# Forum Home Renovation Heating & Cooling  Braemar TH3 Ducted Gas Heated in Lockout Mode

## rzkman

G'day all,
I am in a weird situation here and hope you can offer some advice on what to do next.
Our 6 year old Braemar TH3 has decided to stop working over the weekend. The thermostat clicks on by the outdoor unit is unresponsive. 
The ON LED on the controller board flashes two times.
I called the plumber who promptly ended up calling Braemar. According to them something has caused a 'lockout' and the board will need to be unlocked using some type of controller box. (I assume)
So the plumber told me to call Braemar. When I spoke to Braemar, the girl at the other end said she knew of my situation as her colleague was the one just speaking to my plumber. She said the lockout could be something that the installer put in place. So even if they come out, there is no guarantee that they can get it working again. I could even get past their ridiculous callout fee of $240, but the fact that they might not be able to reset it was quite a shock to me.  
I am not too keen to contact the installer just yet as they were pretty much cowboys judging by the bad installation they did and the original store I bought it off has closed down. There is only one other store now.  
Could I buy a board and replace it myself? Would this resolve the lockout issue? If it is going to cost be about the same, I would seriously consider this route than the angst of dealing with cowboys.  
As for the potential cause of the lockout, the installation was pretty poor. Water pools on the top cover and the cable entrance was not sealed properly. So during recent rain, water might have gone in. I will have to put some type of cover over it diver water away.  
Appreciate your thoughts and comments.  
Ray.

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## Godzilla73

Was there any hint of a burning smell in the house prior to the unit shutting down. I had 2 fan capacitors fail on one of those units, they stink when they go. Any codes on the controller inside or is it just a simple thermostat?

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## droog

What type of controller do you have on the unit ?, usually the TG & TH used theBreamar spectrolink controller. Any errors should display "reset" and a two digit code on the display.
An error code 02 is that the presure switch for the combustion fan failed to close, not sure if the flashing led is the same error code or not.
Most of the settings set by the installer can be accessed by discharging the capacitor on the controller as this is where most of the configuration is saved for these units but this is dependant on thecontroller you have.
Take a photo of the controller and put it up here.

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## droog

Lockout is the safety protection mode not something the installer has done.
In the system operation flowchart you appear to be going into "lockout 2", section 7.1.1
The led status codes are shown in section 7.3 
I am aware that this manual is for TG series, there is very little difference to TH  
As for resolution: check the hoses between the combustion fan and the pressure switches for cracks and blockages.
Take the required safety measures if investigating yourself, if in doubt call a qualified service man.

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## rzkman

> What type of controller do you have on the unit ?, usually the TG & TH used theBreamar spectrolink controller. Any errors should display "reset" and a two digit code on the display.
> An error code 02 is that the presure switch for the combustion fan failed to close, not sure if the flashing led is the same error code or not.
> Most of the settings set by the installer can be accessed by discharging the capacitor on the controller as this is where most of the configuration is saved for these units but this is dependant on thecontroller you have.
> Take a photo of the controller and put it up here.

  Mine is just a very basic 2-wire Braemar thermostat. You turn it on/off, set the temp and that's it. From the thermostat end, it will not be able to show any error messages. The best it can manage I think is the lower battery signal for the thermostat! It looks like this https://www.ebay.com.au/i/222971389692?chn=ps

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## rzkman

> Lockout is the safety protection mode not something the installer has done.
> In the system operation flowchart you appear to be going into "lockout 2", section 7.1.1
> The led status codes are shown in section 7.3 
> I am aware that this manual is for TG series, there is very little difference to TH  
> As for resolution: check the hoses between the combustion fan and the pressure switches for cracks and blockages.
> Take the required safety measures if investigating yourself, if in doubt call a qualified service man.

  Thanks very much for this. Based on what it says in the manual and assuming it applies for my TH3 unit, it certainly looks like a Lockout 2. I presume once it arrives at Lockout 2, it will forever remain in this state until it is reset. I read in "Braemar TG Series Gas Ducted HeatersTechnical and Training ManualMarch 2007" which I think you also posted, that to resolve the Lockout 2, you need a Braemar SCC thermostat. The basic one I have will not work. Is that right? sigh...any suggestions on what I can do next to get it reset to see if it starts up? I will do your suggestions to check the hoses etc, but it looks like I am still stuck unless the controller is reset out of Lockout 2. Thanks.

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## droog

Let me look around in the documentation i have, the process with a SCC controller is you press the reset button.

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## droog

Ok no need to pay for someone to unlock. 
two ways if you have a manual controller: 
1/ Turn manual thermostat off - on - off - on wait 5 seconds at each state.
2/ Turn power off - wait 5 seconds - turn power on. 
Thats fron the service trouble shooting manual, computer is updating or would load it here.
The power will be the power to the central heating unit outside. 
If the fault hasnt been rectified it will end up back at lockout 2 but the above process will re attempt the startup.

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## rzkman

> Ok no need to pay for someone to unlock. 
> two ways if you have a manual controller: 
> 1/ Turn manual thermostat off - on - off - on wait 5 seconds at each state.
> 2/ Turn power off - wait 5 seconds - turn power on. 
> Thats fron the service trouble shooting manual, computer is updating or would load it here.
> The power will be the power to the central heating unit outside. 
> If the fault hasnt been rectified it will end up back at lockout 2 but the above process will re attempt the startup.

  When you get a chance, can you please upload the documentation.
I tried the suggested steps, but as soon as I turn the power back on to the outside unit, it flashes two times again.
If reset, isn't it meant to go through the flow chart again? It doesn't make any noise at all. 
Also I have to walk between the thermostat and the outdoor unit, is there a time limit between Step 1 and Step 2? 
Thanks so much for your help.

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## droog

> is there a time limit between Step 1 and Step 2?

  Not step 1 and 2, method 1 OR method 2  Section8_ServiceTroubleshoot.pdf

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## rzkman

I bit the bullet and paid $245 for a callout. I had the unit off for 24hr and it didn't clear the lockout, so it looks like the SCC is required.
Anyway the error codes pointed to a lockout due to overheating. I will get a bigger return air vent made and also maybe look at investing in a SCC controller. 
Thanks for all your help droog, much appreciated.

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