Bradford White low nox repeated flame rollout.

Users who are viewing this thread

CaBoater

New Member
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
San Francisco, CA
The heater is generating repeated small explosions about every 10 seconds. The flashes are strong enough to shake a door and light up the area around the heater. I have not seen it happen myself, but the tenants of the building shut off the gas and called the gas company. They showed up, lit the heater and it worked normally.The PG&E employee told the tenants that they have seen a lot of problems with delayed ignition in low nox heaters.

This heater was installed 18 months ago and has never had a problem. The flue did not have enough rise coming out of the heater so last week I eliminated the platform it was on and drop it 18 inches. It is at the bottom of a stairwell and not in a garage. The combustion air comes from a large gap between the roof and the building. The area of the gap is about 20 square feet. The building is three stories.


After I dropped the heater it worked for a week and started doing it again. I am going to check the gas pressure after the meter and the pressure after the regulator. The furnaces, stoves and other water heaters are working fine.

This building is in the Sunset area of San Francisco about a mile from the ocean. When the wind blows and the door to the bottom of the stairwell is open there is a strong upward draft. The flue end about 12 feet from the stairwell. I suspect maybe it is creating a backdraft down the flue. But it has been windy plenty of times in the past 18 months and it never happened before . This is not an uncommon setup in this area.

I called Bradford White tech support and they couldn't help me.

If this happens again I am going to install a direct vent heater.

Does anyone have any ideas?


Thanks,

Eric
 

Master Plumber Mark

Sensitivity trainer and plumber of mens souls
Messages
5,533
Reaction score
354
Points
83
Location
indianapolis indiana - land of the free, home of
Website
www.weilhammerplumbing.com
perhaps you ought to loosen the fire wall on the unit and leave an air gap to see if that eliminated
the problem... either its a back draft or there is something wrong with the crappy ICON valve...

The ICON valve should be under warranty and that is where I would start... just warranty in out and
get a new one
 

CaBoater

New Member
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
San Francisco, CA
Update,

Well I took the burner out and cleaned the FVIR screen and the low nox burner screen. There was loose scale inside the heater and on top of the burner. I looked carefully and found a small hole in the burner screen. It was really tricky to spot.

A chunk of rust must have corroded the copper screen. Only about 4mm of one wire was gone. So two holes were twice as wide as the others. The screen is not at all delicate and in very good shape except for the hole.

The flame must be getting across the screen and igniting the fuel air mixture inside the burner. The inside of the burner is connected to the air in room through the venturi tube. So I think the flame is shooting out into the room. The heater has a heat sensor to detect steady flame inside the venturi tube, but its not getting tripped.

I used a pick to nudge the nearby strands of the screen a little to close the gap. It has worked fine for days.

I am going to contact Bradford White to warranty a new burner. If that fails I will buy a new one or just stick a copper nail in the hole.

This heater is only 18 months old and the FVIR has failed.


Eric
 

Attachments

  • burner.pdf
    84.4 KB · Views: 513

Dj2

In the Trades
Messages
2,611
Reaction score
258
Points
83
Location
California
Try to get a new gas valve from BradfordWhite. It might take forever to extract a gas valve from them, if at all.

In the mean time, try not to do DIY's home remedies like sticking nails to plug holes.

As a landlord, you HAVE TO provide tenants with hot water 24/7. Professionally repair your water heater quickly or replace it ASAP. The last thing you need is an injury to a tenant, trust me, pray it never happens. There are lawyer waiting for this to happen.

I'm a landlord too and I'd replace the water heater right away, if it happened to me. After I'd pulled out the old heater, I'd have plenty of time to repair it in my shop, without interruption of service to my tenants.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks