Our boiler quit yesterday morning. It was in the low 30’s and we needed heat! So after doing some checking with my ohmmeter and finding that the internal transformer in the boiler’s aquastat had failed, I made a beeline for the train room and in a few minutes, we had heat again. Try this in HO or N scale! [:D]
I disconnected the internal transformer and connected my trusty type R to the same terminals. It doesn’t even break a sweat. We should give it a hero’s parade when this is over!
The air conditioner or heater thermostats work on about 24 volts AC and an older Lionel transformer like that can put out almost 24 volts. H.O. transformers only put out up to 14 volts and very low wattage as well and it is rectified AC at best.
LOL… so now if you hooked up a ZW to it can you boost the heat?! and operate up to 4 boilers! And just when you thought playing with trains would get you nowhere…
Hi all, again, BTW Honeywell was ABSOLUTELY no help, they said that for liability reasons only a licensed heating contractor should work on this. I replied that the fact that I was able to troubleshoot the problem should show that I am capable of fixing it, but I would not try to talk them into helping me. I will have you know that the trusty Type R is still running my boiler nearly 3 weeks later! I did get a new transformer, an external one, that I have yet to install. I had to do a LOT of searching to find one that isn’t Honeywell, but to make a point I did find one and order it. I know boilers are nothing to fool around with if you don’t know what you’re doing, but I do not fool around with things that I don’t understand! I just cannot see throwing an entire aquastat relay into the landfill when only the transformer (which should not fail in the life of the unit) failed. I replied to Honeywell’s email stating that my 50-year-old toy train transformers are more reliable than this (aquastat transformer.)
