jack sparks

[jack sparks]

Hello fellow tradesmen,
I am not a plumber nor do I live in the UK but I do have a common interest, working with metals. For most of my working life I have taught hundreds of tradesmen the arts of Arc, Gas, TIG and MIG welding. I am now of course in my twilight years, having just celebrated my 78th birthday. I was always a DIY person and in fact installed my own gas central heating system over twenty years ago. However recently I came across a problem I could not fix and decided to seek help. I always called in a gas service engineer for an annual service and everything worked well until the last service. When the service person left my boiler stopped working. I called him back and he just tightened a new thermocouple he had fitted. However the system worked for awhile then there was a click and the flame went out. Over the last several months I relit the pilot light and things would work for a few days then click and the flames went out. My system is a Glow-worm space saver 50 B.F. and is over 20 years old. My options seem to be a spare part (Gas Valve) or a new boiler.
Can anyone advise?

Jack Sparks

 

[Puddle]

Well it could be a faulty thermo couple fitted or pilot jet requires leaning,pilot spreader could be split but would expect pilot to go out within hour of operation if this the case
It could be the boiler thermostat out of calibration causing overheating,turn boiler stat down slightly see what happens
But you say boiler stays on for a few days then goes out,so the first thing I would do is clean out the heat exchanger outer fins,these block up and restrict flow of burnt gases through the heat exchanger and causes pilot to be pulled away from thermocouple
in the early stages you can look at the burner and all looks fine but every now and then the flame lifts slightly

 

[Bernie2]

You can test a thermocouple with an accurate millivolt reading meter. But if you haven't got one its probably cheaper to change the thermocouple.

Being over 60 can you get a repair or new boiler on the governments Warm Front scheme? Save you a lot of cash. But go careful, apparently there was a bit of a reported scam going on with Warm Front contractors.

As I remember its supposed to work a bit like this:

The installer comes and gives you a price that goes over the grant. You then pay the difference between your grant and the price. In reality its said the boilers could be installed within the grant price.

I must admit it was some time ago I heard it on the media, so the chances are its been fixed by now. But if they give you a price that goes over the grant, check it out with a few local Plumbers before you say yes.