Hey again guys. Small recap...I have the Orlan 60 that pumps water to coils in two furnaces to heat my house. I inherited the boiler when I bought the house and have had my fair share of issues getting it to work properly. Happy to say you all here have made it a warm winter!
Recently, our outside temperatures have been warm. Up to 60 during the day...down in the teens at night. Not bad for a March in Wyoming. Since I'm running low on wood and trying to limp my way to spring/summer, I didn't run my unit at all this past weekend. Last night it was a tad chilly so I decided to load my boiler and heat my house up. This brings me to my current problem....
When my boiler and house are both up to temp, everything functions beautifully. The problem occurs when I'm starting up the boiler from cold and the house isn't quite up to temp. My pumps just randomly shut down. I'll have the bottom chamber open and one furnace on warming the house. My water temp will hover in the 160's - and with the chamber door open, the boiler can handle the load and warm the house at the same time. A few times I've gone out to check on it and the water temp is 195 or even E1 or E2. The pumps will just shut off on their own and the water temp keeps growing and my furnaces are blowing cold air.
Last night I had the scare of my life. I had a fire going and warming the water. Bottom chamber was open. I checked the water temp and it was at 165. I turned BOTH furnaces on to begin warming the house. Shouldn't have been an issue, but obviously the pumps stopped circulating...thus my furnaces blowing cold air and my water temp climbing rapidly. Literally not even five minutes later I heard a horrible loud hissing sound coming from my garage. After a swear word, I sprinted out to see the largest, loudest, hottest steam and water bath taking place. My garage is 30 feet wide. The water blowing out of the top of my boiler soaked the far wall...and would have probably gone 60 feet had there not been a wall there. I'm pretty sure it fried my garage door opener. I never did get it to function again. Hopefully after a couple days of drying out it'll work. Needless to say....an utter mess...and quite scary. If you've had it happen, you know...if you haven't...I can't explain the sound or size!!
I obviously closed the chamber and the damper and pushed start to get the pumps moving water while it was blowing up. Both furnaces were on...so it cooled down pretty quick. I had no water pressure left so it took awhile to repressurize. The water temp was as high as 260 degrees. Oops. It ended up cooling down and settling in at 174 as I mopped up water and dried off everything in the garage. I was hesitant, but I still ended up loading the boiler and my house was warm all night. Being a rookie, I believe my boiler did what it was suppose to do in that situation. Did I do any harm? I had no leaks anywhere after it all took place, but after it cools down today, I'm curious to see if things start to drip.
Short story long...why do my pumps not function when I'm warming the boiler?? I've never had them quit while the house is warm and the boiler is idling...only while I'm warming it up. Is it requiring extra electricity for those pumps to push colder water? Shorting it out? I have to push the start button and you'll hear the pumps kick on and start circulating water and the pipes will warm up. Sometimes while I'm standing there, they'll shut off on their own again even though the furncaces are calling for heat. More than once just jiggling the controller will kick them on. Bum controller? loose wire? I'm not sold on either because it ONLY happens while warming. Any suggestions??!?!?
Recently, our outside temperatures have been warm. Up to 60 during the day...down in the teens at night. Not bad for a March in Wyoming. Since I'm running low on wood and trying to limp my way to spring/summer, I didn't run my unit at all this past weekend. Last night it was a tad chilly so I decided to load my boiler and heat my house up. This brings me to my current problem....
When my boiler and house are both up to temp, everything functions beautifully. The problem occurs when I'm starting up the boiler from cold and the house isn't quite up to temp. My pumps just randomly shut down. I'll have the bottom chamber open and one furnace on warming the house. My water temp will hover in the 160's - and with the chamber door open, the boiler can handle the load and warm the house at the same time. A few times I've gone out to check on it and the water temp is 195 or even E1 or E2. The pumps will just shut off on their own and the water temp keeps growing and my furnaces are blowing cold air.
Last night I had the scare of my life. I had a fire going and warming the water. Bottom chamber was open. I checked the water temp and it was at 165. I turned BOTH furnaces on to begin warming the house. Shouldn't have been an issue, but obviously the pumps stopped circulating...thus my furnaces blowing cold air and my water temp climbing rapidly. Literally not even five minutes later I heard a horrible loud hissing sound coming from my garage. After a swear word, I sprinted out to see the largest, loudest, hottest steam and water bath taking place. My garage is 30 feet wide. The water blowing out of the top of my boiler soaked the far wall...and would have probably gone 60 feet had there not been a wall there. I'm pretty sure it fried my garage door opener. I never did get it to function again. Hopefully after a couple days of drying out it'll work. Needless to say....an utter mess...and quite scary. If you've had it happen, you know...if you haven't...I can't explain the sound or size!!
I obviously closed the chamber and the damper and pushed start to get the pumps moving water while it was blowing up. Both furnaces were on...so it cooled down pretty quick. I had no water pressure left so it took awhile to repressurize. The water temp was as high as 260 degrees. Oops. It ended up cooling down and settling in at 174 as I mopped up water and dried off everything in the garage. I was hesitant, but I still ended up loading the boiler and my house was warm all night. Being a rookie, I believe my boiler did what it was suppose to do in that situation. Did I do any harm? I had no leaks anywhere after it all took place, but after it cools down today, I'm curious to see if things start to drip.
Short story long...why do my pumps not function when I'm warming the boiler?? I've never had them quit while the house is warm and the boiler is idling...only while I'm warming it up. Is it requiring extra electricity for those pumps to push colder water? Shorting it out? I have to push the start button and you'll hear the pumps kick on and start circulating water and the pipes will warm up. Sometimes while I'm standing there, they'll shut off on their own again even though the furncaces are calling for heat. More than once just jiggling the controller will kick them on. Bum controller? loose wire? I'm not sold on either because it ONLY happens while warming. Any suggestions??!?!?