Econoburn 200(2010) Controller (2013 model)fix

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salecker

Minister of Fire
Aug 22, 2010
2,232
Northern Canada
Hi All
I just thought i would share an issue that came up on our boiler last night.
I was just leaving our boiler building last night after ditching my work clothes at 9:45 PM checked the boiler and gave it a poke there was enough wood to make the 11 PM shut off.I had worked late delivering fuel and my wife had started the boiler as our usual schedule.As i turned to open the door to leave the boiler went quiet.I looked at the storage gauges and there was still lots of room for BTU's.
The light on the boiler was still on so i knew the breaker hadn't flipped.I tried the switch a few times and nothing.I removed the roof and set a fan to blow on the controller after a few minutes i tried the switch and it came to life.It seemed ok so i bumped up the shutoff temp and went to the house.When i came back at 11 the shutoff temp was back down and the wood was still in the fire box.Crap.
So this afternoon i was going to rig up a bush-fix to last till we got a new controller,been there done that before.So after looking at my notes i decided to check out the controller some more.Flipped the switch,nothing so i started to jiggle wires and found a loose connection.
Attached pics show the connector and it's position.I pulled the connector out of the plastic and it was pitted from arcing.Cleaned it up and reinstalled and has been working great.
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Salecker , sure is great when its something easy like the loose connection you found , especially when parts are not around the corner like your situation. Glad you got it running especially with these temps-please quit sending your canadian air here to western new york-you can send me some molsons instead!
 
Update 2019
Almost to a year the loose connection raised it's head again.
Came home to the boiler not working and the smell of magic smoke in the boiler room.
The connection the i thought i had fixed was defiantly fried.
I was able to salvage enough of the copper strip out of the green board to solder on a plug from a cord that was handy at the time.It has been working fine since the redneck repair.
I sprung for a new controller,which is on the shelf.Undecided on whether to use the new one and keep the old one for back up,or flog the dead horse for all i can get out of it.
Seeing how everything is working fine,the only explanation is that the connection was still bad and eventually built up enough heat and it caught fire.If you look at the pictures you can see that wires that were close got melted a bit.You can defiantly see the plug burnt.I should have taken a picture of the board at first,but when the temp is around -40 getting the boiler running seemed important,even though i have oil backup i am cheep.
So check that connection on your Econoburn.I will be asking my electrician if there is a paste that can be used for a better connection.
So check your plugs,this all started from a wire that had some tension on it and was pulling the plug sideways to begin with.
And this was a controller that was installed by an electrician,not factory.
Thomas
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