When encountering an inoperable burner with your jetting equipment, try out some of these tips to troubleshoot your issue:
1. With the engine running, the burner switch on, and the thermostat dial turned up you should be able to hear the blower motor running, and feel air blowing out of the burner exhaust vent.
2. If your burner has a fuel pressure gauge this should be around 125 psi and there are usually air bubbles visible in the burner filter clear bowl
3. The burner needs to have a certain amount of backpressure to activate, usually around 800 psi or above. So you will need to use a pressure washer gun with nozzle (preferred for testing) or a jetter nozzle
4. With the burner switch on, thermostat turned up and pressure gun pulled and you still have no burner: A) Verify you still have 125 psi pressure. If this is present but then quickly drops, check the filter; this may be plugged. B) You can verify the igniter has spark by opening the top hinged igniter door (usually says Beckett 12-volt power light). Using an insulated screwdriver jump the two springs, leaving a 1/4-inch gap and see if you have spark with the machine running.
5. If everything is good so far, next you will test switches. The burner uses a pressure switch in series with the thermostat switch to activate the fuel cut solenoid to turn the fuel on and off for the burner. You can test these switches individually by jumping the connections on the switch. The pressure switch is a black rectangular box about 3 inches by 2 inches plumbed into the high pressure side of the water pump with a wire coming out of it. You can remove the four screws on the cover plate and jump the red and brown wires. With the machine running, the burner switch on and the thermostat turned up, if the burner ignites, replace the pressure switch. If not, next test the thermostat.
6. To test the thermostat you will need to open the box that houses the thermostat. There are two wires that go to the thermostat. You will need to jump those and then try the unit with a pressure gun and see if it burns. If so replace the thermostat; if not the final test is the fuel cut solenoid.
7. The fuel cut solenoid is a green electrical coil located on the left hand side of the burner fuel pump. It has a wire plugged into it usually running through a metal corrugated conduit. Unplug the wire using either a DC volt meter or 12 volt test light. Verify if you have power to the solenoid with the trigger pulled and then no power when trigger is released. If this is the case and you still have no burner, replace the fuel cut solenoid and solenoid block.
Steve Roylance has worked at HotJet USA for 25 years and has over 30 years experience in engineering, maintenance and customer service. For any service questions/concerns, call Steve at 800-624-8186 or email service@powerlineindustries.com.
