My cb2800 won't start ... thoughts or ideas?

[ShopSpecialties]

Actually you need to go to #3.

[gte]

Ok that is what I tried before. I will try again tonight. Thank you.

[ShopSpecialties]

While you are at it lets double check the wiring if you have not already.

Orange wire will go wiring junction on side of heater to fan.

Red wire will go to yellow power cord, once inside the burner it goes to the little preheat block temp switch, once block is warmed to 120* +/- the other wire on the switch sends power to the primary control.

[gte]

The wires are as you stated and the black wire is now in the spot labeled #3 on my picture.

The unit still runs for 20 minutes or so, hits 200F on the thermostat, shuts the burner off, shuts the fan off after an additional 60 seconds, then the thermostat pegs and it gets really hot. After 10 minutes it cools down enough to turn on the fan, then after 60 seconds or so it turns on the burner but then it cools down so much it turns off the fan while still running the burner, which then heats the unit up and turns the fan back on after 2 or so minutes. Then it tuns for 15 minutes or so and then the whole cycle repeats itself.

I woul think the fan should run the whole time it gets hot? Is that cycle normal?

While you are at it lets double check the wiring if you have not already.

Orange wire will go wiring junction on side of heater to fan.

Red wire will go to yellow power cord, once inside the burner it goes to the little preheat block temp switch, once block is warmed to 120* +/- the other wire on the switch sends power to the primary control.

[ShopSpecialties]

Yes, the fan should fun continuously until cooled to where the lower tab is set.

Did you readjust the tabs like I mentioned earlier ?

How big of a flame do you have ? It should NOT hit the target, with the inspection door open flame should be 1/2-3/4 to target. Flame will grow when you close the door.

[gte]

My flame does not hit that bowl in the rear, I remember reading that in the manual and I adjusted it accordingly. I also set the tabs as you advised before starting it today. After my last post I positioned a box fan to run air across the top of the unit and this seems to have fixed the issue? The top of the casjng gets to 275F instead of 400F now.

[ShopSpecialties]

When the dial hits 140 does the fan kick in and run ? After the fan is running does the temp continue to build ? It should maybe rise a little but level off.

Does the fan blow good and hard when it does kick in ?

Also has ash been cleaned recently, not at all, etc ? I just want to make sure and rule out plugged heat exchanger tubes.

[gte]

I vacuumed out the ashes, is that what you mean?

With the box fan blowing across the top it does what you described now and the Cleanburn fan blows a decent amout of air. I noticed that the back metal cover is not sealing that well and I think that might be contributing to this because it isn't allowing all of the air to move across the heat exchanger and away from the unit itself.

I'm glad to know it is functioning as it should now (if I'm understanding what you wrote correctly), even if it is a little rigged for now until I can get the air flow issue and leaks resolved.

Thank you once more for all of your help, I could not have done this without you.

[ShopSpecialties]

Good, we are moving in the right direction.

Does yours have the bladed fan or squirrel cage ? If it is a squirrel cage make sure it is good and clean. It does not take much dust/dirt to effect airflow.

I am glad I was helpful. I am here to help in anyway I can.

PS: You owe me.

[gte]

Squirrel cage. I do owe you!

If you were local I would have you come service it, pay you and provide a 12 pack of your favorite beer.

[gte]

I had to shut it down, it looks like it is still getting too hot. I don't have a picture from before, but I don't believe that sticker was like that before and that scares me.

I think my problem is airflow, I'm going to clean that fan/cage well, I'm going to seal off the back panel better and finally try to redo the HVAC ducting that has an abrupt 90 degree bend in it.

Do you agree that it is an air flow issue? Any other suggestions?

[ShopSpecialties]

That is kinda of a odd spot to get hot. The flame goes forward and the heat travels through the tubes.

Is it drafting good ? Have you checked over the firebox and heat exchanger tubes real good to make sure there are no holes ?

If there is any holes, when the fan kicks in it blows back through the inside of the firebox causing issues.

I would pick air flow issue first. That fan might never have been cleaned its whole life. 

[gte]

So I took the fan off to try and clean it out, took off the rear panel to try and straighten it more and I decided I would vacuum the box a little more. What I found out is that when my cousin said he had vacuumed it out, apparently he only meant the part you can see. I discovered there was a lot of ashes where you couldn't see, as a matter of fact between the tube inlet and tube outlet there was over 5 gallons of ashes  . 6 out of the 9 tubes were completely blocked with ash, which is probably why it was getting so hot. Which brings me to another question, why are there 9 inlet tubes and 10 outlet tubes?

This this entire morning I have been cleaning that out properly, fixing the air flow issues and getting her back together. When I turned it back on I actually had to adjust the oil pressure and the fan tabs because it was running so cold it was turning the fan on and off, cycling.

I'm letting it run now to see if it turns off from getting too hot, but I believe the ash was the cause.

[ShopSpecialties]

You should clean it about every 750-1000 hours of use. I like to use a brush to clean the tubes. Those tubes are not really inlet/outlet, it is a 3 pass design and I have never gave it any thought as to the number of tubes in #2 and #3 pass.

How big of an adjustment did you make to the fan tabs ? They should have been close with the 100-140 settings. The fan might cycle depending how cold it is in the shop once warmed up it should level off.

Flame adjustment should still be the same and I can see having to make an adjustment due to it not being able to breath.
Air 14-16 psi
Oil according to length
Combustion air adjusted to bright flame with orange tips.

[gte]

Ok, air is at 18, I will turn it down a few psi. Oil is burning as you described, it now is doing something new though. It will shut itself off after running for 20 minutes or so and not start back up even when the thermostat is telling it to turn on and the temperature starts to drop? I have to reset it to get it to restart and run again. Any idea what would cause that?