Diagnostic system for a fuel-fired water heater
First Claim
1. Liquid heating apparatus comprising:
- a vessel for containing a liquid to be heated;
a heating system operative during a heating cycle to utilize electrical power and combustible fuel from sources thereof to maintain the liquid at a predetermined heated temperature by creating fuel combustion heat and transferring it to the liquid in response to the temperature of the liquid falling below said predetermined heated temperature, said heating system including a series of electrical components successively operative in a predetermined sequence during said heating cycle; and
a diagnostic system operative to facilitate the identification of a malfunctioning one of said series of electrical components by creating a diagnostic signal indicative of the last component in said sequence to properly function during said heating cycle.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fuel-fired water heater has a series of control and operating components which, with electrical power being supplied to the water heater circuitry via a power switch, are electrically actuatable in a predetermined sequence to supply combustion heat to water contained in a tank portion of the water heater to return the temperature of the water to a heated setpoint temperature in response to the water temperature falling below such setpoint temperature. LED diagnostic indicating lights are wired into the water heater circuitry in a manner such that each indicating light is associated with a different one of the electrically coupled components. As the components are sequentially actuated during a water heating cycle, the LED lights are successively illuminated. If one of the components malfunctions during such heating cycle, one or more of the indicating lights remains unilluminated, with the last illuminated light being indicative of the last component in the sequence which functioned properly, thereby facilitating the ready identification of the component which malfunctioned. The LED indicating lights are supported in a single row on a housing-mounted circuit board to which electrical indicating light leads from the water heater control circuit are connected. One of the LED lights is a power indicating light and, like the other indicating lights, has a resistor in an electrical trace leading to the light. The power indicating light and its associated resistor are physically isolated from the other indicating lights and their associated resistors by an interior housing barrier wall.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. Liquid heating apparatus comprising:
-
a vessel for containing a liquid to be heated; a heating system operative during a heating cycle to utilize electrical power and combustible fuel from sources thereof to maintain the liquid at a predetermined heated temperature by creating fuel combustion heat and transferring it to the liquid in response to the temperature of the liquid falling below said predetermined heated temperature, said heating system including a series of electrical components successively operative in a predetermined sequence during said heating cycle; and a diagnostic system operative to facilitate the identification of a malfunctioning one of said series of electrical components by creating a diagnostic signal indicative of the last component in said sequence to properly function during said heating cycle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. For use with liquid heating apparatus of the type having a vessel for containing a liquid to be heated, and a heating system operative to add heat to the liquid in a manner maintaining it at a predetermined heated temperature and including a series of electrically actuatable components each successively operative in a predetermined sequence to receive an electrical voltage from a preceding component and responsively cause the creation of an electrical actuation signal useable by a subsequent component in said sequence, a method of facilitating the identification of a malfunctioning one of said series of electrical components, said method comprising the steps of:
-
sensing the successive electrical actuation signals created by said components during operation of said heating system; and using the sensed electrical actuation signals to create a diagnostic signal indicative of the last component in said sequence to properly function. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A fuel-fired water heater comprising:
-
a vessel for containing water to be heated; a heating system operative to utilize electrical power and combustible fuel from sources thereof to maintain the water at a predetermined heated temperature by creating fuel combustion heat and transferring it to the water in response to the water temperature falling below said predetermined heated temperature, said heating system including a series of electrical components connected in an electrical circuit, each component being successively operative in a predetermined sequence to receive electrical voltage and responsively cause the creation of an electrical actuation signal useable by a subsequent component in said sequence, said components including; an electrical power switch, a thermostat coupled to said electrical power switch, an ignition control coupled to said thermostat, a fuel valve coupled to said ignition control, and an energy cutoff switch; and a diagnostic system operative to facilitate the identification of a malfunctioning one of said series of electrical components, said diagnostic system including a series of indicating lights each being associated with one of said components and being wired to said electrical circuit to sequentially illuminate the indicating lights, during operation of said heating system and in response to the presence of predetermined actuation signal conditions in their associated components, in a manner such that the last illuminated light in said series thereof provides a visual indication of the last component in said sequence that has functioned properly. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
Specification