Switching relay problem.

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Bad Wolf

Minister of Fire
Jun 13, 2008
523
Eastern CT
I’ve got an interesting problem.The sytem is a TARM Excell 2000 with an ARGO ARM-6 switching relay to control my 5 heating zones. It has an isolated switch relay (X-X) that opens a valve and turns on a circulating pump.
One day I noticed that all my zones were calling for heat but the pipes were cold. I could tell the valve was not open so as I started to trace the wires I jiggled the wires on the X-X connections and the valve opened. This happened a couple of times so I cut the last inch or so of wire off and reconnected them. This seemed to solve the problem but last night it happened again.
This time however after jiggling the wires and having the valve open I was watching the panel and the whole thing goes dead. Figuring it was the 120 volt feed I pushed on those wires and lo and behold everything comes back on. It did this a couple of times and then finally stayed energized.
Of course this happens during the worst cold snap we’ve seen in 10 years (2 degrees last night).
Any idea what the h**l is going on? I’ve tightened the connections, disconnected and reconnected the wires and blown out the dust.
The system is in its 6th season and I’ve never had this problem before.
 
Called the tech at Argo and the best he could offer was that the board was failing. That it must have developed a break in the circut board and by pushing on the wires and flexing the board I was making and braking the path.

So I ordered up a new one. $200 I hadn't planned on spending, but I can't trust the current one and knowing Murphy, it will crap out at 2:00 a.m. the next time it goes below zero.

Once I replace it I'll have a look at the backside of the circut board and see what I can find. At least I'll be able to salvage all of the relays.
 
Yeah, Murphy's gremlins will do all their dirty work at the most inconvenient time.
 
May be too late, but I'm a huge fan of Taco's switching relays. Very neat installation and easy to wire with all the redundant neuteral connections.

TS
 
Too late. I ordered a new one yesterday afternoon. Its an identical unit so swapping over shouldn't be a problem.

As a plug for a vendor http://www.simplyplumbing.com/ I ordered it at 3:00 p.m. and its out for delivery this morning and he had the best price $183.
Others wanted as much as $245. (google is your friend)

Pretty timely too since it did it again last night. At least it's warmed up to 20.
 
Replaced the relay box today. Only took 50 minutes once I had all the wires labeled. Afterwards I took the bad board out of the box and flipped it over. What I found was the first pin (120 volt line) had a bad solder joint. Not sure how it lasted this long or if it somehow degraded over time, its obviously had some arcing. Its the bottom left. The contact at the other end for the X-X switch had a similar bad connection. I soldered the two pins and will keep it as a spare. HPIM4625.JPG
 
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