Depending on the exact system, the scaling on the temperature signal will either be –
1003°F to 2377°F or -323°F to 2377°F.

The system requires a remote run permissive before it will start the pilot ignition process, and this message means that permissive is not present. The permissive can be supplied by the factory-installed jumper or by a set of dry contacts you provide (closed to run, open to stop). Check the job-specific wiring diagram for the remote permissive terminals if you’re not sure which setup your panel uses.

This means the hand switch (or switches) for the pilot is not turned to the AUTO or RUN position. The system will not run unless at least one pilot hand switch is set to AUTO or RUN.

This means the pilot did not light and reach 300°F before the ignition timer ran out. Cycle the pilot hand switch to OFF and then back to AUTO/RUN to reset it, or the error will clear on its own once the pilot reaches 300°F.

If the pilot is lit but the temperature climbs very slowly, check the thermocouple placement to make sure its tip sits directly in the pilot flame. If the pilot isn’t lighting at all, work through the pilot-won’t-light checks below.

This means the PLC is receiving no signal, or a bad signal, from the temperature controller. Possible causes:

• A loose wiring connection between the temperature controller and the pilot thermocouple. The orange ERROR light on the temperature controller should be illuminated.
• Damaged wiring between the temperature controller and the pilot thermocouple. The orange ERROR light on the temperature controller should be illuminated.
• The red and yellow thermocouple wires are swapped somewhere between the temperature controller and the thermocouple. You’ll usually see the temperature decrease, instead of increase, once the pilot is lit.
• The temperature controller is not receiving power (no green lights illuminated on the temperature controller).
• The temperature controller is faulty and needs to be replaced.
• The temperature controller was replaced with a model that has the wrong internal settings.

Work through these checks in order:

• Check incoming power and the breaker inside the panel.
• Check supply voltage and the output of the 12VDC power supply (AC systems) or the 12VDC battery (solar systems).
• Check the remote permissive, either the jumper per the wiring diagram or a set of dry contacts from the customer (closed when ready, open when not allowed to run).
• Check for errors from the thermocouples and temperature controllers, including the pilot thermocouple temperature controller in the main control panel.
• Visually confirm the system is not actually running, that is, rule out a burnt-out SYSTEM RUNNING LED bulb.
• If the pilot won’t light, see the pilot troubleshooting below.
• Check for a lost remote permissive, unlikely but possible, and if a jumper is installed, confirm its wire connections are secure.

Work through these checks in order:

• Check fuel pressure, generally 18 to 20 psig on natural gas, 9 to 10 psig on propane.
• Check the pilot venturi (the air inlet on the bottom of the pilot) for debris or other blockages.
• Check the pilot orifice for debris.
• Holding the pilot switch in the MAN position, confirm 12VDC is being sent to the spark module at the base of the pilot. If 12VDC is present but you don’t hear a spark, the spark rod tip may need cleaning or the spark module may need replacing.
• Confirm the pilot tip is clean and free of scale or debris.
• Visually confirm the pilot is not actually lit. If it’s lit but the thermocouple is improperly installed, the system may not read pilot status correctly.
• Listen for flow through the pilot orifice and confirm there’s no blockage.
• Check the power and ground connections in the junction box at the base of the pilot.

If you’ve worked through this list and the pilot still won’t light, Hero’s field service team can help, call 918-941-2166.

Check these in order:

• Inspect the pilot tip and shield for damage or debris.
• Check the pilot orifice and venturi, both at the base of the pilot, for debris or clogging.
• Check fuel pressure, generally 18 to 20 psig on natural gas, 9 to 10 psig on propane.

No, that’s normal, properly operating behavior. No action is required.

This is almost always a placement issue. Confirm the thermocouple is positioned with its tip directly in the pilot flame zone, a thermocouple sitting outside the flame will under-read even with a healthy pilot.

Work through these checks:

• Confirm the flare gas composition is actually flammable.
• Confirm the pilot is fully extended and properly positioned next to the flare tip.
• Confirm the flare gas flow rate is within design specs; low-BTU gas at a higher-than-design flow rate can be difficult to ignite or keep lit.
• Confirm the flare gas flow rate is not too low.

Three likely causes, in order of how common they are:

• The pilot thermocouple has failed; inspect, test, and replace it.
• The pilot thermocouple wiring is loose, damaged, or broken between the main panel and the thermocouple connections on the pilot; inspect and test the full run.
• The pilot temperature switch has failed and needs to be replaced.

The Hotspot Ignition System, a high-energy electric igniter available with a retractable option, is the standard fit for most stack heights. The Flame Front Generator (FFG) instead ignites the fuel-air mixture at grade level and is used on taller flares, roughly 200 feet and up, and in offshore or corrosive environments. Check your commissioning drawing or panel nameplate to confirm which one is installed, since the troubleshooting steps differ between the two.

The retractable systems use a manual winch with a stainless steel guide cable to lower the pilot assembly to grade for igniter or thermocouple service. Isolate fuel to the pilot and follow your site’s lockout/tagout procedure before lowering it. If the winch is stiff or the cable isn’t tracking smoothly, stop and contact Hero’s field service rather than forcing it, the guide cable and bearings are not field-serviceable without the correct replacement parts.

Yes. Hero’s flare and combustor pilots are engineered to API 537 and EPA 40 CFR 60.18, while thermal oxidizer burner management systems follow NFPA 86 burner safety practice in addition to 40 CFR 60.18, reflecting the enclosed, PLC-controlled combustion chamber design. Both approaches rely on the same core principle, a confirmed purge and a proven pilot before the main burner is allowed to fire.

Smoke means the gas isn’t getting enough air or turbulence to combust completely at the tip. Work through these checks in order:

• Confirm the blower is running, if your flare has one.
• Increase the blower speed, if present.
• Confirm that the flare gas composition is within the design specs.

If the flare has no blower, or the smoke continues after these checks, liquid carryover from an undersized or fouled knockout drum and a waste gas composition the flare tip wasn’t sized for are the next things to rule out. Hero’s field service team can help diagnose it if the basic checks above don’t resolve it.

An elevated flare burns at the top of a tall stack so the flame and combustion byproducts disperse well above grade, while a ground flare, also called an enclosed flare, burns inside a refractory-lined chamber that hides the flame and reduces noise and radiant heat at the fence line. This affects what’s normal to see day to day: a ground flare with no visible flame at all is operating correctly, not failed.

Purge gas, typically natural gas or nitrogen, flows continuously to keep air from migrating back into the flare header; without it, air mixing with hydrocarbon vapor inside the header creates an internal explosion risk. An interruption in purge flow should be treated as an immediate safety issue, not a minor instrumentation fault: restore flow first and have the system inspected before resuming normal operation.

EPA 40 CFR 60 Subpart OOOOb requires a minimum of 98% combustion efficiency by volume for methane and VOC destruction, which depends on the full combustion zone’s performance, not simply whether the pilot is lit. A continuously lit pilot and assist media correctly sized for your actual current gas composition are what support that efficiency; Hero can help confirm your assist media sizing if your gas composition has changed since the system was installed.

A vapor combustor, also called an enclosed combustion device (ECD) or vapor combustor unit (VCU), burns waste hydrocarbon vapor inside a tall insulated enclosure instead of at an open tip like a flare. Because the flame burns inside the stack, there is no visible flame and radiated heat and noise stay low, and the enclosure’s steady high-temperature residence time typically pushes destruction efficiency to 98% to 99.9%, higher than a typical open flare.

Yes, that is the combustor working as designed. The burner sits at the base of the enclosure and the flame burns entirely inside the insulated stack, so seeing no flame from outside the unit is the expected, correct operating condition, not a sign the pilot or burner has failed.

A Hero combustor’s burner management system (BMS) continuously monitors pilot and flame status, stack temperature with high temperature shutdown, and, on units with the optional flashback monitoring package, flame arrestor condition with an automated fail-close fuel valve. All of this reports to the panel’s LED status screen, so a fault almost always shows up there before it would be obvious from outside the unit.

Yes. Hero combustor burner management systems are available in 120VAC or battery and solar powered configurations built for remote well sites and tank batteries, and the solar configuration still runs the full automated pilot ignition and continuous flame monitoring sequence without a grid connection.

BTEX stands for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, four volatile organic compounds, benzene in particular a known carcinogen, that a glycol dehydrator’s reboiler flashes off the still column along with water vapor. A BTEX condenser cools that still-vent stream so the water and hydrocarbons condense into recoverable liquid, leaving a clean non-condensable gas to route to combustion or compression instead of venting benzene and other VOCs to atmosphere, which is what EPA NESHAP (40 CFR 63 Subparts HH and HHH) and NSPS OOOOb require. Hero’s engineers can size a condenser to your dehydrator’s still-vent flow if you don’t have one yet.

Ambient temperature directly affects how much vapor a condenser can cool and knock out, so a standard air-cooled unit recovers less on hot days. Hero’s forced-draft Scorpion design uses a fan-assisted heat exchanger specifically to hold cooling performance through warm weather without auxiliary heating; a hot-weather recovery drop beyond that is worth having the condenser and its fan checked for rather than written off as just the season.

Drain frequency depends on your gas stream’s liquid loading and the drum’s level controls. A knockout drum with automated liquid level controls drains on its own set points, while a manually drained vessel should be checked on a schedule tied to your actual liquid carryover rate rather than a fixed calendar interval, since a drum filling faster than expected is often the first sign of an upstream process change worth investigating.

Liquid carryover downstream typically shows up as a smoking flare, pilot or thermocouple problems from liquid reaching the flare tip, or unexpected liquid at equipment that should only see dry gas. If you see any of these, check the knockout drum’s liquid level and drain function before assuming the problem is with the flare or combustor itself.

Check the system at 3 months and 6 months after startup, then annually after that, or whenever you’re already performing maintenance on the upstream equipment it’s attached to. Isolate the system before starting any of these checks. The four checks below cover the pilot, the burner and combustion chamber, the safety block (waste gas) valve, and the flame arrestor.

This is Check #1 of Hero’s preventative maintenance routine. Visually inspect the high voltage and grounding wires for damage, and check the fuel gas hose for cracking, wear, or loose connections. Then inspect the pilot tip and body for debris or physical damage that could affect ignition or flame stability.

This is Check #2 of Hero’s preventative maintenance routine. Check the drilled holes in the top of the burner for blockage, which can disrupt the fuel-air mixture. Then inspect the upper combustion chamber, and what to look for depends on the chamber type:

• Unlined (stainless steel) chambers: some discoloration from silver to brown is normal; it is not itself a sign of a problem.
• Refractory-lined chambers (3-inch ceramic fiber refractory): the refractory should stay white. Check for crystallization or degradation of the refractory, and inspect the pins and keepers holding it in place. Discoloration of the exterior paint can indicate a hot spot behind it.

This is Check #3 of Hero’s preventative maintenance routine, covering the safety block valve (also called the waste gas valve). Inspect the wiring and tubing for damage, clean any traps or filters, and check for signs of heat damage.

This is Check #4 of Hero’s preventative maintenance routine. Visually check the flame arrestor for signs of flashback, such as high-temperature discoloration. If you see signs of flashback, disassemble, clean, and inspect the arrestor element, and contact Hero’s field service team with pictures before putting it back in service. Otherwise, clean the flame arrestor annually or whenever you notice decreased performance.