1.5 year old house. No hot water. Getting error code....wtf

[03ozwhip]

Any plumbers here? I tried calling the "emergency" number on my list of who installed what and I didnt get an answer or any sort of response.

I've checked what the code means and it's a slew of different things it could be. Can anyone tell me where to start looking at fixing this? Or any idea on cost?

3 flashes, 3 second pause
"pressure switch or blower temperature switch not working-open position"
1. Vent blockage or improper vent configuration.
2. Pressure switch tubing kinked or blocked.
3. Faulty pressure switch.
4. Blower not spinning up to speed.
5. Blower temp or exhaust temp too high
6. Faulty blower temperature switch.

Fuck me.

[89coupe]

Make sure your exhaust vents are not frozen over. Go outside and take a look.

[03ozwhip]

They're clear and blowing.

[jeffh]

Sounds like a high efficient tank with sidewall venting. First thing to check is the vents terminations on the side of your home. Ensure they aren’t blocked with snow/ice. Could be jammed in there a bit, especially on the intake vent.Pressure switch basically ensures the venting is clear before combustion takes place. Tank is probably locked out at this point. So turn it off(unplug it) and plug er back in after a few moments.

[vtec]

By any chance you have a Bradford white defender?

Same problem happened to me today. I've checked the vents outside the house, some frost build up. Cleared off the mesh screens.

Pilot light is off and can't seem to get it to re-ignite, following the instructions.

Will call the plumber tomorrow.

[03ozwhip]

Sounds like a high efficient tank with sidewall venting. First thing to check is the vents terminations on the side of your home. Ensure they aren’t blocked with snow/ice. Could be jammed in there a bit, especially on the intake vent.Pressure switch basically ensures the venting is clear before combustion takes place. Tank is probably locked out at this point. So turn it off(unplug it) and plug er back in after a few moments.

So if I feel air coming out of the vents outside, I can rule the blockage out? jeffh

[jeffh]

How many pipes you got coming out? You should have 2 for your furnace(single furnace) and 2 for your tank(single tank). Unless you have a concentric setup(all in one vent). Ensure you are focused on the tank’s vents, should be the smaller diameter ones. Now one of the pipes should be shorter and closer to the house. This will be the intake. It should not be blowing air out, but sucking it in. Peak your eyes up into it and ensure it doesnt have blockages. If there are steel mesh pieces on any of the terminations(90deg elbows or Tee’s), remove them and set aside for the longterm.

[jeffh]

And i guess you could have a faulty pressure switch, as that is what the diagnostic code is dishing out. $80 part i assume. The pressure switch will be somewhere at the top of the tank attached to the vents by way of little hoses.

[03ozwhip]

How many pipes you got coming out? You should have 2 for your furnace(single furnace) and 2 for your tank(single tank). Unless you have a concentric setup(all in one vent). Ensure you are focused on the tank’s vents, should be the smaller diameter ones. Now one of the pipes should be shorter and closer to the house. This will be the intake. It should not be blowing air out, but sucking it in. Peak your eyes up into it and ensure it doesnt have blockages. If there are steel mesh pieces on any of the terminations(90deg elbows or Tee’s), remove them and set aside for the longterm.
Ok I have 2 small ones from the furnace and 2 bigger ones from the tank. The 2 bigger ones have the mesh. They both seem to be blowing air...

[jeffh]

All i can say is ensure ALL of them are clear. Then reset your tank and watch it go through the sequences.

[03ozwhip]

All i can say is ensure ALL of them are clear. Then reset your tank and watch it go through the sequences.
Ok just checked and you're right, one is sucking and one is blowing. I took the mesh out...I'll reset again and report back lol jeffh

[89coupe]

Ok I have 2 small ones from the furnace and 2 bigger ones from the tank. The 2 bigger ones have the mesh. They both seem to be blowing air...

Take a picture of your tank and the igniter system it uses.

You will have two pipes coming off your tank, one is an intake vent and one is a exhaust vent. If the intake vent is frozen over it will cut power. You need to clear that vent. Power everything off and then restart it.

[03ozwhip]

So I think taking that mesh out is what resolved my issue. Went out the first time and it was blocked. Cleared it, still not working. Check it again, blocked again. Went out the 3rd time, removed mesh, no error codes, hot water is working.

Thanks for your help guys. Saved me a headache for sure.

[cyra1ax]

Had this happen to me last night. Seems to only happen when it gets mighty cold outside too. Fixed it by removing the plastic grate on the intake and power cycling the hot water tank.

[jeffh]

Glad my advice worked out for you.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

This is really common with those high-efficiency tanks in our climate. They install the intake and exhaust in such a way that the intake sucks in a bit of the hot, moist exhaust and in cold snaps that ices the intake pipe a bit, and they are REALLY sensitive to any blockages. Another Beyonder had that issue last year and we ended up raising the tank exhaust by about two feet to get it away from the intake.

[03ozwhip]

This is really common with those high-efficiency tanks in our climate. They install the intake and exhaust in such a way that the intake sucks in a bit of the hot, moist exhaust and in cold snaps that ices the intake pipe a bit, and they are REALLY sensitive to any blockages. Another Beyonder had that issue last year and we ended up raising the tank exhaust by about two feet to get it away from the intake.

I've heard this happen to a lot of people and his is the first time it's happened to me. Before I posted here I checked it and it seemed fine. :dunno:

Anyways it was an easy fix, albeit stressful in this cold.

[NissanFanBoy]

Same problem, same solution in my house. But I noticed something odder this morning, I always have it go down to 18 overnight then back up to 22 by 5am... This morning I come down at 7am and the thermostat control in our living room is reading 20.5?! Wtf!... Does anyone know where the actual thermostat that reads the temp is actually put? The house doesn't feel any different than 22 so I suspect the reading is fucked up or the actual reader is something near a window?

Btw, first thing I did was go out and check the vents, no Frost and furnace is running normal with no flashes

My worst fear is that there something wrong that is making the furnace not blow as hot??

[macman64]

My builder didn't even install the mesh because they get too many calls about this problem. The mesh is beside the furnace, they gave me a warning that without you risk animals but is often easier than the annual lack of hot water.

[firebane]

Same problem, same solution in my house. But I noticed something odder this morning, I always have it go down to 18 overnight then back up to 22 by 5am... This morning I come down at 7am and the thermostat control in our living room is reading 20.5?! Wtf!... Does anyone know where the actual thermostat that reads the temp is actually put? The house doesn't feel any different than 22 so I suspect the reading is fucked up or the actual reader is something near a window?

Btw, first thing I did was go out and check the vents, no Frost and furnace is running normal with no flashes

My worst fear is that there something wrong that is making the furnace not blow as hot??

The thermostat is where it takes the reading. Do you have multiple thermostats?

[BigShow]

Just adding to the list of others past couple days; exact same issue and error code, cleared the outside vents and it was back to normal shortly thereafter.

[craigcd]

Have the same issue. Is there a fix for this aside from unclogging it every time it snows? I have heard of some people making the intake a "T" rather then terminating straight out. Any suggestions?

[cyra1ax]

So the intake for my furnace was installed as a T, where the exhaust is just a J bend pointed exhausting towards the ground. Going to try the same with the HWT in the summer.

[craigcd]

Installed a T today on mine, will post up results

[NissanFanBoy]

Have the same issue. Is there a fix for this aside from unclogging it every time it snows? I have heard of some people making the intake a "T" rather then terminating straight out. Any suggestions?

Mine is a T for exhaust and J for intake, the T still developed icicles that tripped the sensors and the intake builds up Frost like crazy.... Thank God it only happens when it's really cold...I also don't have houses beside me until three lots over..

[craigcd]

Mine is a T for exhaust and J for intake, the T still developed icicles that tripped the sensors and the intake builds up Frost like crazy.... Thank God it only happens when it's really cold...I also don't have houses beside me until three lots over..

Ya they did the T for my furnace intake but not the water heater. I dont get it. Been working fine since install but it hasn't snowed / there hasn't been a bunch of snow blowing. I am sure next time I am in a rush to get somewhere and jump in the shower in a hurry it will be freezing cold :guns:

Nothing worse than starting your day with a freezing shower!

[wildrice]

Installed a T today on mine, will post up results

Did this work for you? Mine got clogged up 3 times within 24 hours yesterday... 3pm, 7pm, and then 4am.

[Maxt]

Every cold snap, it brings to light how condensing appliances should be a choice rather than the law. The design really doesn't lend itself to cold snaps, and the longer the cold snap the worse it gets. ive been doing 8-10 service calls a day since before xmas most of the calls end up being frozen intakes, sensing tubes, exhaust pipes, which in turn meant frozen structures with frozen condensing appliances. Number of calls I did on appliances with atmospheric burners and thermocouples, zero and about a 1/3rd of my customers still have that level of appliance. My own appliances are all Tc atmospheric.
What I end up doing on a lot of installs is getting an oversize box made for the intake with mesh pointing down, rather than relying on the intake pipe sized mesh not to frost up. And if your exhaust points straight up, you need to make sure the cycle of the appliance is long enough to get the pipe warm to allow the condensate in the pipe to run back to drain. Short cycles result in exhaust pipe blockage.

[craigcd]

Did this work for you? Mine got clogged up 3 times within 24 hours yesterday... 3pm, 7pm, and then 4am.

I havent clogged since install!

[speedog]

Every cold snap, it brings to light how condensing appliances should be a choice rather than the law. The design really doesn't lend itself to cold snaps, and the longer the cold snap the worse it gets. ive been doing 8-10 service calls a day since before xmas most of the calls end up being frozen intakes, sensing tubes, exhaust pipes, which in turn meant frozen structures with frozen condensing appliances. Number of calls I did on appliances with atmospheric burners and thermocouples, zero and about a 1/3rd of my customers still have that level of appliance. My own appliances are all Tc atmospheric.
What I end up doing on a lot of installs is getting an oversize box made for the intake with mesh pointing down, rather than relying on the intake pipe sized mesh not to frost up. And if your exhaust points straight up, you need to make sure the cycle of the appliance is long enough to get the pipe warm to allow the condensate in the pipe to run back to drain. Short cycles result in exhaust pipe blockage.

Condensing appliances are the law?

So if my 80's era furnace conks out, I can't replace it with something similar?

What about my water heater? I replaced it myself a number of years ago (6 or so) and it's not a HE appliance - it vents up our regular chimney. Would the next one have to be HE?

[craigcd]

Condensing appliances are the law?

So if my 80's era furnace conks out, I can't replace it with something similar?

What about my water heater? I replaced it myself a number of years ago (6 or so) and it's not a HE appliance - it vents up our regular chimney. Would the next one have to be HE?

Not sure about the furnace but a had a friend hire a plumber to install a water heater last month and he also opted for a non HE water heater. It seems like its not an issue?

[Darell_n]

Mid efficient furnaces have been discontinued for a number of years, so law or not, they are not being manufactured. I'm sure water heaters will happen eventually (in decades?) but the energy savings potential for a high efficiency water heater is not as good.

[Maxt]

I was surprised to find out mid efficient is still available in the US, its just illegal to bring them into Canada. I was talking to a US equipment rep about an issue with condensing furnaces. When the high's are installed in sealed cabinet ventilation systems in portable structures in place of the original midefficient, the condensate drain tubes and collector pan freeze off. His response was "thats why we still make mid efficients for applications like that, and why Canadian efficiency rules are stupid". I asked if there was a resistance heater I could install in the furnace cabinet, and he said that the Canadian market isn't large enough to warrant paying for the approvals to do something like that. So we have to buy condensing furnaces, but our market really isn't large enough for the manufacturers to make our furnaces different just for us and we install them into conditions and climats where they don't function all that well.. But hey, look how green you're being..
If you lived up north 6 miles west of Hairlip,population 143, what furnace would you rather have? I'd take the simplist most generic damn thing I could find...

[dj_rice]

Hijack thread. Seems like whenever the temps dip to really extreme temps, my vent stack is freezing up causing the toilet to gurgle/gasp for air when its flushed. How do I combat this?

[Strider]

Bump.
My hot water heater intake pipe is frosting up in this weather... Intake and exhaust are roughly 1' apart, both have a 90° elbow pointing them downwards but the intake has an extra ~18" section of pipe after the elbow (presumably to try to prevent exhaust from being sucked in, also makes it a bitch to clear out the frost). Neither has mesh. Is there an accepted fix or best practice for venting that I can have the builder implement to resolve this? Never had this issue in 10 years at my old house.

[roopi]

Don't know how to fix it but a coat hanger works good to clear it.

[Misterman]

Bump.
My hot water heater intake pipe is frosting up in this weather... Intake and exhaust are roughly 1' apart, both have a 90° elbow pointing them downwards but the intake has an extra ~18" section of pipe after the elbow (presumably to try to prevent exhaust from being sucked in, also makes it a bitch to clear out the frost). Neither has mesh. Is there an accepted fix or best practice for venting that I can have the builder implement to resolve this? Never had this issue in 10 years at my old house.

If you've never had the issue before, then it is likely just do to a temporary condition of the wind/temperature. I've had this happen in an old house after I built my fence, I spent a couple bucks on an elbow and a few inches of PVC. Didn't even glue it in place. I would just go jam it on when it would cold enough for the intake to freeze up. Pulling air from a different direction, or farther from the exhaust heat would clear it right up. Otherwise I would be out clearing it at least once a day when it was minus 30.

[Strider]

Don't know how to fix it but a coat hanger works good to clear it.
I didn't think I could do a reasonable job scraping the whole inside diameter with a wire coat hanger, especially around the elbow, so I was jamming in a rolled up towel. Ordered a heat gun from Amazon same day for today in case it frosts up again.


If you've never had the issue before, then it is likely just do to a temporary condition of the wind/temperature. I've had this happen in an old house after I built my fence, I spent a couple bucks on an elbow and a few inches of PVC. Didn't even glue it in place. I would just go jam it on when it would cold enough for the intake to freeze up. Pulling air from a different direction, or farther from the exhaust heat would clear it right up. Otherwise I would be out clearing it at least once a day when it was minus 30.

Not sure if it wasn't clear, it was at my old house where I never had this issue. We just moved into our new house in Oct and we're having this issue (among others) with the first cold snap. Another elbow and some PVC could probably do the trick, but I'd rather have a permanent solution than a band-aid at 1am in -30° weather after a cold shower.

[Misterman]

Not sure if it wasn't clear, it was at my old house where I never had this issue. We just moved into our new house in Oct and we're having this issue (among others) with the first cold snap. Another elbow and some PVC could probably do the trick, but I'd rather have a permanent solution than a band-aid at 1am in -30° weather after a cold shower.

The permanent solution is to either leave the added elbow in place, or make it part of your yearly winterizing schedule in the fall. There is no fix to your intake pulling in humid air at -30, the humidity will freeze.