Bradford white issue

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Garydaplummer

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Having a problem with a BW 40 gallon gas power vent, 7 years old. The water heater stopped working and I checked it out, the ignitor was not heating up. Replaced the ignitor and the problem did not go away. As soon as the unti is plugged in the blower starts and that's all. Called the local rep and they suggested the gas valve should be replaced. Replaced it, no improvement. Then I called BW tech support and we checked everything over a 35 minute call. We checked the temperature switch, the air switch, the gas valve, and the ignitor. We have 26.1 volts AC at the connection from the gas valve to the ignitor and the ignitor still is not coming on. The BW tech rep suggested there may be an internal bad ground in the under-jacket wiring, but he was unsure. Have any of you experienced this? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am at the end of my rope with this and spent 4 hours and $150 so far on parts. Hard to recoup this when the unit still is not lighting anfd even the manufacturer is scratching their heads a bit.:confused:
 
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Cass

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Did you test the new ignitor...could be bad from the get go...or maybe a bad ground
 

Garydaplummer

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Surrendered!

Thanks for all your replies, after the BW tech rep could offer no clear solution we decided to call in the reinforcements. The local rep steered me toward a local contractor who does all their factory service work. I spoke to the homeowner and he found there was a problem with the pressure switch in the power venter. Now I checked this with the tech rep on the phone but the contractor sadi he had to do "another test" to determine the switch was faulty, replaced it and the water heater works fine. Sometimes you need to give up, but I never admit defeat well. Thanks as always for all your help.:)
 
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Redwood

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Surrendered???

Why? These things aren't as tough as you think!

If you stop looking at the big picture and being overwhelmed look at it as a fairly simple 3 part device you'll see it in a different light...

Inputs: these would be things like the t-stat calling for the unit to turn on, and various sensors that verify proper operation of things like the blower, pilot or ignition device, burner lighting ect.

Logic board: Recieves inputs and sends signals to various output devices based on programmed decision process. Following a planned sequence to start the unit, verifying proper operation of components started with continous rechecking while operating, shutting the unit down if a fault is detected, or, waiting for the t-stat to tell it to shut down, then following a shutdown sequence...

Outputs: These would be things the logic board turns on. The blower, ignition device, gas valve etc.

When faced with a problem your concerns are what fault is detected causing the lockout. Lets say like in your situation the blower is causing the fault. You then have to look at it as several possibilities...

Is the blower running or, not? if not then you look at whether the logic board is supplying power to it or if the blower motor is cooked.

If the blower is running then you would look at things that could cause a fault with a running blower. Vent blocked, blowerwheel dirty causing ineffective operation, bad sensor, or logic board failure etc....

Some are easier than others in terms of giving up error codes to tell you where the fault is while others you have to know more about the sequence of operation and when the fault occurs.

In any case avoiding looking at the big picture and getting overwhelmed is what you want to avoid. Instead break it down to an easy to see problem with a few checks to make whether visual or with a meter to see where the actual problem is and verifying the problem cause is what will make you an ace on these. They really are not as tough as they look once you get past the big picture.
 
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