jlpservicesinc Posted March 2, 2021 Author Share Posted March 2, 2021 When it was running, it was amazing.. I was 5ft from it and even completely outside the air was warm and toasty.. I think the possibilities are pretty huge.. It's a 110,000btu heater and since it's portable, setting up a chimney outside a building like a regular furnace could work, or using it outside to pump in warm air, or even as a space heater like sitting outside.. Nice thing is, it's just air with no fumes. Putting on an adapter for insulated pipe would even make it more versatile I think because then it could touch tarps and such without worry of melting them. I'll get it running again and painted and shrouds put on for weather resistance and it will be a keeper for sure.. If you have the ability to build it, then love to see what you come up with.. If I had not all ready bought this unit like 5 or 6 years ago, I'd make one.. A triple pass oval tube with clean out on the end.. This way I could use it with waste oil too.. This particular unit does not have a way to clean out the heating chamber.. Something waste oil burners have to have. But as a #2 fuel oil burner it should be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 hmmm, not having the schematics is a bit more difficult. But the first thing you could do to check if the wires are all ok is using the resistance (ohm) setting of your multimeter (some have a diode setting that will do a beep when you touch the prongs to each other) and wiggle the wires when you do that, and breaks should be found that way. When you do this, note on a piece of paper where every color wire goes and what it is attached to, I have rebuild more schematics that way then I like to remember. If you post it here I could make you a new one in Eplan and upload it as a pdf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre M Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 Did you try to "ring" (continuity test) your wires from one connection to another ? It will immediately tell you if you have a bad connection , burnt wire ... having had my head in rather large pieces of industrial equipment for many years my experience is when it suddenly quits after a tweak (adding a switch) the problem is generally the overlooked "dumbest" thing... in most cases at least for me it will send me in a wild goose chase of troubleshooting boards, servos, contactors, and suddenly kick myself in the rear for ignoring the obviously blown glass fuse or main power disconnect off with my tag on it ... I now approach troubleshooting as follows ; 99% of cases it is completely obvious and in front of my nose .... has saved me a lot of headaches and if not the case at least you know the basics are covered ... also, not sure of the system, but are there any controls in between input power and blower motor ? (Aqua stat / flame sensor etc?) in this case, you may have main power in J box but no input to motor due to low or high voltage safety device not happy and not energizing a relay or contactor somewhere... pierre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 Burnt wire are most of the time pretty visible since they tend to burn on the connection side, oxidation of the copper is more of a problem since it can happen deep into the isolated part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 2, 2021 Author Share Posted March 2, 2021 I'll post up some photos of the new installed switch and such. I have pinpointed where most of the wires go and what they are connected to. There are 4 wires going up to the burner motor. Black, white, yellow and green. All the other wires run from the J box to the blower motor thermal switch and to the blower motor directly. The 10awg red, blue and white go to the blower motor directly. i'll setup a line drawing later to better show what is going on.. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre M Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 Also, dumb question, looks like there is a Honeywell control box on top of that burner. Would it be in lock out mode ? Pressing the red button too many times will do that and kill power to the pump... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 Also, what brand is the burner motor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 2, 2021 Author Share Posted March 2, 2021 Well, good news all the way around.. Turns out the wiring diagrams where on a cover that is only slightly degraded. Also turns out the multimeter I was using is whack so once I pulled out my other meter everything was much better.. What was showing as .90V was actually 116V.. Once I figured this out it was easy to fault trace.. turns out the brainbox is toast. Once I direct wired it, she purred like a kitten.. Ran it for 3hrs.. Made the fab shop nice and toasty.. 17F outside and with the garage door wide open and the heater 4ft from the open garage door it brought the inside to 47F as measure on the surface of the welder at the 11ft distance and 39 at the far wall at the tool box 22ft away.. Pretty good since it was 6F here last night. Crazy windy too during the trial run. So, success.. While I was at it, thru on a first coat of White gloss oil based rustoleum.. Will take a week to dry with the cold temps but thats ok better than the new fab/welds/clean metal getting all rusty.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 Jen, not dishing your heater, but that thing looks as complicated as the Mars rover that just landed! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Photograph all the diagrams, instructions, components of the heater, then write a comprehensive owners manual and working manual for the heater while it is still fresh in your mind. A few minutes now will save you hours trying to figure it out and trouble shoot later. Put a $15 box window fan in the building to stir the air, mixing the ceiling and floor air layers to get an even temp. Put a furnace filter over the intake side of the box fan to clean the air at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Glad to hear you got your problem figured out and was able to bring it back online Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre M Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Jen, just one note regarding the "brain box" those honeywell controls with the reset red button will go into lock out after a few reset attempts in order to prevent the homeowner from filling the chamber with fuel without ignition.. it may be worth trying to do a tech reset before tossing it. I believe the procedure entails pushing the reset button for over 30 seconds, which should clear the fault... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 3, 2021 Author Share Posted March 3, 2021 Pierre, I looked it up, this brainbox was old enough not to have the reset aspect.. As a side note I did research the exact issue you mentioned and they also said powering off for extended time would reset it. The reset button wasn't pushed but once after the wiring was done. I did try a few of the suggestions just in case.. But no luck.. Something that to me is really interesting is the ground is supposed to be hooked up to the Neutral wire.. A replacement was costly so went with a more modern replacement which has diagnostic capabilities.. Not sure if it will be better or not, but will try it.. Arkie, it's got a bunch of wires for sure.. But overall once things are figured out, its not to bad.. Glenn for sure. setting up a manual is a great way to go.. I will jot it down for future owners.. I'm always amazed with the new information I end up learning when I take on unique projects like this.. I've learned a bunch about oil burners, Lift heights, using the bypass to make the pump self priming, how the fan connects for operation.. Another huge learning time.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Well, I know about a grounding system where you connect ground and neutral (green/yellow and blue) over here in Europe. But I have no idea how that goes in UL systems. Overall I think you did a very nice job of designing and building your heater. Only things I can think of most people forget is that Petroleum Jelly is your best friend when you try to make junction boxes waterproof, and to connect the ground to everything that is metal, and also check to see if you have no resistance between grounded parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre M Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Up to not so long ago, a house panel would have all neutral and ground wires on the same bar.... Technically it works fine, until voltage returns through your neutral in which case your ground becomes energized ... separating ground and neutral on panels allows for greater safety... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 We call that a TN system, mostly used when dealing with high currents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 3, 2021 Author Share Posted March 3, 2021 7 hours ago, Deimos said: Only things I can think of most people forget is that Petroleum Jelly is your best friend when you try to make junction boxes waterproof, and to connect the ground to everything that is metal, and also check to see if you have no resistance between grounded parts. Thanks.. Being that it is an outside item and electric I always make sure to have things well grounded. Especially with the rear rubber tires though it might ground some from the front steel legs on the ground.. Still better to be safe then sorry especially because it will be outside in the wet.. So each part of any electrical as well as the boxes are going to ground and out thru a grounded electrical plug.. The only down side is the extension cord and receptacle that it is plugged into also has to have a valid working ground path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Is the electrical installation of your workshop not grounded then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 3, 2021 Author Share Posted March 3, 2021 I can see where that would come into question after my comment. Both shops fully grounded. It's more of what happens when I kick the bucket and/or the peeps break the ground lug off the plug which around a construction site happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Does the petroleum jelly still work when it spends half a year as a liquid dripping from where it was applied? I've had a week of temps over 44 degC and that was cool compared to friends to the west that were at 52 degC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 Nothing is ever foolproof because fools are so ingenious all you can do is make sure you are not relaying on just one plug/lug. Breaking of one is an accident, breaking of two is sabotage. If you use petroleum jelly to lube up the rubber inlays in junction boxes it should not drip out, and it will keep the seal for drying out. But the hottest we ever had it over here was 40.7 degC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 3, 2021 Author Share Posted March 3, 2021 So of course I painted it and now I decided to add a support for the duct work.. Came back to bite me big time. All the hole plugs for the boxes were siliconed in.. I don't think even with shrouding it will be storm proof and barely even storm resistant, but at least it will offer a little reasonable protection.. I ordered the hinges yesterday for the shrouds.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said: It's more of what happens when I kick the bucket What happens when you kick the bucket is significantly affected by whether or not the bucket is grounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 3, 2021 Author Share Posted March 3, 2021 Broken foot vs Liza chasing it around.. LOL.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 drill, tap and bolt not an option? A thing we did to make junction boxes "waterproof" was to place a drain nozzle in the bottom, and a 24V 10 ohm resistor (those get to about 70 degC) It worked wonders on vehicles that where outside all the time, operated by people that would love to see them break down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.