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[hrc200x]

Woke up this morning to it 55 degrees in the house, its not cold enough during the day to be running the OWB so am using the fuel oil boiler. Home has 3 thermostats with 3 zone valves and only one circulating pump which turns on when any one of the 3 zones call for heat. 2 of the 3 stats are turned off and the one thats on controls the bedroom and office. At first thought that a thermostat went bad, but if the bedroom thermostat is off, turn it on and quickly run into the boil room, I can see the zone valve opening. From what I gather is that the opened zone valve isn't sending power to the aquastat relay on the front of the oil boiler which controls the turning on of the burner and circ. pump. If the living room thermostat is turned its zone valve opens, turns on the pump and oil burner with no issues. Seems like it would be something in the zone valve correct? The valve is probably from the early 1990s, mine and this one have the same number on them: http://www.supplyhouse.com/Honeywell-V8043F1036-3-4-Sweat-Zone-Valve-Connection-Terminal-Block-6362000-p Also attached are pictures of the one that isn't working.

[RSI]

It sounds like the end switch may have failed or a bad wire connection. Can you get at the switch? If the actual valve is still working then you should be able to just replace the head.

[hrc200x]

Is the end switch visible in the two pictures I took? Yes the valve is opening. When the pump was pumping for a different zone, the pipe after the problematic valve was getting warm.

[RSI]

No, it is probably internal or under the motor.
I would try taking the power head off it and see if you can see anything wrong on the bottom. If it isn't too hard, you could swap it with another valve and see if the problem moves to that zone. That would tell you for sure if the problem was in the power head or if it was a wiring problem.

[fireboss]

Check to see if the valve is opening all the way, if its not the switch won't turn on ! Take the moter off and turn the t stat up and watch it see if the circulated come on ! The valve mite be stuck from sitting all summer! See.         

[hrc200x]

Sounds good and thanks for the info. I've had the heat on maybe a total of 3 times this fall on that zone that's having the issue and it has worked good so far, but that doesn't mean something didn't break. When I was watching the valve open I tried pushing on it with my finger after the motor quit moving it and it didn't want to go any further. Might get some time to mess with it tomorrow.

[hrc200x]

After a little more messing around with it, when the problematic thermostat is turned up the zone valve opens and only sometimes does the aquastat relay on the front of the boiler make a click, other times it will not. Would getting a video of this happening help troubleshoot at all?

The other zone kept the house warm all night.

Update: tried turning up the thermostat, boiler started for maybe two seconds then quit on its own

[hrc200x]

Cutting on the wood pile all day so didn't get a chance to look at this other than try turning up the bad t-stat this morning and it fired up the boiler a couple seconds, then it quit by its self.

Being an intermittent issue should I still swap out zone valve parts with the known good one from the living room valve or does the problem lie elsewhere?

[RSI]

Swapping parts is a good way to find an intermittent problem. If it moves then you know it was the part. If it stays then it is something else like wiring, etc.

[hrc200x]

Took the two screws out that holds the body to the valve, looked things over and didn't see anything wrong. Put it back on and turned up the tstat. Boiler came on just fine and heated up from 60 degrees to 190 without shutting off. Tried the tstat off then on again and it worked, but inside the aquastat relay on the front of the boiler it clicks two times very quickly before it turns on and fires, none of the other zones make the aquastat relay do this.

I'm really procrastinating removing all the wires on each of the valves to troubleshoot for fear of not putting it back the way it was, but guess thats the next step.

[hrc200x]

Switched two zone valves and the first time turning up the non working zone's tstat the stopper arm didn't even get close to end switch, so there was no clicks or noise at all, tried the other zones tstat and it worked just fine, went back to the original non working tstat and it worked.

Is there anyway to verify that the valve inside the copper is opening all the way. When I had one valve off I was moving the manual lever on it and the gears would strip out because it wasn't being supported by the shaft. Not sure if these need to be timed like a gas engine or not?

[fireboss]

That valve should move by hand! If not switch it out!

[hrc200x]

When the whole electronic part is removed from the mechanical valve, the mechanical valve does move by hand. Its when the two pieces were separated I tried moving the lever on the electrical part of the zone valve to open it manually and the teeth on the gears would slip because the shaft wasn't in the hole to help support the mechanism. Since the teeth slipped I don't know if they need to be "timed" like timing on a gas engine, or if the motor in the zone valve will keep trying to open it until it hits the end switch.

[fireboss]

No they don't have to be timed but it does have to be aligned when you put it back together!

[fireboss]

I just had the same problem I just swap it out with a new one it would work only some of the time!