It is a switch that came with the burner and logs. It sits inside the fire box.
It is a switch that came with the burner and logs. It sits inside the fire box.
I can get the multimeter work with alligator clips on the two wires that go from the switch to the burner gas valve. Those wires can be removed from the valve to isolate the switch. I am like you all in thinking it could be the switch, but I have never seen a switch go bad when used so few time, usually the mean time to fail is a lot more uses than this switch has gotten. But it would be an easy fix.
I may not get back to this thing until Saturday afternoon, I have some things to do that make me money. Mrs CMD is rather enthusiastic about increasing the extent of our marital property preparing for when she tires of me.
Thanks all, I like to know that I am on the right track.
I may not get back to this thing until Saturday afternoon, I have some things to do that make me money. Mrs CMD is rather enthusiastic about increasing the extent of our marital property preparing for when she tires of me.
Thanks all, I like to know that I am on the right track.
If it was me, I would just check the switch live to see if there is voltage on both sides of the switch. I didn't want to suggest that in case you weren't comfortable working with live power. I do it for a living so to me it's second nature. Sometimes an ohm meter can check that continuity is good but no power goes through the switch once a load is applied.
Thank you. That makes a great deal of sense to me. I am comfortable doing that in this particular situation. The reason that I say this is that the entire system is isolated from the AC current of the house and is "micro" in nature. Does this make sense to you?
Please feel free to say whatever you think. I have a callus on my feelings, so it won't hurt much.
I haven't worked on anything exactly like that but do electrical and electronic troubleshooting and repair for work. I do as much of my own work as I can at home on stuff and fixed our ac and furnace a few times before we had to get new units last year. I'm guessing since you said that your device is micro in nature and isolated that it probably has a step down transformer somewhere that takes the 120v from the house and steps it down to maybe 24v just like a furnace does. I'll be very curious to hear what you find as the problem.
This fireplace has no connection to the AC of the house. Every thing is controlled by a thermocouple and thermopile generating electricity by the heat of the pilot light.
I'm always reluctant to chime in on electrical issues without knowing everything I am looking at. Even skiddish then.
I'm the Same Way whenever Gas is involved.
I'm Not Afraid of Natural Gas or Propane. But I have a Very Healthy Respect for it.
Exactly. My level of research is in direct correlation to my fear (respect) of whatever I am working with.
My Theory is even if I'm not going to be doing the Actual Work, I like to find out what the Parts are going to Cost before I call someone. That way I can tell if it is worth it to have someone else do the work. Or if they are just Shaking Me on Part Prices.
A Couple of Years back my A/C Kacked in the Middle of a Heat Wave. I'm talking Mercury at High Noon type Heat Wave.
I was able to pull a Blinking LED Error Code from the unit. And after a little searching on the Net, it said that it was almost always caused by a Blown Capacitor. Sure enough, the Capacitor (which is about the Size of a 1lbs Coffee Can) was Bulged. And a Replacement was around 30 Bucks for a Good One with a 3-5 Day Turnaround.
When I called people about A/C Service, Many Told me that if it was the Capacitor, that it would be around $120 for Parts + a Onsite Service Charge ($125 or so).
I finally found a Smaller Company that said if it was the Capacitor, they could replace it for $40 + $80 Labor. I Told them to get there .... Down here and Let's Get some Cold Air Going!
80 Bucks to have a Company do it with a 90 Day Parts Warrantee was worth it to me. Because 10 Minutes after He left I was basking in 70F Bliss.
So knowing what Parts might be Bad and How Much they would Cost Retail is where I like to Start when something Isn't Working.
We had a capacitor go out in our old AC twice in 20 years. The first time there was a guy that lived down the street that did HVAC work. He charged me $70 total for the part and labor. The second time it happened was while I was at work during a heat wave and my wife was screaming bloody murder so I called someone. They didn't end up showing up until after I got home from work thankfully. I talked to the tech and he said we needed a capacitor and a motor. He was able to take a screw driver and get the fan started so we could have AC until the parts were available. He asked what I did for work and he said that he'd just charge me the $95 service call fee and I could do the work myself. My company sells stuff to some HVAC supply houses so I made a call and got the motor for around $70 and the capacitor was $8. It took me maybe an hour to do both. The tech that came to the house said he was going to have to charge me about $500 according to their price schedule. Thank goodness I got home before they came or my wife would have probably given the go ahead on the repair.
Soooooo, the other day I go to fire up the oven. I hit the bake button and it defaulted to 180 degrees. It's supposed to default to 350 degrees. I kept punching in 350 and it kept giving me an error. Tried 400 degrees, 450, 500. Same thing. Error. So I unplugged the appliance to see if it would reset. No go. Same problem. Tried resetting again. No go. Turned it on at the 180 default and no error and the oven fired up. But the temp in the oven was way above 180 degrees. Played with it some more and found the thing would come back at 260 degrees in the display. That's as high as it would read. So I figgered my motherboard crapped out. It's a 23 year old KitchenAid...built like a tank. Ordered a refurbed board for $170 (they don't make the boards anymore). Just got it today. A piece of paper fell out of the package. Describes what happens when you cannot set the temp above 260 degrees.
I WAS IN CELSIUS MODE!!!! Switched it back to Fahrenheit mode and it works again. I haven't the slightest idea how it got to Celsius mode. The only way to switch it is to hold the broil button down for 5 seconds. NO ONE DOES THAT!! That's why they design a goofy way to switch modes to prevent accidental switching. I think my board wigged out and switched on its own. That board does weird stuff every now and again. So now I have this $170 motherboard I don't need.
I WAS IN CELSIUS MODE!!!! Switched it back to Fahrenheit mode and it works again. I haven't the slightest idea how it got to Celsius mode. The only way to switch it is to hold the broil button down for 5 seconds. NO ONE DOES THAT!! That's why they design a goofy way to switch modes to prevent accidental switching. I think my board wigged out and switched on its own. That board does weird stuff every now and again. So now I have this $170 motherboard I don't need.
Not about DIY fixing stuff in my case, but just story about paying people to do this for you...
Over 15 years ago I bough a beat-up used car for an around the town beater. $1,200.
Brought it to the stealership for something, who told me it had a damaged steering joint that needed replaced. Told me it was pretty labor intensive and would cost $1,800 to replace. Whole cluster panel has to be removed as well as the steering column (he said). Then conveniently steered me toward looking at their used car selection
I declined and continued to drive the car for about 6-8 months.
Brought it to an independent mechanic for something, he took it for a spin. When he got back, he told me that the steering joint really needs replaced. I asked him how much. $80.
You read that right, $80. Not a big job at all. Steering joint on that car is replaced underneath the car on a lift, easily accessible (he showed me). It's only a 20 min job by an experienced mechanic!
This why they call dealerships "stealerships".
Over 15 years ago I bough a beat-up used car for an around the town beater. $1,200.
Brought it to the stealership for something, who told me it had a damaged steering joint that needed replaced. Told me it was pretty labor intensive and would cost $1,800 to replace. Whole cluster panel has to be removed as well as the steering column (he said). Then conveniently steered me toward looking at their used car selection
I declined and continued to drive the car for about 6-8 months.
Brought it to an independent mechanic for something, he took it for a spin. When he got back, he told me that the steering joint really needs replaced. I asked him how much. $80.
You read that right, $80. Not a big job at all. Steering joint on that car is replaced underneath the car on a lift, easily accessible (he showed me). It's only a 20 min job by an experienced mechanic!
This why they call dealerships "stealerships".
Robbers!Not about DIY fixing stuff in my case, but just story about paying people to do this for you...
Over 15 years ago I bough a beat-up used car for an around the town beater. $1,200.
Brought it to the stealership for something, who told me it had a damaged steering joint that needed replaced. Told me it was pretty labor intensive and would cost $1,800 to replace. Whole cluster panel has to be removed as well as the steering column (he said). Then conveniently steered me toward looking at their used car selection
I declined and continued to drive the car for about 6-8 months.
Brought it to an independent mechanic for something, he took it for a spin. When he got back, he told me that the steering joint really needs replaced. I asked him how much. $80.
You read that right, $80. Not a big job at all. Steering joint on that car is replaced underneath the car on a lift, easily accessible (he showed me). It's only a 20 min job by an experienced mechanic!
This why they call dealerships "stealerships".
I usually change my own oil in my truck. I don't trust mechanics to do anything so I do everything myself unless I don't have the specialty tools/equipment. Was way too busy this one time way back in 1998 so I brought it to one of them 9 minute lube joints. Kid underneath is telling me my exhaust system is rusting out and I'm gonna need a new one at any time. 23 years later and my truck has the same exhaust system.
Soooooo, the other day I go to fire up the oven. I hit the bake button and it defaulted to 180 degrees. It's supposed to default to 350 degrees. I kept punching in 350 and it kept giving me an error. Tried 400 degrees, 450, 500. Same thing. Error. So I unplugged the appliance to see if it would reset. No go. Same problem. Tried resetting again. No go. Turned it on at the 180 default and no error and the oven fired up. But the temp in the oven was way above 180 degrees. Played with it some more and found the thing would come back at 260 degrees in the display. That's as high as it would read. So I figgered my motherboard crapped out. It's a 23 year old KitchenAid...built like a tank. Ordered a refurbed board for $170 (they don't make the boards anymore). Just got it today. A piece of paper fell out of the package. Describes what happens when you cannot set the temp above 260 degrees.
I WAS IN CELSIUS MODE!!!! Switched it back to Fahrenheit mode and it works again. I haven't the slightest idea how it got to Celsius mode. The only way to switch it is to hold the broil button down for 5 seconds. NO ONE DOES THAT!! That's why they design a goofy way to switch modes to prevent accidental switching. I think my board wigged out and switched on its own. That board does weird stuff every now and again. So now I have this $170 motherboard I don't need.
Don't think of it as a waste. If the board ever does go out then you are prepared. I used to keep a capacitor for my old AC on hand and even bought an air induction motor for my old furnace on ebay since it was making a little noise and figured I'd be better off having it on hand when it did go. However, I wasn't expecting the A coil to fail and ended up buying both new.
I used to change my own oil but don't any more. I have a company car so don't have a choice besides to take it to the garage that all the company vehicles go to for oil and maintenance. My wife's car we take to the dealer since they send us coupons all the time and she likes going there for service. They haven't tried screwing us over on anything yet. They did say they wanted to buy her car as a trade in but we aren't ready to take on a car payment again since my youngest is still in college.
I change my own oil too, but I'm getting tired of it.
2 years ago I diagnosed that I needed a new crank shaft sensor. An independent mechanic wanted $350 to replace it but I didn't want to pay that.
So I bought the sensor for $20 and a set of ramps. Through various Youtube videos of cars with a similar engines, I was able to locate it. Problem is, I had to work blindly. But I did it. Total cost to me was $120 if you include the cost of the ramps. But since the ramps have been used for other DIY jobs, the total cost of the job was actually less.
It was worth it just for the satisfaction of having done a $350 job for a fraction of that price without the ability to use my eyes, just my hands and a mental image of what I was feeling according to what I saw on the videos.
The board is $170. That's kinda a lot of dough for "just in case". I can return it if I want and I'm leaning that way. There are joints who can take my existing board and refurb it if necessary.
I replaced my crankshaft sensor a year or two ago while trying to diagnose a problem that ended up being in my OBD1 computer (fix what you can, what's left is what's wrong). Like you say, worked blindly. Wasn't fun.
I didn’t know returning was an option. I’d probably do that if I were you. I know the stuff I work on if the board is unopened then you can return it. If the seal is broken on the outer bag then it’s not.
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