Empire Heater Problems.

[fishadb]

I have an Empire furnace in my wheel house and have been having problems with it. I have replaced the regulator and that is not the problem. I can get the pilot lit and burning but the furnace will not kick on, sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. So my question is do I have a problem with the thermo coupler or the thermostat or some other problem?

[pushbutton]

Those are usually the two places to start. Does it sometimes not kick in right away or after it has been going awhile?

[chad austin]

Empires use a thermopile, not a thermocouple.

Assuming your heater has a wall mounted thermostat, it will have a thermopile. Any heater that does not require power to run AND has an actuall thermostat will use thermopiles

[Scupper]

Make sure that the inside of the thermostat is free from any obstructions.

A few years back a friend had similar problems. He found that he could get his furnace to work if he tilted the thermostat one way. Of course he had to tilt the thermostat back to get the furnace to shut down. I explained to him (with limited knowledge) that there is a mercury type switch inside and he should probably check it. Upon inspecting, we found a small square piece of what I will describe as packing foam. It had become wedged in a position that would not permit the mercury bubble to operate correctly.

Hope this makes sense and helps...

Scott

[Thermos]

I'll chime in on your post as I have worked on plenty of Empires over the years. More than likely it is not the thermopile. Generally when those go out, you wont be able to keep the pilot going. What i have seen over the years is corrosion that builds up at the gas valve on the wiring. So minute, that it can't be seen. I would suggest removing the wires from the gas valve and clean the ends of them and the gas valve connections and the thermopile ends. I have found this to be the solution to the problem 9 times out of 10. If that still doesnt seem to work, take a needle nose pliars and jump the "th" and "th/tr" terminals (where your tstat wires connect). if it starts up you more than likely have a problem with your tstat or wiring to it. If it still doesnt start, it may be possible that your thermopile is weak. It takes 750MV to operate the gas valve. If its weak, it may not open the burner valve. Its rare to have that fail, but it certainly can happen. Lastly thing to check would be pilot flame. I have seen a weak pilot that will cause the thermopile to not open the burner valve. This can be fixed by removing the pilot tube from the pilot assembly and blowing air through the pilot oriface.

Hope this helps, and good luck.