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E Classic operating temperature

Started by firechief, December 18, 2010, 01:03:55 PM

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doctorb

I have an e-2300.  My water temp entering my house 300 feet away is only 5-6 degrees lower than what the controller says my water temp is in the stove.  Yet he has a 20 degree differential in the stove itself!  And he's the first person on the FF to report this differential.  Other e1400 users do not see the same phenomenon.  I moving to Missouri on this one.  Your gonna have to show me!  My indoor oil burner kicks on at a temp of 160.  If that's true for him as well, that's not a lot of wiggle room before his backup heat kicks on.  I don't buy it.  Somethings not right.
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

hockeyguy

My 2300 temps. are very similar to doctorb's. I usually have 5-7 degree difference between boiler and house after going through 140' of 1 1/4 Thermopex.

Dean186

I have a total of 6 thermometers installed in my system and it took a while to get them all within specification.  Out of the six, three were out of specification.

Below is a photo of my 70 plate heat exchanger with 4 thermometers installed.  At the time this photo was taken, two were waiting for a warranty exchange.  These thermometers are there for trouble shooting problems and for demonstrating how the system works.  They neither have good resolution or accuracy, but serve their purpose when within specification.  If you buy four at a time like I did, all you have to do is insert all 4 into a pan of heated water prior to installing and check their consistency.  In my case one was almost 15 degrees off and the other 4 degrees.



I verified all six thermometers (4 analog at heat exchanger, 1 digital with probe in manifold where water enters house, and one digital in Fire Star control).  I did this verification at start of heating season without a fire in the fire box.  I turned the OWF pump on and let in circulate water for an hour or so.  The conditions were as follows.

    1) Fall ground temperature 30 inches down where the water line is located was about 55 degrees.

    2) Outside temperature was in the 50's and it was a cloudy day (there was no direct sunlight on the Fire Star controller side of the furnace).

    3) Temperature of water in water jacket was 50 degrees, based on 5 of my thermometers reading the same.

     4) Indoor furnace switched off

Under these conditions one would expect all six thermometers to read the same.  Right?  The digital reading at the Fire Star controller was reading 57 degrees where the other 5 were reading 50 degrees.  An error of 7 degrees for the Fire Star digital thermometer.

With all of this said and your comments above; I believe you have a faulty digital thermometer in your Fire Star controller.  You could simple remove the temperature probe from its housing, stick in some warm water where you have an accurate kitchen thermometer inserted and compare the two.

upsnake

Well i sent the letter via fax to CB. I will give it a few days to see what happens. :)

Thanks for your help so far guys, I really appreciate it.

upsnake

I got a call from CB today, and they suggested opening the controller and taking the thermocouple out and then with a mug of hot water put the two thermometers in there and see what temps i get.

So i calibrated my first thermometer, then got a 185 degree mug of water and measured both. The firestar showed 205 and the reg thermometer showed 185.

I emailed the results back to CB, so I will wait for their answer. :)

doctorb

Wow!  What a surprise!  It's off by 20 degrees!  Whodathunkit?

I am glad they took your problem seriously, despite their reaction to your phone call.
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

doctorb

Sorry about my sarcasm in yesterday's post.  The problem just had to be in the controller.  You'll get it straightened out and your stove will run better.
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

Dean186

Quote from: Dean186 on January 13, 2011, 12:53:09 PM
With all of this said and your comments above; I believe you have a faulty digital thermometer in your Fire Star controller.  You could simple remove the temperature probe from its housing, stick it in some warm water where you have an accurate kitchen thermometer inserted and compare the two.

Quote from: upsnake on January 13, 2011, 07:06:31 PM
I got a call from CB today, and they suggested opening the controller and taking the thermocouple out and then with a mug of hot water put the two thermometers in there and see what temps i get.

So i calibrated my first thermometer, then got a 185 degree mug of water and measured both. The firestar showed 205 and the reg thermometer showed 185.

I guess my lengthy post took away from my main point.  So, no surprise here about your findings.  It was a "Been There Done That" situation.  Central Boiler does not manufacture the thermometers, but they do choose the brand that they will be reselling/installing.  They need to reject batches of thermometers until the manufacture of the thermometers gets a better handle on quality control.  To their credit, they replaced all three of my bad ones under warranty.

With a 20 degree temperature difference, you should notice a big improvement in performance once the new thermometer is installed.  Until then, you could at least bump OWF water temperature to its maximum of 195 degrees.

upsnake

CB says they think it is the board the is bad, not the thermocouple.
They said to call the dealer and let them know, then they can send a new one to him.

So i called the dealer and he is calling CB. :) hahah It will get fixed eventually. Haha

Flyer

I used to run my e2300 at the factory setting of 185.  I just lowered it to 180 this winter as I'm trying to find out if the water had been getting a little too hot.

I keep a 30 percent mixture of propylene glycol in my indoor heating system in case of power outage when i'm gone but after checking it this spring the effectiveness of the glycol had reached that of regular water.   Glycol breaks down with heat over several years but one year was way too fast.  Just put in new glycol in December and so far it has been holding its effectiveness with the lower temp on the outdoor boiler.  Hopefully that solved my problem.

upsnake

Good News: The dealer is coming out tomorrow with a new control panel.  8)

Bad news: I have to shut the boiler down. :( The dealer said some of the thermostatic mixing valves had the wrong temperature set point in them. Instead of being 150 they were 180. so he is going to check that, but to do that we have to stop the flow of water to the valve.

My system is designed where i cal easily stop the flow after the valve, but i only have a shut off on the supply line before the valve. So i think i am going to have to top it there, and then at the stove for the return line, then have it drain our at my HX to get the return line empty. Grrrrrrrrrrr

I am one more valve away from making that a painless spot to stop the flow of water too. Oh well.

I will let you know how it goes. Hahah

horseman 2

  Hi guys,
  Boiler temperature are set according to what you are using to deliver heat in the house.
  Copper baseboard reacts the fastest in heating and also cools the quickest so they run hotter water in them. up to 195
  Cast iron holds the heat longer and takes a lot longer to cool so they run radiators and base board a little cooler up to 185
  In floor heat reacts the slowest so they run a mixing valve {90 to 105)they still need to run high enough temp. to heat hot water. and the rate of exchange is always directly related to boiler temp.
  I run my classic 165 ti 185.
  Have you seen the new wood loader? it fits in the door and lets you put full length and large diameter wood in your outdoor boiler.   :)

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