Xref: utzoo misc.consumers.house:8464 sci.electronics:8412
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!apple!oliveb!mipos3!pcocd2!jmasters
From: jmasters@pcocd2.intel.com (Justin Masters ~)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,sci.electronics
Subject: Central Heating problem
Message-ID: <1156@mipos3.intel.com>
Date: 30 Oct 89 17:21:44 GMT
Sender: news@mipos3.intel.com
Reply-To: jmasters@fmdgr1.intel.com (Justin Masters ~)
Organization: Intel FMD, Folsom, CA
Lines: 55


I have a Central Heating problem.  I have no instructions that came with it
(moved in 7 months ago). 

The problem is, I can't get the heat to come on in the morning.  We set the
thermostat, with one switch on AUTO, the other switch to HEAT.

The things that I have observed:

1. The heat does come one much later in the day (sometimes 12 hours later).
2. When I run preliminary tests, I get the following results:

	a. Shorting two contacts in thermostat housing (as if the heater is to
	   turn on) does produce a loud click in the Heater.  That is supposed
	   to be correct.

	b. I checked the fuses in the box next to the Heater (on the roof)
	   both in the morning and afternoon (just to check for
	   cracked/expanding/contracting fuse).  They appear to be good.

	c. At the leads coming into the pilot ignitor assembly, I am getting
	   25v AC.  According to the assembly box, this is correct.

	d. The igniting output (this is where it gets weird) is different from
	   one check to another.  The afternoon check (I woke up late last
	   saturday) showed a loud sounding spark, which didn't seem to make
	   it to the pilot light.  I removed the connector, reshaped it, and
	   put it back (I presume some gap at the connector caused the
	   sparking that I heard).  The pilot seemed to light after that.

	   This morning (geez, ice on the slanted roof), I got up there, and
	   couldn't get any sparking until I started to pull the output
	   connector off the ignitor assembly.  I also adjusted the air-gap
	   between the ignition wire and ground near the pilot light. There
	   didn't seem to be much of an arcing spark after I adjusted the gap
	   anyway.


I think that the assembly is bad (possibly frozen mechanical contacts
inside?), but would like to be sure, since money is tight.

   My reason for this is two-fold.  1. The heater comes on in the afternoon,
   and 2. After beating on the ignitor assembly this morning, it came on, and
   on subsequent relights of the pilot, it continued to work properly
   (assuming that the air in the vicinity was warm enough to keep the contacts
   from refreezing).


   If this is the problem, does anybody know if there exists  a fully
   electronic ignition assembly rather than a mechanical switching output?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is my car the only one in America where | Justin "Ice Cream Monster" Masters
someone breaks in and turns up my radio | 
every time I park? - Steven Wright      |  jmasters@fmdgr1.intel.com