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Advanco fryer shutting down
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Some thermopiles have braided wire over a solid one. Iron and Inconel are used for the junctions to produce the electricity for flow. Inside the thermopile there is 15 of these fused wires connected in series. Unlike the common millivolt generators for furnaces and other gas equipment that only produce 50 millivolts and have a single joint.
The point is that with the braided wire, if movement over time has happened, Not being copper, they break strands and will not make the proper voltage due to resistance in the wire. Thats why we go to the trouble of measuring with a GOOD DVOM.
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Pilot is strong, I think I posted early on that it was somewhat weak at first, cleaned and burning bright blue as strong as its partner unit if not stronger. pilot looks to be positioned properly on the thermopile, same as other unit. Also seemed to work for a few weeks after cleaning the pilot if I remember correctly.
Yes, a good DVOM would have helped early on Ill check and see if I can get a proper meter. there is a electrician that hangs out at times, I’m sure he has a correct tester and can assist, I should have thought of that sooner, however I would not have gotten such a excellent break down from you of these fryers.
Yes it has the braded wire over the copper. I understand ill get it tested better.
Thank you again for your patients and explanations. hopefully this may help some other poor bloke having trouble too… Ill do some more testing and get back to you.
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Be glad your not working on a hydraulic valve. The pilot assembly on them have a Beryllium reactor plate to reflect the proper heat to the bulb. They actually turn red and are full of mercury. As they age they sometimes don’t make the right amount of heat.
Is this fryer natual gas or Propane fired? Does the pilot assembly have a flame arrestor screen in it?
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Its propane and no I don’t see any kind of flame arrester just the flame diversion for the baffles… Hum Mercury. sounds like a mad engineer was like, will show these tech guy… check this gadget out. On the plus side I use mercury for fine gold recovery. I’ll bet there’s not much mercury in them. waiting on the electrician fella and his tester. Talked to another fella today, contractor, thinks he may have a better MV tester… thank goodness we have patient cooks!
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“just the flame diversion for the baffles…just the flame diversion for the baffles…”
I’m talking about the pilot assembly. It consist of a orifice and carburetor with a Berilium flame hood to direct the flame at a burner and to the thermopile. The two air holes just in front or the orifice that add the air to the gas sometimes has what looks like a screen. Not on all pilot’s, but it’s to prevent a flame from being able to start at the air intakes if something causes a blockage.
The hood also acts as a reactor to increase the temp of the flame. Not such a big deal with millivolt generators, but critical with hydraulic valves. And not cheap either. Hydraulic valve pilots are close to a hundred bucks. The last rebuild valve I bought was $475 exchange.
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Thank you Fixbear,
I apologize for not responding sooner. They had just quit using the fryer for a while… even after I had replaced the thermopile, it was the thermopile, I replaced it with a Robert Shaw that went out within in a week after they started using it again.
It had gotten to where the pilot wouldn’t light on the original thermopile. Never did get a proper tester for the millivolt setting you suggested. I tried every millivolt tester I could find.
Campora was adamant that it needed a new gas valve as they had changed the thermopile some time prior.
So three thermopiles within a few months of using the fryer went bad.
After I fixed it, I was fairly certain it was the thermopile again as the same symptoms as prior to replacement. Had to argue with Campora but they gave me another new thermopile and its been working fine ever since.
Thank You all for your help and the forum for the assistance, on to the next issue.
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