OPOP H430 Woody: Continually burning and not reaching MAX temperature

ollielaroo

Can anyone help here please?

We've had this OPOP pellet boiler for at least 6 years and it's always been running very well.
But the last few weeks it seems to be behaving differently and I don't know why.

Two storey house 192sq meters.
UFH and rads upstairs.
OPOP H430 30kw with Woody/Bio-comfort control panel.
Thermostat at top of buffer tank is set at 60 degrees.
Thermostat at bottom of buffer tank is set at 70 degrees.

The pellet boiler used to always ignite automatically when the water in the buffer tank would drop to a certain temperature. It would burn for a couple of hours (or for however long it took to heat the water in the buffer tank) at 100% Power. Then it would stop and not come on again for hours or a day or until the next time the water in the buffer tank needed heating up again.

Now it seems the boiler is heating to about 72 degrees and the Power % is dropping down gradually. It's as if the boiler won't continue to burn on full Power 100% and bring the temperature up to nearly 80 degrees like it used to. The auger is dribbling in small amounts of pellets at intervals just as it used to before, but I can't understand why it won't just bring the temperature up to 80 degrees and stop burning.

Other things I notice:
The pressure gauge on from of the boiler stays up at 3 bar.
The pump between the buffer tank and the pellet boiler also seems to be constantly running not sure if that was always the way.

The only circumstances that have changed:

• Recently I had to turn the speed of the pump for the rads in the house down from 3 to 1 to try reduce the hissing sound from the rads.
• The pellets in our indoor timber silo went low so I brushed them down to the bottom. Naturally I can see there is a build up of dust which I try to remove every year but I do think now some dust is being fed up the auger.
• We had power cuts from recent storms, but never caused issues before.

I've been trying to understand the settings available on the control panel.
Here is the user manual http://www.kbf.ie/pdfs/nbe_scottemanual_v02.pdf.
I can access the User Setup and the Advanced Settings, if I try to change any setting it seems to revert back to what it was before!

If anyone knows what's going on here can they offer some advice?

Thank you.

ollielaroo

After cleaning out all the dust from the bottom of the silo and the auger and a delivery of new pellets there is no change.
The boiler is still reaching up to 72 or 73 degrees, the auger is still feeing pellets and the Power % is gradually going down.

Has anyone seen this scenario before?

Wearb

Don't know much about them, but be careful. Strange as it may seem, people have died working in those silos. So ventilate well for some time beforehand.

ltdslipdiff

I have the same set up,we are a rare breed on these forums! How is the photo sensor in the burn plate? I have a great tradesman on speed dial and he's a fountain of knowledge if you want to PM me? He is based in the S East though. May I ask where you're sourcing pellets? Are you using the 200kg silo? My system is currently down awaiting an igniter element....

ollielaroo

ltdslipdiff

I get our pellets delivered from BALCAS/BRITES in 3 tonne bulk delivery.
When you ask me how is the photo sensor in the burner are you suggesting it may have something to with the issue I am having? I took it out yesterday and had a look at it, at the clear glass tip it looks a bit dark but not completely . I have a new spare one I guess I could try putting that in but didn't think how that could be the cause of the problem.

Thanks.

ollielaroo

It seems we have got to the root cause of the problem.

Apparently when the pellet boiler and buffer tank were installed the electrician put in a 'Relay' between the buffer tank and the pellet boiler. Of course I know nothing about Relays, what they do and how they work but I believe it has something to do with how the electricity can managed if you have additional pumps for example. Three electrical wires (from the two thermostats on the tank and the pump that circulates water between the tank and the boiler) are connected in to one side of the box on the wall that houses the Relay. From the other side of the box that houses the Relay the wires then go the Bio-comfort control panel (Woody 5.99E) on the front of the pellet boiler. It seems the Relay isn't working anymore, therefore the pellet boiler wasn't aware of what temperature the thermostats were sensing on the tank and as a result the boiler thought it needed to behave to some extent as if it didn't have a buffer tank.

As soon as I pulled the Relay out from its box on the wall (as suggested by my brother) the pellet boiler could then be governed by the temperature readings from the thermostats on the tank, like it used to do before the Relay malfunctioned. Apparently I just need to buy a new relay for less than €20 and replace the existing one. Even though I've been told the power cuts during the stormy weather some weeks ago shouldn't have affected the Relay it looks like they did in my case.

Many thanks to the contributors on this forum and www.kbf.ie.

CMitch81

Just wondering if any of ye could me, I'm trying to find someone who will service our opop boink 418 boiler. We are in Galway. If anyone could recommend someone I would be so greatful. Apologies also I know it's unrelated to the main question.

pdstck

Hello
I have one about 10 years now fairly trouble free, in the last few weeks the auger on the burner unit is constantly switched on even when the boiler is not running. About 2 months ago I had bearings replaced in auger motor and think I may have required it incorrectly. There is 3 cables off the motor that run to a circuit board, grey=n, white=1, green=2 does any know if this is correct