my solo Innova has a problem

[flyingcow]

Been running great, until now. Started a fire, rolling along good. Checked it later, fan is off , water temp on the boiler is 170f. Hit the fan switch to start(thought we had a power flicker), it buzzed. This is a normal sound when the unit is running. Pushed the fan switch for loading the boiler, fan starts, usually only for two minutes. But it runs continuous, which isn't out of the ordinary when the boiler is down on temp. Watched it for 10 minutes. I thought well, I guess it's OK. Went back an 90 minutes later. Same thing. I suspect it's shutting off when the boiler hits 195-ish. Just like it's supposed to, but not turning the fan back on when it drops. Circulator is running and everything else is OK.

Any thoughts? I pulled most of the wood out of it and am going to bed. Got to work at midnight. Will check later.

Thanks.

 

[Jim Post]

Been running great, until now. Started a fire, rolling along good. Checked it later, fan is off , water temp on the boiler is 170f. Hit the fan switch to start(thought we had a power flicker), it buzzed. This is a normal sound when the unit is running. Pushed the fan switch for loading the boiler, fan starts, usually only for two minutes. But it runs continuous, which isn't out of the ordinary when the boiler is down on temp. Watched it for 10 minutes. I thought well, I guess it's OK. Went back an 90 minutes later. Same thing. I suspect it's shutting off when the boiler hits 195-ish. Just like it's supposed to, but not turning the fan back on when it drops. Circulator is running and everything else is OK.

Any thoughts? I pulled most of the wood out of it and am going to bed. Got to work at midnight. Will check later.

Thanks.

I've got a tarm solo 30 and have had this happen to me...usually when I leave the temp dial turned up too high and the boiler limits out on temperature....There is a little white reset button under a threaded cap on the control panel that I have to push in. If I keep the boiler draft fan control knob at it's usual setting I don't have a problem, unless we have some mild weather and I have a good load of wood in. When I first got the tarm back in 2005 I was high limiting out quite a bit until I adjusted the dial stops under the draft fan knob into a lower temp. range. Hope that helps...
Good luck.

 

[bmblank]

I wonder if maybe the operating temp knob got bumped. I've been having that problem also, but we've diagnosed it as the boiler making heat faster than it can dump it to storage. A soon as the temp drops down to 165 or so the fan kicks back on.

 

[flyingcow]

Thanks. Will check this when I get home. The white button under the knob seems ok. but i will recheck.

 

[jebatty]

If the Innova operates the same as the Solo 40, then if the Innova hits the overheat limit, it will not come back on until the temp drops to about 140F and the reset button under the knob is pushed.

 

[flyingcow]

I will look at it after church. But It's got power to everything. I only had the white button pop once before after a power outage. I think once it popped, the unit was shut down completely until you reset it.

Will get back in a couple of hours.

Next week's going to be a cold one. Wed's high.....-5f.

 

[bmblank]

Oh yeah,i forgot about the reset button.
Do you have storage or just running it straight up?

 

[flyingcow]

I wonder if maybe the operating temp knob got bumped. I've been having that problem also, but we've diagnosed it as the boiler making heat faster than it can dump it to storage. A soon as the temp drops down to 165 or so the fan kicks back on.

Thats what happened. If I would have taken 5 mins to figure it out, would have been all set. Put it back on where it should be and we're burning wide open again. I was in headed for bed and didn't want to take the time and figure it out.

This Innova 30 has 820 gals of storage plus a big house to heat. It's performed great.

 

[flyingcow]

Oh yeah, thanks Guys! Great site.

 

[bmblank]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
As it is, I'm considering bumping up the operating temp, maybe eek out another couple btus in storage.
Glad its fixed.
Blank

 

[AroostookDave]

Flyingcow, in case this situation happens to me, I want to check terminology. - are we talking about the Overheat Thermostat as mentioned in the manual?

 

[kopeck]

I think he's talking about the stack temp shutoff setting if I'm following him correctly (the dial that's suppose to be set to 90C).

Pretty much it gets set too high, the boiler cycles off for a minute, the stack temp drops below the dials setting and it thinks it's out of wood and shuts the whole thing down.

The other thing is that's the only one I could see getting bumped enough to cause any real problem.

The again I could be completely wrong.

K

 

[bmblank]

Stack temp is different than overheat temp. The stack temp is controlled by an additional Honeywell t stat wired into one of the zones. That is set to 200°c. There is also a water temp over heat which is the all the way right knob on the front panel. It is set to 90°c, just below boiling temp.

 

[kopeck]

Stack temp is different than overheat temp. The stack temp is controlled by an additional Honeywell t stat wired into one of the zones. That is set to 200°c. There is also a water temp over heat which is the all the way right knob on the front panel. It is set to 90°c, just below boiling temp.

I know they are different and I'm not following what you are saying?

The dial all the way to the right controls the minimum stack temp setting, that is the temp at what point the boiler deiced that there isn't a fire anymore and shuts down. That's the dial I'm talking about. It's suppose to be set to 90 C (194 F), when the stack temp falls below that setting the boiler shuts down. I think they call it the "reset switch" or something like that.

The dial beside it controls the temp temp of of the boiler. There should be a stop screw in there to prevent it form being set to low, with that screw in there it's really kind of hard to make any significant changes to it.

The stack temp isn't connected to any zone, nor a honeywell aquastat. There is a aquastat that will open a zone if an overheat situation happens.

K

 

[bmblank]

I think i must be getting what bulbs i put in which wells confused. The way you say it makes more sense.

 

[kopeck]

I think i must be getting what bulbs i put in which wells confused. The way you say it makes more sense.

If yours is like mine that Honeywell aquastat sits right beside the blower housing, I can see it being very easy to mix up what's where.

Just as long as the bulbs really are in the right place, in not your boiler might be a little confused!

K

 

[flyingcow]

Kopec's kinda the winner of "guess that dial"
The dial beside it controls the temp temp of of the boiler. There should be a stop screw in there to prevent it form being set to low, with that screw in there it's really kind of hard to make any significant changes to it.

Somehow the dial slid out and around the set screw. Also, my daughter has started the fire. She hasn't done this for a few months. She did fiddle with the dials too. Why? Who knows. bascially the fan would come on, but only when the boiler jacket cooled down to whatever it was set too.

 

[flyingcow]

Flyingcow, in case this situation happens to me, I want to check terminology. - are we talking about the Overheat Thermostat as mentioned in the manual?

I don't have the manual with me.

 

[bmblank]

That would be the operating temp knob i believe. But then again i thought the flue temp was controlled by the Honeywell tstat...
Anyone notice on the thermometer on the front panel, there's a ring around the gauge with °f, but it forest correspond correctly to the °c gauge?

 

[flyingcow]

bmblank, mine has that also.

Except for the air settings(which depend on the wood), i set everything at what ever Tarm recommended. The 90c flue gas setting works very well. As well as the operating temp knob. 5th winter(i think) and the boiler has done very well.

 

[kopeck]

Kopec's kinda the winner of "guess that dial"
The dial beside it controls the temp temp of of the boiler. There should be a stop screw in there to prevent it form being set to low, with that screw in there it's really kind of hard to make any significant changes to it.

Heh, wasn't really looking to win...

Sounds like you had a lot of things going on. Good to hear it was an easy fix in the end.

K

 

[AroostookDave]

It's clear what people are talking about now...the problem dial is called the Operating Thermostat.and has a narrow range between two set screws. I experimented a little early on and found my best setting was against the left set screw and allowed 100 degrees C before shutting down. This makes it a little easier to get the water tank into the 180 plus (F) degrees. To the right caused the boiler to shut down a few degrees lower.

The Overheat Thremostat I though you might be talking about is the little plastic knob just above the Reset switch. If the boiler shuts off above 100 degrees C there is a pin in there that has to be pushed in when the boiler is cooler. Never had to use that one.

 

[kopeck]

It's clear what people are talking about now...the problem dial is called the Operating Thermostat.and has a narrow range between two set screws. I experimented a little early on and found my best setting was against the left set screw and allowed 100 degrees C before shutting down. This makes it a little easier to get the water tank into the 180 plus (F) degrees. To the right caused the boiler to shut down a few degrees lower. The Overheat Thremostat I though you might be talking about is the little plastic knob just above the Reset switch. If the boiler shuts off above 100 degrees C there is a pin in there that has to be pushed in when the boiler is cooler. Never had to use that one.

I think it was both dials in flyingcow's case. With your storage, the "Operating Temp" should be cranked all the way up, well as far as the set screw will let you anyway. That's by the book, and by logic too, as long as your tank has the space you always have a load to absorber that heat.

K

 

[flyingcow]

Aroostook Dave, the pin was ok. Never "popped". It did happen once on a power outage. Boiler was rolling along very good then the power went out. Power outages have happened before and not popped the fuse.