Please help Burnham RSM-126 oil furnace won't heat hot water after vacation
Donita Luddington
furnace won't turn on automatically for hot water. Nothing else changed.
My home has a 19 year old oil furnace which says Burnham RSM-126 on a
plate. It will not turn on automatically for hot water.
I have to keep hitting the start button to make it turn on to heat the hot
water.
This problem started after I had the water and furnace turned off for 2
weeks while I headed off on vacation.
Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot this on my own? Or is this one
item which isn't home testable since it involves oil?
Donna
RBM
"Donita Luddington" <doni...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:rf0rfkfnb5dt.1da9yvxbbchbi$.dlg@40tude.net...
This is a boiler, not a furnace. Does the boiler run if you turn up a
heating thermostat? What "start switch" are you referring to? If you are
talking about a red button on the burner primary relay, the one that says
something like "push only once", you need to get an oil burner tech out.
That's a safety lockout telling you that something is malfunctioning in the
burner. Resetting it multiple times can be dangerous
Phil Again
Sounds like you have some sort of circulating Hot Water home heating
system that also supplies heated water from a oil fired boiler to a large
potable hot water tank by way of separate piping and a circulating pump.
This is now a rare home heating system for most of the USA and Canada.
However, and whatever, device that controls the temperature inside the
H.W. tank and acts as the temperature set thermostat isn't getting it's
signal sent to your oil fired boiler and pump. It could be anything from
a simple switch you forgot to reset, to some limit switch that needs to
be manually bypassed until boiler gets up to some temp range, to....
It may not be your furnace (boiler) but some control electronics for the
boiler and H.W. Tank.
Sorry to say, but due to the your description, you may need a
professional to make a house call.
Best of luck.
Special Ed
news:rf0rfkfnb5dt.1da9yvxbbchbi$.dlg@40tude.net...
Donna, I'd like to award you our weekly Booby Prize for person seeking a
solution to a real problem while providing little if any critical and
descriptive information so that people can help...
Way to go, girl!
Bruce .com>
> seeking a solution to a real problem
> while providing little if any critical and
> descriptive information so that people can help...
Actually, being in the business, I'd rather prefer a lot more people like
you Special Ed, who know full well that any home boiler problem is well
beyond the homeowner's expertise.
What the homeowner needs to do is call a professional as she couldn't hope
to solve the problem with help from this google group. Nobody here can help
her even get to first base on this.
The only way to solve this problem is to disassemble the boiler and clean
it out pronto! We charge 120 an hour for the estimate but you get all that
back for free once we do the work. At those prices, it doesn't pay for a
homeowner to try to save money themselves.
Donita Luddington
> This is a boiler, not a furnace. Does the boiler run if you turn up a
> heating
Sorry for not getting back sooner. No the boiler does not run when I turn
up the heating thermostat. What does that tell us?
> What "start switch" are you referring to?
It's the red button on the motor. Is there another start switch that I can
hit to get the Burnham boiler repaired?
Donita Luddington
> At those prices, it doesn't pay for a
> homeowner to try to save money themselves.
All I'm asking is for troubleshooting information.
Can I get a shop manual somewhere for this Burnham RSM-126 boiler?
RBM
No, that red button is a safety lockout. Essentially it's telling you that
there is a combustion problem. Anything beyond being out of oil, will
require a service tech
>
Siskuwihane
Just about the only thing you could do yourself is bleed the pump if
it has lost its prime (single fuel line system). If it has, that means
you will not be getting any fuel and when you hit that reset switch
and it will fire (or attempt to) for a minute and then shut down.
While this how-to is for when you have ran out of oil, it also applies
if your pump has lost its prime.
http://www.wikihow.com/Restart-a-Furnace-After-Running-out-of-Oil
Donita Luddington
> it's telling you that there is a combustion problem.
Can you tell me what the most common cause of that "combustion problem"
might be, considering it was working fine before I turned it off for my
summer vacation?
Donita Luddington
> Your burner flame is being sensed as NOT burning correctly.
What is wrong with asking what the most common cause of the burner flame
not burning correctly is?
Donita Luddington
> bleed the pump if it has lost its prime (single fuel line system).
> http://www.wikihow.com/Restart-a-Furnace-After-Running-out-of-Oil
Great! Finally some help for a lost soul! I very much appreciate the
pointer. That's all I was looking for, which was the most common cause and
a possible diagnosis technique.
I'm at work but when I get home, I'll try it. I can't do it until I get
home though as there's nobody there to help me. All I have is you, thank
God.
Do you think turning it off for my vacation could have been what made it
"lose it's prime"?
Siskuwihane
That's possible.
There is only so much the average home owner can do and you can
troubleshoot up to a certain point.
The first thing I check when having problems is my fuel level. Gauges
are known to stick and show full in the tank when it's empty or near
empty. Fuel level can be checked by tapping the tank side, dipping the
tank with a stick or unscrewing the gauge site and physically moving
the fuel level indicator to see if it is indeed stuck.
After I have confirmed I have fuel, I check to see if any is getting
to my burner either by sight or smell. I open
the little glass port and when my burner is trying to fire, I can see
fuel being sprayed into (or not) the combustion chamber. If I am not
getting fuel and I know I have fuel in my tank I will then bleed my
pump. If that fails (and it usually doesn't) I know I may have an
obstruction or pump problem.
If I am getting fuel and it's not firing then I check to see if I am
getting spark but this is the point that you should call for help.
If you have fuel, everytime you press that red button it will be
spraying fuel into your combustion chamber and pretty soon you have
unburned fuel pooling up in there and that's not something you want
when you eventually get it to fire.
RBM
Possibly contaminant in the oil. Dirty oil filter. Electrodes out of
adjustment or worn. Clogged or worn nozzle. It's possible that it lost it's
prime, but that would probably indicate a leak in the system, which would
need to be found. I assume you have the burner cleaned and serviced
annually. If not, you're just looking for these type of problems
Donita Luddington
> If you have fuel, everytime you press that red button it will be
> spraying fuel into your combustion chamber and pretty soon you have
> unburned fuel pooling up in there and that's not something you want
> when you eventually get it to fire.
I vacuum it out a lot and clean the hot water coils several times a year
but that's about it for normal maintenance. Should I have done more?
The wierd thing is I don't have any problem with the Burnham boiler not
firing up once I presses the button to start it.
At first, I was having to press the button a couple times to get it to go,
but once I took your advice and cleaned the nozzle, the Burnham boiler now
fires up right away. That's an improvement!
But I guess once it turns off because I stop using hot water, the boiler
just doesn't go back on again.
The fuel tank is full as I stuck a long broomstick in there so I know there
is fuel.
I know a lot of people have said it lost it's prime (just like me,
LOL)...... but are you sure it lost its prime if it starts up when I press
the button but just won't start up on its own?
mkir...@rochester.rr.com
> I know a lot of people have said it lost it's prime (just like me,
> LOL)...... but are you sure it lost its prime if it starts up when I press
> the button but just won't start up on its own?
Okay, you got your basic troubleshooting. It didn't fix the problem.
Now call a professional for God's sake!
Donita Luddington
> Now call a professional for God's sake!
How hard can this thing be?
All it does is boil water.
What does a professional know that I can't learn in a few weeks?
Is there a book out there on boilers?
Steve Daniels
compelled Donita Luddington <doni...@sbcglobal.net>, to say:
The fucking thing could blow up. But you go girl, read a book.
--
"The ABS system can not overcome the laws of physics."
Audi Owner's Manual
J. Clarke
Repairing an oil burner is one of those deals where if you have to ask
online for advice you probably shouldn't be doing it. It isn't
difficult particularly but there's more than one way that you can
screw it up in a fashion that is dangerous or that can result in
expensive damage. It's one of those jobs that you really want to
learn hands-on from someone who knows what they are doing rather than
reading about it in a book.
If you are absolutely determined to do it after reading about it in a
book, going to amazon and searching on '"oil burner" repair' (use the
double-quotes) will find several trade-school texts.
--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
Mark
> On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:22:21 -0700 (PDT), mkirs...@rochester.rr.com wrote:
> > Now call a professional for God's sake!
>
> How hard can this thing be?
> All it does is boil water.
>
> What does a professional know that I can't learn in a few weeks?
> Is there a book out there on boilers?
when the burner tries to start, do you get a flame or not..
the problem is either
1) you get no flame and the saftey kicks out in which case you need to
determine why the flame won't ignite i.e. lack of fuel or lack of
ignition, lack of air etc.
2) you get a flame but the control system thinks that you are not
getting a flame... then you need to troubleshoot the control system,
i.e. a dirty flame sensor, bad relay etc...
But the other guys are correct, if you screw up, you could cause big
trouble ...the main danger is everytime you press the red button, if
there is no flame, unburned fuel collects in the fire box, when you do
finally get it to light, all that accumulated fuel will light all at
once and that can be very bad...
the other danger is don't do anything to defeat any saftey system,
they are there for a reason..
I think Audels has some good books. Be careful
Mark
dpb
...
> How hard can this thing be?
> All it does is boil water.
That's "all" a nuclear reactor does, too...
--
Donita Luddington
> On Aug 15, 1:38 am, Donita Luddington <donil...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:22:21 -0700 (PDT), mkirs...@rochester.rr.com wrote:
>>> Now call a professional for God's sake!
>>
>> How hard can this thing be?
>> All it does is boil water.
>>
>> What does a professional know that I can't learn in a few weeks?
>> Is there a book out there on boilers?
>
> when the burner tries to start, do you get a flame or not..
>
> the problem is either
>
> 1) you get no flame and the saftey kicks out in which case you need to
> determine why the flame won't ignite i.e. lack of fuel or lack of
> ignition, lack of air etc.
>
> 2) you get a flame but the control system thinks that you are not
> getting a flame... then you need to troubleshoot the control system,
> i.e. a dirty flame sensor, bad relay etc...
Thank you. I was hoping for something like this.
I mean, take a car, admittedly a simple affair, but, let's take a car
engine.
If the engine isn't running, it's ALWAYS one of four things. It's never not
one of those four things. So, you go down, one by one, and you see if the
combustion chamber is getting each of those four things, in the right ratio
and the right time.
Sure, the ratio is 14:1, which is hard to measure, but, the point is that a
combustion chamber needs only a very few things to work, and, when it
doesn't work, there are usually simple diagnosis procedures that determine
if those very few simple things are there or not.
Am I making this clear or did I just muddy it all up (sometimes I think
it's clearer when I don't ramble on) .........
Mark
>
> Am I making this clear or did I just muddy it all up (sometimes I think
>
> - Show quoted text -
so which is it..
1 or 2
when the burner tries to start, do you get a flame or not?
Mark
Donita Luddington
Hi Mark,
I should have mentioned that I'm currently at work. Hopefully I'll leave
early tonight as I have, for the first time in a while, a date so I have to
pretty myself up.
I will try tonight but if I don't have time, depending on how the date goes
I guess, LOL, I will certainly be able to try it out by the morning
Saturday.
THANK YOU for your help. I wish everyone were as helpful as you!
Donita Luddington
>> when the burner tries to start, do you get a flame or not?
BTW, after I cleaned it, I certainly got a flame (it heated the water) but
it goes out after a while.
Does that help?
Lou
I don't know what a professional knows that I don't. But several years ago
a co-worker came in one morning without any hair on his head - no eyebrows
even. Seems his furnace wasn't working, and he thought he could fix it
himself. Lucky the only thing really injured was his pride. Oh yeah, he
wasn't able to fix the thing and ended up calling a professional.
Mark
what does a little while mean....20 seconds or 20 minutes?
so agin it is hard to say fomr here,,,is your flame going out because
of lack of fuel or air....or is one of the saftey devices shutting it
off for some reason...
if the flame is good and suddenly goes off it would seem to be a
saftey, if you have a photocell sensor, try cleaning it...
get a book to tell you how to do that...
Mark
Mark
also if the flame is good for several minutes and then kicks off on a
saftey, then it could be overtemp due to a plugged chimney due to an
animal or birds next.,..this could cause CO to back up into your
home...
if you are going to do your own troubleshooting, I would also get a CO
alarm ...
Mark
Paul Flansburg
Bruce,
Taking the boiler a part isn't going to fix the problem. I think I
would start with the burner....
-paul
Donita Luddington
> Taking the boiler a part isn't going to fix the problem. I think I
> would start with the burner....
Thanks everyone! It's fixed!
Without Mark, RBM, Phil Again, Siskuwihane, J. Clarke, starrin, & Paul, I
wouldn't have figured it out!
The Burnham oil furnace is working beautifully now!
With all the emails about combustion, I felt comfortable looking a little
further at what was rally going on. I cleaned the nozzle again and then I
cleaned the air intake around the nozzle.
All seems well now!
BTW, it was always firing (sometimes it wouldn't stay lit however) so there
was never any "pooling" that some of the posts warned about.
Thank you all so much for your help.
You are one smart bunch!!!
Mark
good for you!!!
Please consider taking some of the money you saved and getting a CO
alarm for your home in any case...
and make sure there is no blockage in the flue or chimney
Mark
Donita Luddington
> CO alarm for your home in any case...
> and make sure there is no blockage in the flue or chimney
Will check this weekend!
Thanks Mark - you were one of the more helpful human beings out there.
Much appreciated!
Paul Flansburg
One thing, nozzles are very sensitive and fraggle. Just cleaning it
will not solve the problem, completely. You need to look at all the
filters, tank and pump, to make sure they are not clogging up OR
clogged. I would have changed the nozzle instead of cleaning it. If
your burner is clogging up with that much dirt, dust, hair,....and so
forth you should have some one come in and break it down and vac it
out completely. Then I would look at the overall enviroment that the
burner is subjected to to keep the build up at a minimum. I once
cleaned a burner/boiler in a house were the guy used the room as a
wood working shop......What a mess!! I convinced the guy to close off
the burner room by moving around his tools to keep things a little
cleaner. Now he's down to maintanence once a year. It still pays to
have a technician come in and inspect/clean/repair your burner at
least once a year!!!