Ancient lady tackles ancient boiler...Glow Worm 45-60

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This much loved Boiler has been kept going by replacing the thermocouple when required. However a new problem has arisen: the pilot light is good and strong but it has not fired up?
 
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Well Daisy, your boiler is old and has already passed its usual lifetime.

It is also pretty inefficient which is important when fuel costs are so high.

The obvious answer is to call and engineer to see what is wrong but bear in mind that as many parts are no longer available you will probably need to replace it.

Tony
 
the gas valve should be getting 24v if it is then its had it and part is obsolete if its not getting 24v then its could be the transformer or boiler stat providing other controls are calling ok
 
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Boiler lives to fight another day and we discover that all the bits and pieces are still in good working order! Thermo couple needed a bit more tweaking but many thanks for all your advice:)

Daisy
 
I have nothing to add to your issue (before it was fixed).

However I must say I am part of the Gloworm 45-60 Appreciation Society.

Had mine 35 years now. Not a jot of a problem for that whole time. It just chugs away. Very reliable. I will be sad when I am forced to replace it. I know soo many people who have gone through multiple combis in the time I have had this boiler..That cold winter, when many people's combis failed...not a peep....

Inefficient yes.... but reliable and will outlast multiple combis which effectively saves you money....

British gas tried to pull a fast one last year and said the rope seal had failed (and that you could not get rope seals anymore) and that it was leaking carbon monoxide and had to be capped off. I called their bluff and got an independent local engineer who said there was nothing wrong. He even replace the rope seal and found that british gas had not being servicing it properly.

So, keep it going until you are forced to replace it or it does indeed fail...
 
Hello Dishman:)
I am thoroughly heartened by your post and after an assessment visit for a new boiler..........will continue to love and nurture our GW 45-60.

many thanks for your input

Daisy
 
Both of you are totally ignoring the fact that by keeping such an old boiler you are paying about 30% more than necessary due to the inefficiency of such an old boiler.

The alternative is to replace the boiler with a heat only boiler and NOT a combi which are less reliable than the simple hot water cylinder system which you have.

The usual cost of replacing with a heat only boiler would be about £1300-£1700.

Depending on your gas consumption that can often show a very good financial return on the cost of a new boiler as a result of the increased efficiency.

Tony
 
Hello Tony
The quote we had yesterday was £4,500 and the terms were not as advertised and something we cannot pay as we are retired. So the situation is that some of us have limited choices. We also seem to have limited siting options due to our 1950's extended bungalow. I also agree with Dishman's thought on savings over a period of time. I do not believe that we could possibly recoup that sort of outlay.


Daisy
 
I have this situation with some of my elderly customers (mostly oil though).

My advice to them is to update the controls and replace inefficient cylinders. In most cases they have gravity hot water which means there is no simple boiler change.

The obligatory upgrading of the system with a new boiler, and usually new cylinder anyway, means (without meaning to be disrespectful) they'll be long dead before any cost saving benefit.
 
Hello Tibbot
Thank you for that and the recouping of efficiency benefits against age of user equation was foremost in our minds:)
 
Agile a gloworm of this age will prob be on a gravity hot water so not just a straight change is it.
Had to talk a 90 odd year old out of changing boiler as basically they would not benefit from proposed saved gas against installation cost
 
May not be the case for you, but quite often we see the kids simply not wanting their parents to spend their inheritance, which is damned annoying. :evil:

But sometimes if it ain't broke....
Then nobody likes the upheaval, which is hard to value.
As for parts - there are masses of used ones floating around. I still have a couple of blue knob and brown knob ITT/Glowworm gas valves.

If the worst happens and it packs up (barring a split/big leak) it may well take a dozen phone calls to find someone to fix it and a couple of days without the heating. It's a decent bet that would do it though.
 
I can see the more "efficient argument" in terms of replacing these old boilers, but the maths does not always add up.

As someone pointed out, these systems are gravity fed. As far as I know replacing with a modern boiler would require a pressurized system. Depending on how good the pipework is, you may end up with leaks due to the new pressure. The costs could soon mount up to bring an aged system up to standard. We were quoted upwards of £3000+ (two quotes) when British Gas tried to condemn the boiler (just before winter...nothing like a bit of seasonal pressure to make a sale).

So, new system..costing £3000...maybe saving £300 a year would take you 10 years to get it back. What is the chance of it not breaking down or even lasting 10 years with all the electronics in even the simplest of new boilers....not very good.

Furthermore, I would take a guess that many people would not be recommended to retrofit in a heat only boiler or to choose the simplest solution. In most situations people are encouraged to fit a combi boiler of some sort either due to what people think is best or just sales pressure. That just increases the installation costs further...

Furthermore, we have the side issue of material waste. How good is that for the environment. The fact these appliances last half the time (if that) before needing to be replaced.

So what is the true efficiency saving...it is hard to say. If you are planning a major renovation then of course replacing the system makes perfect sense (this is what I plan to do). But if it is working fine, and you operate it as efficiently as you can (good controls and insulated tank) then I say stick with it until fails. Even than as someone pointed out, there may not be new parts but there are still plenty of used spares floating around....

So many household appliances that were once designed for lifetime use are now becoming consumables. UPVC windows are the worst offenders. Marketed as lifetime products that do not need to be maintained, bah, they have barely made their money back in savings before they are replaced again.

Sorry to give the impression that I do not care about saving energy nor efficiency. This is not the case, I try to be as efficient as possible. But quite often people are sold a sales pitch, not the facts....
 

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