Elektra T1 burnt safety thermostat and dripping lower HX pipe

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phillip canuck
Posts: 456
Joined: 15 years ago

#1: Post by phillip canuck »

My pipe from the lower heat exchanger is leaking water into my drip tray. It's dripping about a 1/2 gallon of water over 8 hours. I was a bit puzzled by this until I opened her up and noticed that the tstat has been damaged - doing its job, I assume. What happened? The safety valve at the end of the lower HX pipe to the drip tray: is the safety function to gently release building pressure from the HX?

-phillip


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cannonfodder
Team HB
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Joined: 19 years ago

#2: Post by cannonfodder »

That valve is like an over pressure valve on a vibe pump machine. Your hydraulics are a closed system. After use, the water in the pipes is cold. As it heats it expands creating pressure. When the static pressure hits around 12 bar that little valve opens to let the excess pressure out then closes up. It should not drip all the time. It should be a simple spring and ball valve, you may have some crud in it holding it open. That or your mains pressure into the machine is running 12 bar.

The thermostat issue is most likely not related. If you pressurestat sticks closed and the boiler super heats, that safety will trip killing the power to the heater before you machine blows up. You also have a safety pressure valve on top of the boiler would open to vent the excess pressure. That wire looks like it may have gotten wet or the connection was loose and the electricity has been arching causing high heat and melting the shielding. That is bad, you need to fix that. If you have enough wire, you could snip off the damaged portion and crimp on a new spade.
Dave Stephens

phillip canuck (original poster)
Posts: 456
Joined: 15 years ago

#3: Post by phillip canuck (original poster) »

Dave - thank you very much! I'll send along an update when I'm finished.

-phillip