Hi All!
Would really appreciate if anybody could advise.
I inherited with my house a really old Glow-Worm boiler, model 40/52 I believe. It's a big old green beast for an open-vented system. It is slightly modified in the sense that at some point in it's history the mechanical timer on the boiler front panel must have stopped turning; the owners in their wisdom chose not to replace the faulty unit but instead left it in an "on" position and installed an external timer which sits in line with the electric supply to the boiler.
A couple of days the boiler stopped operating and we found the pilot light out
. With the front cover off the boiler there is a blue ignition control rotary switch which can be in the "off", "pilot" or "on" positions. There is text saying "push to reset". When in the "pilot" position the switch can be depressed, at which time I can hear the pilot gas being expelled but nothing much else happens. I would have expected to hear the click of a piezoelectric spark happening, but no! There is no mechanical click either as the button is depressed.
We thought perhaps that the piezo was kernackered so tried using a cooker match (perhaps not recommended, but it was cold...). The pilot took flame, we held the button for 20 seconds before moving the switch to the "on" position, but the pilot goes out after anything between a few seconds and a couple of minutes of operation. We were able at one point to fire the boiler up, but only for a minute or so before the pilot goes down again.
The external timer I mention is operating, and I believe power to be reaching the top control module on the boiler as I can hear a relay going in there somewhere when I switch the external timer to "on". It seems like the piezo isn't operating and it would appear that some kind of safety cut off switch is shutting off the pilot, so perhaps I have no power reaching the lower part of the boiler? (there is a power feed from the top down to the ignition area).
If anybody has experience with these boilers and can offer any advice I would really appreciate it. Unfortunately the most sensible option of installing a modern boiler is out of the question as I simply don't have the money available to me. I will likely end up getting a CORGI guy out, but I've got a leaking roof and a garage bill to pay so there just isn't any money left!! If there's anything relatively simple I can try (my mate is a sparky) then I'd rather, but it's getting cold so I may have to bite the bullet...
I should mention that my girlfriend reckons the house lights tripped out and she had to reset a breaker at around the time the pilot went out. She can't say for sure if this is exactly when it stopped working.. I was away at the time.
Thanks in advance,
Richard.
Would really appreciate if anybody could advise.
I inherited with my house a really old Glow-Worm boiler, model 40/52 I believe. It's a big old green beast for an open-vented system. It is slightly modified in the sense that at some point in it's history the mechanical timer on the boiler front panel must have stopped turning; the owners in their wisdom chose not to replace the faulty unit but instead left it in an "on" position and installed an external timer which sits in line with the electric supply to the boiler.
A couple of days the boiler stopped operating and we found the pilot light out
. With the front cover off the boiler there is a blue ignition control rotary switch which can be in the "off", "pilot" or "on" positions. There is text saying "push to reset". When in the "pilot" position the switch can be depressed, at which time I can hear the pilot gas being expelled but nothing much else happens. I would have expected to hear the click of a piezoelectric spark happening, but no! There is no mechanical click either as the button is depressed.We thought perhaps that the piezo was kernackered so tried using a cooker match (perhaps not recommended, but it was cold...). The pilot took flame, we held the button for 20 seconds before moving the switch to the "on" position, but the pilot goes out after anything between a few seconds and a couple of minutes of operation. We were able at one point to fire the boiler up, but only for a minute or so before the pilot goes down again.
The external timer I mention is operating, and I believe power to be reaching the top control module on the boiler as I can hear a relay going in there somewhere when I switch the external timer to "on". It seems like the piezo isn't operating and it would appear that some kind of safety cut off switch is shutting off the pilot, so perhaps I have no power reaching the lower part of the boiler? (there is a power feed from the top down to the ignition area).
If anybody has experience with these boilers and can offer any advice I would really appreciate it. Unfortunately the most sensible option of installing a modern boiler is out of the question as I simply don't have the money available to me. I will likely end up getting a CORGI guy out, but I've got a leaking roof and a garage bill to pay so there just isn't any money left!! If there's anything relatively simple I can try (my mate is a sparky) then I'd rather, but it's getting cold so I may have to bite the bullet...
I should mention that my girlfriend reckons the house lights tripped out and she had to reset a breaker at around the time the pilot went out. She can't say for sure if this is exactly when it stopped working.. I was away at the time.
Thanks in advance,
Richard.
