Glow worm Ultimate lighting problem

Napster · 13 Sep 2006

Hi

We came back from a week away to find that our boiler would not light. It is sparking but the pilot light is not getting lit. Fan is running and there is nothing else out of the ordinary. The boiler is a Glow Worm Ultimate 40FF and is eight years old.

A heating engineer came round today and has told us that it is likely a problem with the gas valve and/or the pcb, but said that someone else would need to come out to do tests. We're expecting another visit tomorrow.

Later in the day we received quotes for pcb replacement (£180 materials £220 labour) and gas valve replacement (£110 materials £210 labour) for a total of £720.

I've been through many posts on this forum (a quality resource for information by the way) and I'm concerned about the need to replace both the pcb and the gas valve. The price seems to be a bit high also.

If anyone can provide any advice on the possible problem I would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance.

andsam · 13 Sep 2006

Did he take the case off and do anything?

Or did he scratch his chin and make a guess?

corgigazza · 13 Sep 2006

If this boiler is not used for 2 weeks then the most probable fault is a !1.blocked pilot injector and 2. ignition lead/electrode shorts out to earth any good engineer can fault find on these basic boilers.

gas valves soleniods do go but they can be checked using multimeter.

Napster · 13 Sep 2006

I assume he took the case off as he told my wife that the "flap on the valve wasn't opening and that this could be a problem with the valve or the pcb".

Thanks for the advice corgigazza.

ollski · 13 Sep 2006

Is it the one where there is a blue cover behind the gas valve...if so suspect the pilot solenoid. Either way get someone else in as it is extremely unlikely to be a fault of both.

Soggy_weetabix · 13 Sep 2006

Your pilot will be blocked.

Poor design on this boiler. (2 mynute holes on the pilot injector and never repairable on lpg.)

A corgi man will diagnose this fault in 2 minutes.

Dave

geoff@cetltd · 13 Sep 2006

Napster said:
Hi

A heating engineer came round today and has told us that it is likely a problem with the gas valve and/or the pcb, but said that someone else would need to come out to do tests. We're expecting another visit tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

To say it's a problem with the gas valve and/or the pcb says to me thast he hasn't performed the simple, straightforward and obvious test of putting a meter on to see if there are 240v to the gas valve

You're probably looking at someone who will keep on replacing parts until it works ... at your expense

I think that pcbs are less than £100 new, much less reconditioned

find someone else

geoff@cetltd · 13 Sep 2006

Soggy_weetabix said:
Your pilot will be blocked.
Poor design on this boiler. (2 mynute holes on the pilot injector and never repairable on lpg.)

A corgi man will diagnose this fault in 2 minutes.

Dave

another gem ...

Agile · 13 Sep 2006

It always amazes me how people will accept the "word" of people who do not do any tests at all and say that it EITHER of two things and then quote a price of MORE than a nice new condensing boiler!

I agree that its likely to be the pilot injector blocked, thats a simple job for any CORGI should be less than £100 to fix.

Its such a simple boiler that even I would say that I would repair it for £300 or less so stop bothering with those cowboys who dont know what they are doing ( apart from ripping you off! )

Why dont you post their firms name so others can stay away!

Tony

ChrisR · 13 Sep 2006

New pcb about £120 inc vat, 5 mins to fit
New Gas valve depends which one, maybe £130, <half hour to fit
Pilot burner (probably fault) £approx £22, <half hour to fit.

£720? £220? £300? No thanks.
Could always be hard to find for some reason and take longer, but you probably get the picture.

OllieN · 14 Sep 2006

I had a similar problem on my Gloworm ultimate only it was the main gas valve not the pilot that wasn't lighting.

Swapping the main valve and pilot solenoids over fixed the problem (bizarrely - maybe it was just a loose contact) but you could try this and afterwards if your pilot lights but your main valve doesn't fire then you know that it's the soleniod. There were also a few other suggestions made by members here reagrding turning off elec and gas etc. which may prove useful. Link below

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53818

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Glow worm Ultimate lighting problem

Soggy_weetabix

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