Draft "Damper Actuator" for Seton failed 12 days after replacement

[byrddogwi]

Has anyone had failures on the draft "damper actuator"? I had an original Neptronic fail on 12/1/08. I got a replacment Belimo LF 120 US on 12/3/08 and it failed yesterday, 12/15/08, the coldest day of the season.

I have my draft propped open about an inch so I can get heat out of the boiler, but of course it turns on the overtemp dump and it burns a lot more wood.

Has anyone had similar issues with the Belimo? It does have a 5 year warranty but that does no good if it fails and I have to wait a day or two (maybe longer if it fails on a Friday) to get another. No one around me sells a damper actuator even though we have 3 plumbing/hvac supply houses here. The sales rep where I bought the replacement said that it is very uncommon for these to fail... I don't know if that is true so I am asking here. They are sending me a new one but I think it may be getting too hot in the back for this unit. It is rated for up to 120 degrees so it may get hotter than that if it is firing hard. I do have a plate between it and the stove with some insulation in between. Maybe I need to insulate more around the unit or extend the shaft so the unit sits out from the boiler. I will be putting a temp sensor down there to record the max temp to see how high it goes. Just wondering if anyone else has had issues. It sucks for the boiler to go down when the night is -10 below with a daytime high of 9 above.

Do I need to keep a spare around? They are about $150 with shipping.

 

[steam man]

Sounds like it doesn't like the heat. I would be interested to know what the ambient temp the actuator is rated for and what it is exposed to. You may be able to put a small fan on the actuator to keep it cool. Extending the actuator arm would probably be the best idea.

Mike

 

[antknee2]

Sounds like your on the right track . Did your Seton come with a factory installed heat shield in between the boiler and the actuator ??
Anthony

 

[byrddogwi]

Sounds like it doesn't like the heat. I would be interested to know what the ambient temp the actuator is rated for and what it is exposed to. You may be able to put a small fan on the actuator to keep it cool. Extending the actuator arm would probably be the best idea.

Mike

According to the snippet from their pdf it is rated at: Ambient temperature -22°F to +122°F [-30°C to +50°C]. I will be monitoring the temp by it with a sensor to see if it is getting above that temp. If it is too high I will monitor about 10-12 inches away to see if extending the shaft will help me out. If that is not better I will have to try and install a fan and blow some outside air across it.

 

[byrddogwi]

Sounds like your on the right track . Did your Seton come with a factory installed heat shield in between the boiler and the actuator ??
Anthony

Anthony, Mine did not originally come with the shield but Fred sent it to me, it is just a piece of sheet metal which keeps it about an inch from the back, and I added it before I started it up last year for the first time. I also added some insulation between the shield and the back of the boiler.

I know if gets very hot in front of the door because my LCD thermometer turns black and when it cools down I can read it again but that is in front and the actuator is in the back and low. I would think that most of the heat would rise and the atcuator temp would not get that high. I could add insulation around the unit but then it may still heat up. I will know more when I stick the temp sensor on the unit. Seems weird that I would be the only one with this problem since the Setons still look the same in the back in reference to the actuator and I think they now use the Belimo.

Do you think I should purchase another actuator to keep on hand? I sure hate to leave the draft opened an inch or so, I don't know if it will heat well when it is below zero tonight.

 

[antknee2]

I do keep a back up actuator in stock , so have not needed it .
Anthony

 

[mole]

Byrddog,
My experience has been the same as yours. My original draft door motor failed after less than a year. It failed OPEN (sticking), which was disturbing. Fred was great about rushing me a new one. Of course it was something like 19degrees out the day it failed. I got the Belimo as a replacement, just like you. (I forget the brand of the original) I think I recieved the heat sheild like 3-4 days before the original failed, but hadn't put it in yet. The heat sheild appeared to keep the Belimo fairly cool to touch and looked like a fairly smart, simple solution. Nonetheless, the Belimo started making some bad groaning noises after about a year. Faced with the thought of another fail-open, I opted to buy a second Belimo on e-bay for backup. As soon as I recieved it though, I had a change of heart and decided to install it. Sleeping at night was more important to me than than the $150 for the waranteed part.. So the groaner is my backup now.

I think you're best off to watch e-bay and get a backup when you can get a deal on one. You'll do a lot better than $150.

It's a moot point for me now with my storage. My Seton runs pretty much wide open through the whole fire.

 

[mole]

Byrddog,
For what it's worth, I just checked the temperature on my Belimo. It's 106 on the hottest spot (orange side facing damper) by IR and 81deg on the coolest part. I've been running a hot fire for over 5hrs. It really doesn't feel very warm. I don't think my damper actuator ever sees much more heat than it's seeing right now either.

Back when I had my failures, my boiler did not run nearly as hard as it does now. So temperatures were likely a bit lower. I'm having trouble believing that temperature is the whole issue, unless maybe the lubricant in the gears is too thin? That doesn't seem to explain a 12 day failure though.

I'd like to hear what you get on your temperature check.

Mole

 

[byrddogwi]

Byrddog,
For what it's worth, I just checked the temperature on my Belimo. It's 106 on the hottest spot (orange side facing damper) by IR and 81deg on the coolest part. I've been running a hot fire for over 5hrs. It really doesn't feel very warm. I don't think my damper actuator ever sees much more heat than it's seeing right now either.

Back when I had my failures, my boiler did not run nearly as hard as it does now. So temperatures were likely a bit lower. I'm having trouble believing that temperature is the whole issue, unless maybe the lubricant in the gears is too thin? That doesn't seem to explain a 12 day failure though.

I'd like to hear what you get on your temperature check.

Mole

Mole,

Sounds like yours is running perfect. I know my shed gets pretty warm. I have some cheap outdoor digital thermometers with a probe and about 10' of wire. It gets above 150 in the shed because that is where they max out. I had the sensor on the defunct one and it varied from a low of 31 degrees to 130 degrees but it is firing hard right now because it does not shut down. I have the draft propped open about 1/4 to 3/8". The overtemp aquastat is all that keeps it from go over and I had to bring that down because it was going way over temp and dumping cold water in.

I am going add another fresh air intake in the shed lower so the air can go by the actuator and possibly hook up a small muffin fan to keep the temps down around the actuator. I will watch ebay for an extra actuator to have around. It is worth 100 bucks to have a spare, especially when it craps out when it will be below zero at night with highs in the single digits. Makes a guy not sleep so good.

 

[mole]

Yeah, Byrddog, that's a pretty warm shed. I think you're right about the heat. Sounds like an air inlet by the Belimo should help. Maybe a flexible elephant trunk type inlet that you can secure next to the Belimo?
I hope you get your replacement fast. I know the feeling. Stay warm!
Mole

 

[byrddogwi]

Yeah, Byrddog, that's a pretty warm shed. I think you're right about the heat. Sounds like an air inlet by the Belimo should help. Maybe a flexible elephant trunk type inlet that you can secure next to the Belimo?
I hope you get your replacement fast. I know the feeling. Stay warm!
Mole

I did come in yesterday and I put it in last night. I added a 6" diameter vent and used some 1/2" foil faced insulation (built sort of a shed around the Belimo with the ends open) to direct outside air from the vent around the Belimo. I put a thermomter on the Belimo and I have min/max temps of 31 and 72 degrees, although it was about 0 degree outside temps. I will see tonight what the min/max temps are with outside temps around 20. I also have a small dc muffin fan I can use with some flex pipe to direct outside air to the Belimo if I see temps close to 120.

 

[byrddogwi]

I have been monitoring the temps on the Belimo with a min/max thermometer and it has been in the range of 22 to 93 degrees, although it has been cold outside (-15 to 10) so I will see what temps I get when it gets in the 20s outside.