My oil boiler started locking out intermittently a while ago but would always run again after the reset (orange lit soft plastic) button was pressed.
It gradually got worse - locking out more frequently - but would always fire up again with a reset.
We had the boiler serviced by an unknown quantity - who we were not impressed with (poor customer facing skills, to say the least) - in the hope that would settle things down, as it had not been done for a couple of years. Unfortunately, our previous chap's phone number had gone out of service and we couldn't trace him.
Since the service, the boiler has been on permanent lockout, i.e. when you press the reset button, the pre-firing 'whooshing' sound happens for about 15 seconds, then it goes straight to lockout, without the satisfying 'whump' of it firing up.
I have downloaded a copy of the user manual and have had a look at the photo cell but can't see what to clean really. It's just a thin plastic tube with a tiny glass thing in the end of it and what looks like a couple of minute bits of solder or something at the end of the glass bit. I did give it a wipe but it has made no difference.
My question is, is there a logical set order of things to check, starting with the cheapest, so I can replace bits one by one and discover the fault through a process of elimination? Or is there a 'most likely' thing to replace first?
It gradually got worse - locking out more frequently - but would always fire up again with a reset.
We had the boiler serviced by an unknown quantity - who we were not impressed with (poor customer facing skills, to say the least) - in the hope that would settle things down, as it had not been done for a couple of years. Unfortunately, our previous chap's phone number had gone out of service and we couldn't trace him.
Since the service, the boiler has been on permanent lockout, i.e. when you press the reset button, the pre-firing 'whooshing' sound happens for about 15 seconds, then it goes straight to lockout, without the satisfying 'whump' of it firing up.
I have downloaded a copy of the user manual and have had a look at the photo cell but can't see what to clean really. It's just a thin plastic tube with a tiny glass thing in the end of it and what looks like a couple of minute bits of solder or something at the end of the glass bit. I did give it a wipe but it has made no difference.
My question is, is there a logical set order of things to check, starting with the cheapest, so I can replace bits one by one and discover the fault through a process of elimination? Or is there a 'most likely' thing to replace first?