Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Central Boiler => Topic started by: Roger2561 on December 10, 2016, 12:50:33 PM
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Hi all - I have an E-Classic 1400 going on my 6th season heating my home with it. It's run flawlessly during that period. I'll be leaving for Manchester, NH to see the Boston Pops Orchestra perform so i went outside to add enough firewood to hopefully hold me over until I get home around 11:00pm. When I approached it, I noticed on the LCD display it was showing a "Hi" water temp, meaning that water went over 200 degrees. CB designed the OWB to shutdown to protect itself from boiling over. I noticed that smoke was coming from the chimney and I checked to be sure I closed the by-pass door. I did. I then checked the primary solenoid and it was hung up, remaining open thus allowing air to continue feeding the fire. But, I also noticed that it wasn't laying flat on the primary elbow, I straightened it out and it dropped to cover the primary elbow opening. I put enough wood in it to get me to the point when I can check on it when I return from the concert. When I get home from the concert I'll check on it to be sure the solenoid closed. I'll know as soon as I look at the LCD display. It makes me uneasy knowing it hung up once today, I hope this isn't a sign of what the winter will be like. Wish me luck. Roger
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Best of luck to you our friend, it's an easy solenoid to change out and if it needs to be, then I think I may have one on the bus!
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Maybe you should have turned off the unit before you went away! I wouldn't have taken the chance of it over heating while I was away!
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When I got home from the concert around 11:15pm, the OWB was operating perfectly. It must have been a fluke that it hung up. To be on the safe side, I be visiting my CB dealer to pick up a spare solenoid; I should have done this 6 years ago. When I got out of bed this morning it was a balmy 1 degree above zero outside but nice and toasty in the house. Roger
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Maybe you should have turned off the unit before you went away! I wouldn't have taken the chance of it over heating while I was away!
I thought of it when I was at the concert - sometimes I'm a little slow on the draw. :) Roger
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I had something similar happen 7-8 years ago on my old classic. Dealer said to give it a good shot of wd40 and work it in. Never had another problem. I now do it every year at start up.
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I had something similar happen 7-8 years ago on my old classic. Dealer said to give it a good shot of wd40 and work it in. Never had another problem. I now do it every year at start up.
Pointblank - Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a try after I purchase another can, I can't find he one I used to have. Roger
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I spray mine a few times threw out the season can an hurt!
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My 1450 recently started doing the same thing (first fired, February 2016). About a month ago, we had a major blowback in the firebox, threw a bunch of small coals into the electrical box via the main vent. I cleaned it out, but I think the grit is causing the solenoids grief (main vent chiefly, but I've found one side of the boost vent stuck open too). I cycled them a dozen times today after hitting them with WD40; if that doesn't solve it, I'll disassemble them and do a thorough cleaning next time we have decent temperatures.
Original post 2017/1/7
Update 2017/1/8 - first overnight in a week that we haven't had a valve hang. Yay! I'll hit it with WD40 again this morning just to be sure.
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My 1450 recently started doing the same thing (first fired, February 2016). About a month ago, we had a major blowback in the firebox, threw a bunch of small coals into the electrical box via the main vent. I cleaned it out, but I think the grit is causing the solenoids grief (main vent chiefly, but I've found one side of the boost vent stuck open too). I cycled them a dozen times today after hitting them with WD40; if that doesn't solve it, I'll disassemble them and do a thorough cleaning next time we have decent temperatures.
smithbr - I've had a few blowbacks over the past 5 plus years operating the 1400. The first time it happen, scared the bugger out of me. You should see the inside of the air box where the solenoids are located; it's costed black with liquid creosote, to the point where some has leached out through the seal. I now have lines of liquid creosote running down the outside of the air box. I've been wondering if that's the reason the flap on the primary air elbow ended up on an angle, instead of laying flat? When it angled on the elbow, water over temp'd due to air entering the firebox non-restricted, never closing off. Roger
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Good morning all Roger, once you clean all your moving parts try some dry silicon spray, as it will not pick the grit and cause the problem again. Also when my 2400 was over heating it was not the solenoid, but holes had developed on the flat closing plate from corrosion. If you find that condition, use a piece of duck tape to cover the holes till you get new plates. Just some thoughts good luck.
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Good morning all Roger, once you clean all your moving parts try some dry silicon spray, as it will not pick the grit and cause the problem again. Also when my 2400 was over heating it was not the solenoid, but holes had developed on the flat closing plate from corrosion. If you find that condition, use a piece of duck tape to cover the holes till you get new plates. Just some thoughts good luck.
Good morning, trailmaster - Thanks for the tip. I have to run to the store later this morning so I'll pick some up. As for the plate; Two years ago when I was putting her to bed for the summer months, I noticed that the metal that contacts the rim of the elbow had thinned to a point where it wouldn't last another winter. So, I got online and purchased some stainless steel flat plate. Using my plasma cutter, I cut out a few of my own. Now I have spares on hand for when they decide they no longer want to hold together. The other thing I did was replace the common nut & bolt with all stainless steel. Roger
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Hi Roger,
I have a 1400 also had the same problem and went to the dealer and they ordered me a new elbow with the solenoid and a spring to hold the gate down it works great and it was cheap.
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Hi Roger,
I have a 1400 also had the same problem and went to the dealer and they ordered me a new elbow with the solenoid and a spring to hold the gate down it works great and it was cheap.
ericr1965 - How long have you had your 1400? This is my 6th winter heating my home and domestic hot-water. Other than the occasional hiccup, she's been operating great for me. I'll give my dealer a call to see if he has the elbow with the spring, it can't hurt. Roger
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Hi Roger,
I have a 1400 also had the same problem and went to the dealer and they ordered me a new elbow with the solenoid and a spring to hold the gate down it works great and it was cheap.
ericr1965 - How long have you had your 1400? This is my 6th winter heating my home and domestic hot-water. Other than the occasional hiccup, she's been operating great for me. I'll give my dealer a call to see if he has the elbow with the spring, it can't hurt. Roger
I have used my cb1400 for three years. I bought it used and had to weld the hole fire box The controller went bad on me since I fixed all that it has worked great.
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My 1450 recently started doing the same thing (first fired, February 2016). About a month ago, we had a major blowback in the firebox, threw a bunch of small coals into the electrical box via the main vent. I cleaned it out, but I think the grit is causing the solenoids grief (main vent chiefly, but I've found one side of the boost vent stuck open too). I cycled them a dozen times today after hitting them with WD40; if that doesn't solve it, I'll disassemble them and do a thorough cleaning next time we have decent temperatures.
smithbr - I've had a few blowbacks over the past 5 plus years operating the 1400. The first time it happen, scared the bugger out of me. You should see the inside of the air box where the solenoids are located; it's costed black with liquid creosote, to the point where some has leached out through the seal. I now have lines of liquid creosote running down the outside of the air box. I've been wondering if that's the reason the flap on the primary air elbow ended up on an angle, instead of laying flat? When it angled on the elbow, water over temp'd due to air entering the firebox non-restricted, never closing off. Roger
Roger
Yep. Our air box is a disaster zone, especially now with some backdrafting creosote due to our hx clog (separate post). None of the wiring in the air box is compromized, but the connectors, all surfaces, and the solenoids are absolutely filthy. There's certainly some design features at work here. I realize they're mostly designed to be simple to debug and maintain, but when you read of items corroding so badly that they need replacing after one or two years of operation, it's more than a little disappointing.
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Oh, and by the way, back in early Jan I reported that WD40-ing the solenoids worked well. Still working, just redid them today as insurance while clearing the heat exchange tubes.
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Big time find,wasn't hitting over 1000 deg looked at the solenoids and found one of the 2 high solenoids not opening had a spare lucky with this weather coming!!
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How did you spot that? With the positive air pressure in the electrical cabinet on my E1450, I'm not sure I want to go messing around in there when the reaction chamber is hot enough to hit stage 3 combustion. Is there a way to manually override the controller to exercise all the solenoids without actually having a fire going?