Condensing Boilers.........Caveat Emptor......

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12 Apr 2015
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Washington
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United Kingdom
A Burnham Freedom condensing modulating boiler that I own personally has an EBM Papst blower module (BG36RG128) within. The failure mode is that the controlled blower motor intermittently fails to start. The fault has been attributed (by Burnham Tech Support and EBM Papst) to the motor control board which is part of the blower module.

Does anyone have the electrical interface specs for the signals on the 4 wire bus interface between this module and the Honeywell MCBA master control board ?? I could attempt to reverse engineer this with a Tek oscilloscope which I own but it would take me time and I still have to be able to locate the bad component.

The failure does seem to correlate inversely to in-panel temp. If the cabinet is cooler (after very few or no calls for heat over a day or so) and especially in the colder weather it is much more likely to fail. This has been going on for past 4 years. It appears that a component is temperature sensitive.

To restore operation I have to cycle power, execute the reset sequence, and jog the fan when it is commanded. It immediately springs into action and continues for x hours or days until next failure to start. The bearings are normal with no play. Startup mechanical torque and other characteristics are totally normal.

I removed the PCB and examined it under magnification. Board looks like a brand new item. No discoloration. Traces and solder all look impeccable. The power hogging region around the MOSFETs and resistors all look totally normal. Connectors are normal and all test good,

Trust me this is not just about the money. It is expensive ($500) for replacement module. It is also about knowing that the replacement part will not similarly fail in little time and that someone is there to back me when it does.

Does anyone have any advice as to how I might proceed in troubleshooting this PCB ?? Any known component failures on the board ?? If I do decide to change boilers I want to go low-tech for reliability. Which boilers are worth reviewing??
 
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Dan, I do know that but I also know that there is great expertise in the UK when it comes to boilers.
 
In the UK most boiler makers have a repair service which give a 12 month ongoing warranty.

Don't you get that in the US?

But it does sound as if it is about the money and you want to do the repair yourself which we don't encourage here because those working on gas need to be qualified and registered.

Tony
 
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Replace the capacitors. Start with any electrolytics.

In principle you could remove them from the board and test them (e.g.by measuring ESR), but once removed it is simplest just to discard and replace.

(I know nothing about this boiler, but I am an electronic engineer. I make no comment on your ability to follow my advice without electrocuting yourself, burning your house down, gassing your family etc.)
 

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