Takagi t-k1s won't ignite when cold . .

[hondochica]

Greetings;

I have scanned the various takagi t-k1s threads here and learned a bit and it seems they are nearing the end of life! My takagi t-k1s is now about 8 years old - I've owned the house for the past 6 years. I would imagine that use has been below average: I am the sole occupant of the house, I don't have a clothes washer, and don't use my dish washer - so my Takagi has largely been used to shower and wash dishes once a day - for 1 person.

The unit will not ignite in the cool mornings. It is installed in the attic, I am in so Cal, and night-time temps have been in the mid 30's lately. The unit will ignite and run properly in the afternoon when the attic warms from the sun. It would not ignite again this a.m. Following something I read here (I think) in another thread, I went up with a hair dryer this morning and warmed the circuit board for just a minute or so, and the unit ignited just fine. The unit is not throwing any error codes (little light is not blinking when running).

So - I'm figuring I need a new circuit board. Talked w/ Takagi tech support and they laughed at the hair dryer, but concurred that it's probably the board. I am prepping my house for sale - so really don't want the expense of a new water heater.

I'm just triple-checking with folks here before I order that board. Is this something I can install myself? I have some experience with upgrading motherboards in computers - seems pretty similar: unplug everything and put plugs back in the same place on the new board. I found one for $216 (Boston heating supply) - Takagi wants $250+. Better price somewhere else??

Thanks for your time!

Kelly

 

[Dana]

Takagi is your only reliable source for spare parts on that unit. Most board-swaps are pretty straightforward, haven't looked in the manual to see what it would take with a TK-1, but you should. (It's downloadable if you don't have a print copy.)

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DButtry]

Greetings;

I have scanned the various takagi t-k1s threads here and learned a bit and it seems they are nearing the end of life! My takagi t-k1s is now about 8 years old - I've owned the house for the past 6 years. I would imagine that use has been below average: I am the sole occupant of the house, I don't have a clothes washer, and don't use my dish washer - so my Takagi has largely been used to shower and wash dishes once a day - for 1 person.

The unit will not ignite in the cool mornings. It is installed in the attic, I am in so Cal, and night-time temps have been in the mid 30's lately. The unit will ignite and run properly in the afternoon when the attic warms from the sun. It would not ignite again this a.m. Following something I read here (I think) in another thread, I went up with a hair dryer this morning and warmed the circuit board for just a minute or so, and the unit ignited just fine. The unit is not throwing any error codes (little light is not blinking when running).

So - I'm figuring I need a new circuit board. Talked w/ Takagi tech support and they laughed at the hair dryer, but concurred that it's probably the board. I am prepping my house for sale - so really don't want the expense of a new water heater.

I'm just triple-checking with folks here before I order that board. Is this something I can install myself? I have some experience with upgrading motherboards in computers - seems pretty similar: unplug everything and put plugs back in the same place on the new board. I found one for $216 (Boston heating supply) - Takagi wants $250+. Better price somewhere else??

Thanks for your time!

Kelly

Hi Kelly, We have the same model, same issue and same fix - with a hair dryer! So, did the board replacement work? DB

 

[joe ricci]

Hi Kelly, We have the same model, same issue and same fix - with a hair dryer! So, did the board replacement work? DB

I had the same problem with an 11 year old TK1S. Heating up the circuit board did the trick. I ordered a new circuit board and installed it four days ago and everything is great up to now. Got it from Supplies Depot, around $200.

 

[Philtopia!]

I also have a T-K1s, at least 12 to 15 years old by now, has been working well until recently it started not working intermittently. It did seem to work sometimes when I was troubleshooting it and trying different things, then it wouldn't work again. I talked to Takagi tech support several times.

There was intermittent flame and erratic fan, and then no flame but steady fan, and a range of other unsatisfactory behavior. Several times, I noted that the temperature on the RE-02 remote would change to something lower than the 122*f I had set it at - 102 or something like that - or was that displaying an error code? But it wasn't any of the error codes listed in the manual.

I tried quite a few things, cleaning the inlet filter, checking to see if the thermistors were clean, replacing the high level thermistor, I cleaned the flame sensor rods, disconnected the RE-02 remote and reconnected it, pressing the up and down arrows for quite a few seconds until it showed a 1, then pressing the up arrow until it flashed a 6, then pressed the info button to see what it read, 0.0, which Takagi said is what it should read. Etc. Finally, I gave up the troubleshooting and replaced both the fan and circuit board. Now it seems to work fine.

I will update if anything changes, or I learn something new.

 

[Dana]

I suspect the issue is in the RE02, not the TK1. Even if it's not in the manual it's may be useful to share the displayed error code.

Have you run this by Takagi tech support (including the undocumented code)?