Steam boiler keeps heating up, even on standby
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:09 pm
Hi,
On the latest turn in my attempt to fix my steam boiler (first documented here: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2261) I have managed to replace the heating element with a trickily obtained replacement part (110v), put the lid back on, put all the wires back in place and... now the steam boiler's heating up. In fact, I now have the opposite of the problem I had before -- the steam boiler won't stop heating up.
Observations so far:
- The steam boiler heats up even when the machine is on standby.
- The steam boiler pressure gauge goes up well into the red, and eventually sets off the relief valve. This repeats until I let out water or steam to drop the pressure, or unplug the machine.
- Neither the 15A / 20A setting, nor the econ mode, makes any difference.
- All the while, group functionality works fine.
- I don't hear the fan that I thought would spin without exception when the steam boiler used to heat up.
- There is no alarm, blocking or otherwise. In particular the one called 'damaged boiler heating element triac / SSR', mentioned in section 5.6 in the manual https://www.chriscoffee.com/v/vspfiles/ ... Manual.pdf is not triggered. This is even when I work around overpressure and consequent relief valve operation, by 'bleeding out' some steam through the steam wand, which together with the malfunction would mean that the heating element would be constantly on.
From previous posts on this invaluable forum, I think my problem is down to either a faulty controller board, or a faulty triac.
- Since I don't hear the fan which I read is controlled by the controller board, it makes me suspect the controller board.
- On the other hand it seems odd that group functionality is working fine. Is the controller board designed such that steam boiler-related functionality is entirely isolated?
My questions to the experts:
- Is it possible that the cause is due to something other than the controller board or the triac?
- Specifically, could I have caused this malfunction by making a mistake putting the wires back on? Is there any polarity with the heating element that I could have gotten wrong? Something I could have done that made the temperature probe malfunction?
- If not, how can I narrow down the faulty part between the controller board and the triac? This is important to me because sourcing parts for the 110v machine here in Europe is by no means trivial.
Again I await your pearls of wisdom.
On the latest turn in my attempt to fix my steam boiler (first documented here: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2261) I have managed to replace the heating element with a trickily obtained replacement part (110v), put the lid back on, put all the wires back in place and... now the steam boiler's heating up. In fact, I now have the opposite of the problem I had before -- the steam boiler won't stop heating up.
Observations so far:
- The steam boiler heats up even when the machine is on standby.
- The steam boiler pressure gauge goes up well into the red, and eventually sets off the relief valve. This repeats until I let out water or steam to drop the pressure, or unplug the machine.
- Neither the 15A / 20A setting, nor the econ mode, makes any difference.
- All the while, group functionality works fine.
- I don't hear the fan that I thought would spin without exception when the steam boiler used to heat up.
- There is no alarm, blocking or otherwise. In particular the one called 'damaged boiler heating element triac / SSR', mentioned in section 5.6 in the manual https://www.chriscoffee.com/v/vspfiles/ ... Manual.pdf is not triggered. This is even when I work around overpressure and consequent relief valve operation, by 'bleeding out' some steam through the steam wand, which together with the malfunction would mean that the heating element would be constantly on.
From previous posts on this invaluable forum, I think my problem is down to either a faulty controller board, or a faulty triac.
- Since I don't hear the fan which I read is controlled by the controller board, it makes me suspect the controller board.
- On the other hand it seems odd that group functionality is working fine. Is the controller board designed such that steam boiler-related functionality is entirely isolated?
My questions to the experts:
- Is it possible that the cause is due to something other than the controller board or the triac?
- Specifically, could I have caused this malfunction by making a mistake putting the wires back on? Is there any polarity with the heating element that I could have gotten wrong? Something I could have done that made the temperature probe malfunction?
- If not, how can I narrow down the faulty part between the controller board and the triac? This is important to me because sourcing parts for the 110v machine here in Europe is by no means trivial.
Again I await your pearls of wisdom.