Takagi Tk3 error code 111

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Jeannie B Nelson

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I had a 2 zone open-loop radiant heat system heated by a Takagi Tk3 natural gas water heater which also heats our domestic hot water. The new system was put in four years ago, but we have only lived here 6 months. Because our climate (Pacific Northwest on the coast) is mild, the heating system didn't go on much when we moved in in the summer, but it has worked fine during the colder months. The problem is the domestic hot water. The tap water is supposed to get hot when we just turn the taps, but it only goes on when we turn up the wall thermostat for the radiant floor. We have the wall remote for the Takagi and it doesn't register the correct amount of flow (.5 gpm) to turn the Takagi on when we open any tap . We do get hot water when the radiant heat is working. I cleaned the little Takagi filter -very gunky), cleaned the flame sensor with a green scotch guard pad. Still Nothing. The unit has not ever been descaled so I ordered a descaling kit and will try that next. I put one of those Easy Water water conditioners on at the time of the system installation. I am also getting error message 111 on the remote: ignition failure. It would be easy enough to test the ignitor with a meter. So I'm thinking--descale thoroughly, test the ignitor, check the venting make sure they are clear, have the gas company check working pressure on the gas line. Can anybody think of anything else?? This is really a great forum!!
 

Houptee

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Post pics of all the piping and valves near the TK3.
If you have a Thermostatic mixing valve in the system piping maybe it is gunked up too.
 

Dana

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Coastal PNW water is almost NEVER hard enough to end up with scale-up issues. (If you were on a well in a dry-alkaline soil area east of the Cascades, maybe.) Flame sensor varnishing is also somewhat rare before 5 years of use, but not unheard of. The fact that the flow sensor is indicating flow rates lower than what is needed to fire is a clue to why it isn't firing, but if you have a hot water only tap (not on a mixer) you can verify the actual flow with a bucket and a watch or timer. Clearly the heating system pumps are delivering enough flow for a normal ignition cycle. Any impediment to the potable side flow will aggravate a marginal-flow condition (perhaps the EasyWater was the straw that broke the camel's back?), but it would be rare to have such lowe pressure or flow impediments that it couldn't muster the ~0.7gpm or whatever it needs to light off.

In "open" systems that use potable water in the radiation, with months of annual stagnation, the gunk in the filter could even be biological in origin, or it could be iron from oxidizing valves or pumps, if any part of the heating portion wasn't built with all bronze or other non-ferrous non-oxidizing components. (Isolating the heating loops from the potable side with a heat exchanger is always a good idea, even though that often adds another pump to the system.) It's sometimes worth adding a much bigger/better filter on the heating system loops to clean it up ahead of the tankless- it doesn't take a whole lot of crud to clog those little screen filters in the tankless units. (Even in my closed system using a Takagi as a boiler I have to clean the screen-filter every couple of years to keep the flow high enough for the heating system to operate at spec. Were I more ambitious, or if it needed more frequent cleaning than that I'd be cutting in a "real" filter.)
 

cbytes

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If the filter was plugged with bio material I would also check the flow sensor for build up. bio material is microscopic and would get past the filter, which is only a sediment filter. Also talk to tech support they had a burner removal and cleaning procedure they emailed me that was excellent for my TKjr. One thing the kept telling me was, in order for the unit to fire it followed a simple order. 1 Water flow 2 Air flow 3 Gas flow.
Open more then one faucet or try the tub to get flow and see if it fires up.
 
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