stove so i havent had to use the oil furnace at all. Well the pellet stove was dirty and i didnt want to clean it so i went to go turn on the furnace....well i notice there is no heat coming out of the radiators...I went down and checked it out..

When i turn it on the furnace heats up the temperature inside to the desired temp.
The water pressure is low..about 30 or so.
When it gets to the temperature it just shuts off..it seems like something wants to click on but it doesnt.
The pressure relief pipe in the back is leaking boiling water onto the floor so i had to put a bucket underneath to catch it.
The exhaust pipe going outside is hot as well.
Its almost like the furnace isnt going into that "second stage" where it turns on and circulates throughouts the house.
I touch the circulator and its hot..i can feel it going (i think thats what its doing). I banged on it with a wrench a few times to see if that was the problem but didnt seem to be so now im out of ideas. I bled it but thats not the problem either...

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[maple1]

Not sure - but 30 is not low, it's high. Which is why your relief is leaking - it's doing what it's supposed to do.

I suspect the pressure regulator on your fresh water makeup has gone goofy and it's let too much water in. I'd start by shutting off the supply to that and drain some water off until you get down to 15psi or so. Not sure it'll fix your circ not starting though - I'd suspect an airlock somewhere for that. Two common things to creep into a system that hasn't run for a while.

 

[newtonfb]

Thanks ill check it out

 

[__dan]

I joined this site because i have a pellet stove and now i have an oil furnce problem and maybe/hopefully someone can help me.

For the past year ive heated my house with just the pellet stove so i havent had to use the oil furnace at all. Well the pellet stove was dirty and i didnt want to clean it so i went to go turn on the furnace....well i notice there is no heat coming out of the radiators...I went down and checked it out..

When i turn it on the furnace heats up the temperature inside to the desired temp.
The water pressure is low..about 30 or so.
When it gets to the temperature it just shuts off..it seems like something wants to click on but it doesnt.
The pressure relief pipe in the back is leaking boiling water onto the floor so i had to put a bucket underneath to catch it.
The exhaust pipe going outside is hot as well.
Its almost like the furnace isnt going into that "second stage" where it turns on and circulates throughouts the house.
I touch the circulator and its hot..i can feel it going (i think thats what its doing). I banged on it with a wrench a few times to see if that was the problem but didnt seem to be so now im out of ideas. I bled it but thats not the problem either...

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

It's a good bet you have either air bound circulator or the circulator is seized from inactivity.

 

[Scotts Bum Wine]

I second that thought. Sounds like a seized circulator to me. If it's an old fashioned one, and you can see a shaft between the motor and pump, give the shaft a twist with a pair of water-pump pliers, and give the oil cups a few drops of light machine oil. If the circulator is a more modern style, like a Taco 007, then you will have to remove the pump and give the impeller a spin through one of the ports.

Scott

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

I joined this site because i have a pellet stove and now i have an oil furnce problem and maybe/hopefully someone can help me.

For the past year ive heated my house with just the pellet stove so i havent had to use the oil furnace at all. Well the pellet stove was dirty and i didnt want to clean it so i went to go turn on the furnace....well i notice there is no heat coming out of the radiators...I went down and checked it out..

When i turn it on the furnace heats up the temperature inside to the desired temp.
The water pressure is low..about 30 or so.
When it gets to the temperature it just shuts off..it seems like something wants to click on but it doesnt.
The pressure relief pipe in the back is leaking boiling water onto the floor so i had to put a bucket underneath to catch it.
The exhaust pipe going outside is hot as well.
Its almost like the furnace isnt going into that "second stage" where it turns on and circulates throughouts the house.
I touch the circulator and its hot..i can feel it going (i think thats what its doing). I banged on it with a wrench a few times to see if that was the problem but didnt seem to be so now im out of ideas. I bled it but thats not the problem either...

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

Is your circulator moving water?

Put a good size screw driver on the pipe, a couple feet away from the circulator.
Put the other eand of the screw drive to your ear.
Do you hear water flowing?
If you hear a lot of air in the system, then you have an air look.
You will need to get rid of the air first.
You can maybe open the safety valve and drain the air out of the boiler this way, but you need to make sure you let new water enter the system at the same time.
LET THE SYSTEM COOL DOWN FIRST BEFORE YOU DO THIS !!
BOILING WATER IS TO HOT TO HANDLE
Some pictures would help or even better, get an HVAC guy invloved if you are not familiar with this.

 

[maple1]

If you've got 30psi in your system, I wouldn't let any new water into the system while trying to drain air out until it got down to 15psi.

I keep my fresh water boiler feed closed - only open it if I need to bump the PSI up some. Haven't done that for months now. I run mine at 8psi cold, it gets up to around 12psi hot.

 

[Fred61]

even better, get an HVAC guy invloved if you are not familiar with this​

Glad you said this. I quickly read the OP yesterday and then went on to the next one. At some point earlier this AM just waking I thought of this gentleman with his limited knowledge of hydronic systems and thought the same thing. The wrong action could cause damage or worse, bodily injury.

 

[VT_Bubba]

Lot's of good advice above. Based on your original descriptions I suspect you have 2 problems:
1) Circulator Bad, or Zone Valve(s) not allowing water flow.
2) Bad Expansion Tank with failed blader, so the hot water expansion can not be obsorbed,
that's why you have 30lbs preasure and some small blow-off at the top of the heat stroke.
This is a classic Boiler fail signature of a bad Expansion tank!

Get the water flowing to get some heat, then you can fix the Expansion Tank later....

Good Luck !

VT_Bubba

 

[newtonfb]

appreciate all the responses guys, I know i said 30PSI but looking at it again its around 10-15PSI. I havent done much else with it since as i havent had time and the pellet stove heats the house but i will take a look at what everyone said above. Again, I appreciate all the help!