Heat wont come on after running out of oil

[BM]

Hello,

I ran out of oil. after filling the tank and bleeding the line the furnace came on but it seems like its only coming on to heat the water. I get hot water from the furnace. The baseboard heaters are barley getting warm. it seem like the system is shutting down once water is hot but the temperature in the house is as low as it can go on the thermostat. if i run the hot water the furnace will come back on but stops soon after the hot water is off. i turned both thermostats down all the way for about 10 mins then back on and the furnace still wont come on from that. what could be the problem.

thank you

[Bob_Villa]

Try turning off the breaker for the furnace for 20 seconds or so...and then re-start it.

[BM]

Bob_Villa wrote in news: [e-mail]:

turning the breaker off and on didnt make a differnece. when i take the thermostat off the wall and make contact with the two wires i think the furnace should come on but it dosent.

[Bob_Villa]

[e-mail]:

Is there a diagnostic board (LED's) that you can trouble-shoot the problem?

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'm not familiar with some of the newer control possibilities, but I'd look for a reset someplace. Normally, there is one that prevents the burner from going on after a few tries, as in out of oil, but perhaps there is another that tripped for the heating portion, but not the hot water. The reset may be a button on top of a box, or it may be inside a control panel.

[BM]

there are no diagnostics. the pipes are getting very hot coming out of the furnace. it seems like the water is not circulating.

[BM]

the system is only one year old. everything was replaced. i now how to turn the system back on when its locked out.

when i pull the fuse to the electric box for the circulator motors i can hear them turn on, so something is going on inside ther. maybe it just takes several hours for the water to circulate enough to start heating the house, but that dosent seem normal.

[RBM]

You are barking up the wrong tree. first off, it is a boiler not a furnace. If it makes hot water, the issue is not with the boiler, it's with the heating zone system. First you need to describe the components . Is the hot water, from a coil within the boiler, or do you have an indirect tank? How many heating zones? Do you have circulator pumps or zone valves, and how many of each? What type of switching relays, aquastats etc. do you have?

[Ed Pawlowski]

It is not normal. I'm not sure what fuse you are pulling though. When you pull a fuse, things stop.

You have to understand the system to diagnose though. The thermostat does not turn on the burner. It turns on the circulator. The water starts to circulate and when the temperature in the heater cools down, an aquastat starts the burner. When it reaches the desired temperature, the burner stops, but water keeps on circulating.

When the thermostat reaches the desired temperature, it turns off the circulator. The burner may or may not be running. It will run long enough to bring the water up to the "reserve" temperature.

What I don't understand is why you have a system that has integrated hot water unless this is a stand alone tank with a heat exchanger. The old systems are extremely inefficient and costly to operate.

OTOH, some newer energy efficient models work a bit differently. Mine won't allow the circulators to run until the water is up to temperature. There are electronics controlling all the stuff though and I think you stated you had none.

Nothing to do with running out of fuel, but be sure you have sufficient water in the system. Pumps can run but with nothing to circulate, no heat. Also, how long were you without oil? Could a pipe in the wall have frozen over the past day or so? That would cause a block to prevent heat from circulating.

[BM]

ok then I guess its a boiler. the hot water does come from coils in the tank but thats not the problem. the problem is the house is not getting hot. the base board heaters are just warm. there are two zones, there are two Taco Circulating Pumps. the are making a very quiet humming noise. the burner comes on for about two mins every halhalf hour or so. im not sure what the switch relay is

[BM]

RBM, there is a Honeywell box on the from of the system. if i take the cover off there are two dials insied. One says HI and set on 180 the other says LO and set on 160. I remeber when the guy put the system in he told me those dias control the water temberature coming out of the faucet. Other than that I dont see anything that controls the temperature for the circulating pumps.

[RBM]

He is correct, those dials maintain the temperature of the boiler water. The circulators for the heating zones are controlled by your room thermostats, through switching relays. These relays can be individual boxes about 4" x 4" or multiple relays can be inside one box. If you trace the cable from each circulator, those cables should be coming from these boxes. This is also where the thermostat (low voltage) wires are connected.

[Mark]

Did one of the water circulation pipes FREEZE while the heat was off?

Mark

[jw]

I'm assuming you have hot water radiators in the house rather than steam.

Do you have enough water in the system?

Are the pumps running? Maybe some reset tripped for those pumps when the system shut down.

What do you mean when you said "you ran the hot water"? Are you saying you also get your hot water from the faucets from this furnace?

More details and explaination needed.... Describe what you have..... Is this a zone system, or just one for the whole house?

Of course check the obvious. Circuit breakers, reset buttons, water level in system, are you getting flame in the firebox for the furnace? Yea, you said you got hot water, but I'm thinking you have two fireboxes, one for heat, one for hot water?????

Hey, I used to maintain a hot water heating boiler, for a huge building (school), but when I read your posting, I'm totally confused what you have????????

Without knowing more details, the thermostat should kick the pumps on. Check pumps....

I'm assuming it dod not get cold enough to freeze up pipes and stuff. otherwise you have a bigger problem. Ice in the system could do lots of damage.

[jw]

Is this system still under warranty? If it is, call the repair guys.

Ummmmm, pulling the fuse will turn *OFF* the pumps. You're talking backwards!!! Guess they call that Dyslexia..... I'll assume the pumps turn ON when you replace the fuses.

DO THIS: The old pumps that I worked with were B&K brand. The pump and motor were two separate pieces, and each piece could be purchased separately. The pump itself was connected to the pipes. The motor was bolted to the pump by a few bolts. In between the pump and motor there was a shaft coupler. You could see this coupler (exposed) on the older pumps, and by removing a metal shield cover on the newer pumps. (I suppose some kid stuck a finger in there, so they had to cover the rotating shaft). Anyhow, look between the pump and motor and make sure the pump itself is turning, not just the motor. The couplers were a common thing to break. Remove the shield if needed.

I have a feeling this is your problem.

*While you're at it, google your pump and post the url link for a photo of this pump.

[Doug Miller]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If he didn't, the boiler probably wouldn't fire at all, because the low-water-level sensor would disable the ignitor.

That's not uncommon, for a boiler system to have one extra zone for domestic hot water.

Not if he has a combined system.

[RBM]

low-water-level sensor would disable

Normally true, but I don't see one in the pictures. I know in my area of NY, they've only recently been a code requirement

[RBM]

Yes, it's called a domestic coil. It sits in the water jacket. Cold water goes in, around the coil, and comes out hot. Then it gets tempered through a mixing valve. It's in the picture behind the gray box.

He has two heating zones, hence the two circulators

One fire box, and one tank. Garden variety domestic boiler

[Stormin Mormon]

Bad circulator pump? Or bad coupler between the pump and the motor?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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there are no diagnostics. the pipes are getting very hot coming out of the furnace. it seems like the water is not circulating.

[jw]

Where are you seeing a picture of this system? If a link was posted, it never showed up here.

While the concept of this makes sense during the heating season, I'd hate to have to run the boiler in the summer just to get hot water from the faucets. (Or do they use another water heater that time of year, or have electric heating elements in the system).

So, if he has two zones, that should indicate that he has two circulator pumps. I highly doubt both of them went bad at the same time. Otherwise I suspected a bad motor to pump coupler, since he indicated that a pump motor(s) is heard running. I'm still thinking something froze when the heat was off. Of course if the pumps got ice in them, both couplers could be broke. The motors will bust those couplers if the pumps cant turn from ice.

Please - Repost that link to the photos.