Econoburn Controler Issues

[salecker]

Hi All
Looking for some help from the brains on here.
Was out delivering fuel today without the cell phone,so i get back to the shop and call home and hear that my wife can't get the boiler to power up.Turns out every time she trys to switch it on an error sign shows up in the upper display.I got home and tried same thing you switch it on and the fan starts to run and as soon as it goes to high speed you can hear a click and the error message displays and the fan is in idle mode.
I was able to get the fan to run on high speed by turning my main pump down to low speed and by turning the fan off completely with the high limit aquastate,then turn the fan on with it. Then it would run.So my guess is something is overloading a relay?After a hour of running i added more wood and tried to replicate to narrow down the location of the click,now it's back to normal i even turned the pump back up.
The boiler is an 09 model with a smart fan nimbus#240B2T00 and Automation Direct TC33-2010-AC and my main pump is a Grundfos UPS 26-99
So seeing I'm up north in the middle of winter in the middle of nowhere I'm interested in any help or suggestions.I know i can hard wire the fan and pump to an extension cord to get by and recharge my storage while i babysit it,but I'd rather have it so my wife can use it.
Oh yea i filled our oil tank just in case
Thanks Thomas

 

[airlina]

Hi All
Looking for some help from the brains on here.
Was out delivering fuel today without the cell phone,so i get back to the shop and call home and hear that my wife can't get the boiler to power up.Turns out every time she trys to switch it on an error sign shows up in the upper display.I got home and tried same thing you switch it on and the fan starts to run and as soon as it goes to high speed you can hear a click and the error message displays and the fan is in idle mode.
I was able to get the fan to run on high speed by turning my main pump down to low speed and by turning the fan off completely with the high limit aquastate,then turn the fan on with it. Then it would run.So my guess is something is overloading a relay?After a hour of running i added more wood and tried to replicate to narrow down the location of the click,now it's back to normal i even turned the pump back up.
The boiler is an 09 model with a smart fan nimbus#240B2T00 and Automation Direct TC33-2010-AC and my main pump is a Grundfos UPS 26-99
So seeing I'm up north in the middle of winter in the middle of nowhere I'm interested in any help or suggestions.I know i can hard wire the fan and pump to an extension cord to get by and recharge my storage while i babysit it,but I'd rather have it so my wife can use it.
Oh yea i filled our oil tank just in case
Thanks Thomas

Thomas, I have a econoburn 100 and I am a local to the factory (its about 50 miles away) Whenever I have an issue I call Dale at the factory and he has never failed to diagnose my problems and get me straightened out . The last time I called was about 2 months ago and the number was (716) 792-2095 , give him a shout , Good luck Bruce

 

[salecker]

Hi Bruce
Thanks for the suggestion,Dale is already in the loop.The dealer i got it from has been in contact with him and my wife was in contact with him.
Today is 24 hrs without fire,oil boiler came on around 5 pm
Today i was committed to spending the day picking up supplies for a fundraiser,local family's daughter has brain cancer.
My dealer and Dale should have somethings i can try in the morning,then the afternoon and evening are spoken for.Thursday night is the fundraiser.Snowing like hell right now,the list keeps growing.
So i realy hope it's something simple.
I finally found a few of the old threads that i had read years ago about the early controllers,but i need some time to concentrate on the electrical end.
Later Thomas

 

[airlina]

Hi Bruce
Thanks for the suggestion,Dale is already in the loop.The dealer i got it from has been in contact with him and my wife was in contact with him.
Today is 24 hrs without fire,oil boiler came on around 5 pm
Today i was committed to spending the day picking up supplies for a fundraiser,local family's daughter has brain cancer.
My dealer and Dale should have somethings i can try in the morning,then the afternoon and evening are spoken for.Thursday night is the fundraiser.Snowing like hell right now,the list keeps growing.
So i realy hope it's something simple.
I finally found a few of the old threads that i had read years ago about the early controllers,but i need some time to concentrate on the electrical end.
Later Thomas

Thomas ,as a side note , my boiler is 4 years old and at the end of my heating season last year my fan controller crapped out . Dale had a new version of the controller and I replaced it this summer and so far so good. I suspect because you have a 200 , you have a different controller . My fan speed is either on or off not variable. Hopefully they will get you up and running soon. I know you hate to hear that oil boiler kick on as I do. Prayers out to the cancer victim. Bruce

 

[salecker]

Thanks Bruce
So the solution is a new controller.Busy day today so i wasn't able to get the ball rolling to get it here.I'm hoping there is a temporary fix,but if not i will be rigging up some power to the fan and circ pumps.
My guess is it will take at least a week to get here,maybe more with the holiday packages in the system.
Thomas

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Econoburn has unbelievable customer service. I purchased a used boiler, had controls issues at the time of startup. Sent it to Dale for repair and had it back within a week.

 

[flyingcow]

We get frustrated with our postal service in the US, but you guys in Ca have some serious patience. I do business with a couple of guys in New Brunswick. When it's time for me to pay them, they drive over and get the check. Takes forever via snail mail.

 

[salecker]

Another busy day,still running on oil.
Tomorrow will be spent clearing snow.We did a fundraising night for a family in town.Town of 800 we were able to raise $4000.00 tonight
So with Dales guidance i was able to trace down some wiring on my install,and the preventive measure to protect the new controller will be to power my main pump off another breaker.If that is doable by my electrician,whom i haven't had time to contact yet.
So if all goes well,and nothing else comes up tomorrow then maybe i can see about some temporary measure to get the wood burning again.
I was in the boiler room getting some stuff ready and timed the average run time of the oil backup.The figure i came up with was it was costing us .62 cents each run.
Thomas

 

[airlina]

Another busy day,still running on oil.
Tomorrow will be spent clearing snow.We did a fundraising night for a family in town.Town of 800 we were able to raise $4000.00 tonight
So with Dales guidance i was able to trace down some wiring on my install,and the preventive measure to protect the new controller will be to power my main pump off another breaker.If that is doable by my electrician,whom i haven't had time to contact yet.
So if all goes well,and nothing else comes up tomorrow then maybe i can see about some temporary measure to get the wood burning again.
I was in the boiler room getting some stuff ready and timed the average run time of the oil backup.The figure i came up with was it was costing us .62 cents each run.
Thomas

Same deal here Thomas, Just fired up old Blue (I even nickname my boiler) and went out to plow again. Up to 28 inches and still coming down at an inch an hour. Glad to hear you are getting close to a fix and great job on the fundraiser. When my controller went south last year, I had to do a direct wire bypassing thing to keep the fan going for the remainder of the year until I installed the new one. Keep the faith, Bruce

 

[goosegunner]

Another busy day,still running on oil.
Tomorrow will be spent clearing snow.We did a fundraising night for a family in town.Town of 800 we were able to raise $4000.00 tonight
So with Dales guidance i was able to trace down some wiring on my install,and the preventive measure to protect the new controller will be to power my main pump off another breaker.If that is doable by my electrician,whom i haven't had time to contact yet.
So if all goes well,and nothing else comes up tomorrow then maybe i can see about some temporary measure to get the wood burning again.
I was in the boiler room getting some stuff ready and timed the average run time of the oil backup.The figure i came up with was it was costing us .62 cents each run.
Thomas

What exactly does this mean?

The controller and pump are on different breakers?

Or the boiler has its own breaker?

gg

 

[salecker]

Hi Goose
Right now the boiler is on one breaker.My main pump is fed from the same power feed just like it would have been if it would have been if the boiler had been used as designed,i have the Outdoor version of the 200.
It was designed to be plunked down somewhere and hook up lines and power.
In my case it was installed in a building with storage,with it's only job to run flat out till the wood is gone or storage is charged.So in the redesign the main pump was up sized to move the btu's into storage fast.We did add a relay to take the strain of the larger pump.
At the time,i had some concerns about the controller,but the dealer thought that running doing flat out batch burns it would be fine.His thought was the idling was what was taking out the controllers.This was the dealer,not anyone from Econoburn.
The last few days when i have had time I've been corresponding with Dale at Econoburn.
He has been awesome to deal with,which others have stated before.
So i just want to let anyone know at Econoburn CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A PRIORITY.

My boiler was the first one my dealer sold,i got it without paperwork,so there wasn't any warranty card to return.
I know that would be all it would take for most company's to close the door on any warranty help ect.Dale has offered parts to repair even though most company's wouldn't, considering the paperwork trail doesn't exist.
Anyhow back to Gooses query.
The thought is that even though the pump is running off a relay so the load isn't carried by the controller,the fluctuation on that feed when the big pump kicks in is enough to potently take out the new controller.Dale warned me that if the new controller was to be used in the existing setup that i would be on my own if the controller was to die again.Fair enough.
So i want to eliminate the chance of damaging the new controller as much as possible.Hopefully my electrician can wire the load onto another breaker.AC wiring is not something i do a lot of so i'll let the expert figure that out.
Anyhow first comes the plowing,and maybe tonight i can begin to recharge the storage and release some carbon.That is if i can find a Redneck repair.
Thomas

 

[goosegunner]

How big of a pump are you running that Dale was worried about the controller?

gg

 

[salecker]

How big of a pump are you running that Dale was worried about the controller?

gg

Grundfos UPS 26-99
Talked to my electrician today and he figures no problem to change the wiring.
No time to try any temp fix today,and got a call from the counter top installers tonight and they will be here tomorrow so the fix might have to wait till Sunday.At this rate the new parts will get to me before i get burning again.It's supposed to warm to 0C tomorrow.

 

[goosegunner]

I guess I still don't understand how you are set up. Does the controller supply the power to the pump?

My pump is wired from the controller. There were no specifications on what pump/ power draw to use. The 15-58 that comes with the boiler is sent for the protection loop. If you use it that way It is off when it hits 150. With storage the controller set up for protection is not used, you need a danfoss or similar.

gg

 

[salecker]

Hi Goose.
The controller supplies the power to trigger the relay which powers the pump.The controller gets its power from the same feed that supply's the load power on the relay.
The dealer designed my system,i just told him what i wanted to do.I did read threads here for a couple of months before pulling the trigger on the boiler.I had researched a few makes,and had Econoburn on my short list.Then i saw an add selling them in Whitehorse.
I have used the pump supplied for the boiler protection.This has been in the design from the beginning with the dealer designing it,and i believe the factory endorsing it.
I have an aqua state that switches from the boiler protection pump to the main pump when the set temp has been reached.
I inquired about boiler protection and this way was recommended for my system.It seems to work good.
Even if the cold return from storage was real cold,like at the beginning of the year,and maybe today.The way i have the plumbing the cold from storage gets mixed with warm retuning from my plate heat exchanger.
I was worried about the boiler protection,even after building the system i read warnings about it.I believe you voiced your concern last year in a post of mine.
My electrician feels there shouldn't be an issue,but i want to do the change Dale suggested to add an extra line to the main pump.It can't do any harm.I hope And then it removes that question if the new controller acts up.
One of my design criteria was strong and simple.I'm in the middle of nowhere and there is no local service for boilers or heating systems.If i wasn't busy with prior commitments there would be an extension cord or two running the boiler now.
Not sure if that clears up any of you questions.
Have a good one
Thomas

 

[salecker]

Ahhh the smell of wood smoke
Finally got a couple of hours to myself yesterday.First part of the day spent getting the kitchen ready for the counter top to be installed,and helping the guys do the install.When they started to cut out the hole for the sink it got noisy and dusty so i slipped out and headed to the boiler.
I removed the fan wiring from the controller,keeping the high limit aqua stat in the loop.Oh Yea i switched off the breaker for the boiler before working on the wiring.I removed it completely from the boiler wiring, then i put a extension cord end on the wires.I flipped the breaker back on and switched on the boiler,the display went trough its normal routine.I checked my close to boiler pump and it was running Then i plugged in the fan and it roared to life in high speed.So i built a small fire to see and everything worked like it should,the only difference is the manual fan power.Was able to burn for about 4 hrs and the close to boiler pump and main pump switched back and forth like normal.
Before i fired up the boiler i checked my storage with IR gun,79F bottom 83F mid,and 88F top.Thats after 6 days with no added BTU's The oil boiler had been running since last Monday around 7PM
I came back to the basement and my wife says" You smell like wood smoke"
And i said about time.
Thomas

 

[salecker]

Update
My electrician finally came by yesterday rewired and installed the new controller on the Econoburn 200.
It's a more compact unit than the original,one difference is the boiler temp is measured with a probe instead of a capillary tube..I had an extra well for an aqua stat so the water temp probe was an easy solution.
It worked perfect out of the box,and the boiler is working better.The old one was cycling the near boiler pump too much at the low temps,resulting in smoke early in the burns.I was reluctant to try changing the setting on the old one in case it quit completely.
I had to make a bracket for the capacitor for the fan motor.Next i will add a switch for the fan so i can shut it off to load wood.
Then i still have to come up with a control that will shut the power off after the fire has died.
Thomas