Greentek PH 7.15 air exchanger not working

[hilsenteger]

I have the above air exchanger in my house - it's about 8 years old.  It stopped working after an electrical storm last summer, and I have been troubleshooting it myself, with some assistance from my plumber and an electrician.  It has a Duotrol low voltage controller on the front which is connected to bathroom and kitchen switches, as well as a humidity switch.

It stopped working a couple of years back after a similar electrical storm - at that time, it turned out that the low voltage board was fried, likely from a spike.  And so after it was replaced, everything worked fine.

This time, it seemed like something similar was likely.  So, I have replaced the low voltage board in the Duotrol controller, the high voltage board in the Greentek first.  Nothing.  Next, I replaced the capacitors on each fan.  Nothing.  I'm a few hundred in for replacement parts.  The fan wheels spin freely, so the fans should be fine, but nothing is running.  I had my electrician in to look at it, and he said everything seems to be wired up fine and he can't figure it out.

When I plug it in, tape the interlock switch open, and turn it to the continuous position, the green light comes on, but nothing runs.  I am baffled.  I spoke to a tech at Greentek that suggested I disconnect all switches from the low board, and then reset the board and then see if anything runs.  It made no difference.  I've got a call back in to him, but I thought I would seek out some additional advice.

Any suggestions? I'm getting seriously frustrated with this thing and figured I've dumped enough money into it.

Thanks!! 

[Admin]

Are you sure you reconnected the fan wiring correctly?  Check any molex connector wiring and make sure all the wires are seated properly.

I would disconnect all the control wiring from the HRV and install a jumper between G and R.  It looks like only the D model has a motorized damper, so in your case the fans should start running.

Have you tried to apply 120V directly to the motors to see if they work?

[hilsenteger]

Hi - thanks for the reply - I didn't receive notification of a reply - maybe it went to my spam.

Yes, I took pics of the wiring before disconnecting, and wrote down what was connected where.  So when I reconnected I was confident that I had it wired correctly.  I also checked the schematics that came with the new parts.  Finally, I had my electrician in, who wired it up initially, to have a look, and he said it was all wired up fine.

So, as I mentioned, I disconnected all of the control wiring on the Duotrol (low board).  The only other thing I could disconnect on the high board is the master control cable that connects to the low board.  I have not tried that yet.  I have also not tried to apply 120V directly to the fan motors. 

The tech from Greentek suggested I disconnect all of the wires from the low board - he also indicated that if the switch on the front is set to "Continuous", then the fans should run regardless.  And they don't. 

Thanks for the suggestion of the jumper.  I don't know which G and R on the Duotrol low voltage board you are trying to jump.  I attached a pic of the connections from the manual - there seems to be one set labelled G and R for the timer, and another set labelled G and R for a remote switch, but my understanding from the Greentek tech is that a jumper would not be required.

I will check the motors and I will try the jumper between G and R on the remote switch side and report back. 

Thanks!

[hilsenteger]

OK - so I wanted to provide a quick update.  The Greentek support has been nothing short of awesome.  After going through all of the wiring with me on the phone and trying to troubleshoot the situation, the tech finally agreed that he didn't know what the problem was.  He asked me to take pictures and send them to him so he could share them with their engineer. 

The engineer indicated that the high and low boards that I replaced were not compatible based on the PNs that he saw in the pics!  So, the supplier that I bought the boards here in Regina, SK was to blame! 

Greentek said they were sending me new boards in the mail - no charge....I haven't received them yet, but should have them early next week. 

I'm assuming that will fix the problem.  Holy cow - this has been 6 months of going round and round!!

I'll let you know if it solves the problem!

Thanks,
Grant

[Admin]

Great news!  Hopefully you can return the wrong parts for a refund.