Glow worm boiler won't start up on its own

paulmountford · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:53 pm

If i turn the heating on it makes a noise but no pilot light and no gas burning, also nothing happens when i turn on the hot tap. i don't know if it doesn't recognise that i've turned the tap on or not.

Theres a clear and red pipe connected to what looks like the fan.
To get the boiler to work i have to turn it on then pull the clear tube off where it goes up into the boiler and quickly blow then suck and hold it to sort of create a vaccuum i presume then very quickly reattach it to the boiler. This will keep the boiler on but once it turns off i have to do the whole thing again.
Just wondering if anyone can help me as i don't want to be doing this everytime i want the heating on.
I'm going to attempt to take off the fan and clean it and check the pipes now.
any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Paul

gassafeman · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:02 pm

To quote "what looks like a fan"

Should you really be delving inside you boiler?

Im sure someone else will advise but its really not my place to Im afraid.

Paul

paulmountford · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:09 pm

well, i'd prefer to try and have a go myself if its knackered anyway then i can't do no more harm. I'm not going to mess with any of the gas lines etc. dont worry

gassafeman · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:22 pm

I agree, but what about the combustion? Leaking gas is low down on the risk of the damage you can do. What are you going to do to ensure your integrity of complete combustion? If you competent, Id expect at least 3 explained answers. Im not taking the pish here by the way.

Paul

Agile · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:36 pm

gassafeman wrote:

Im sure someone else will advise but its really not my place to Im afraid.

Paul

Well certainly I am not going to be giving any advice on gas or safety related matters.

Firstly its common sense not to encourage anyone to do work for which they may not be fully competent to undertake safely and secondly its against the forum rules anyway.

Tony

gassafeman · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:41 pm

I share your sentiments Tony. I was not advising, but merely questioning his knowledge!

Paul

paulmountford · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:43 pm

I know your not taking the pish mate and it's nice that theres people out there who care but isn't that the whole point of this forum, to fix problems thereselves with the help of other experienced and well educated people. Upto yet no-ones given me any ideas of what the problem might be.
Seriously though, i do appreciate your concerns for my safety

g20 · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:43 pm

When the boiler stopped working, what made you decide to Suck then blow on a tube to see if that would fix it?

Normally don't people who don't know what there doing just Hit things to try get them working rather than start sucking and blowing on random tubes? (sounds a bit filthy)

Anyway, more the point, sounds like the fan isn't working correctly so doesn't operate the air pressure switch, and as the fan is needed to remove the PoC's surely its not a great idea to bypass this and use the boiler?

gaspro1981 · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:50 pm

whats the model of your boiler

paulmountford · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:24 am

its a glow-worm economy plus EP40F.

well, i thought that the fan might not be working because i couldn't hear it whirring when you kick the boiler in so i did the job manually with my mouth.

Do you think i should get a new fan then or shall i just get rid and get a new boiler?

paulmountford · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:07 pm

OK, i adjusted the knob in the middle of the fan and now it will kick in by itself but it still will not heat up tap water i.e it doesn't recognise when i turn the hot tap on. any ideas?

Agile · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:28 pm

paulmountford wrote:

its a glow-worm economy plus EP40F.

Do you think i should get a new fan then or shall i just get rid and get a new boiler?

I think you should get a competent boiler engineer who specialises in repairing rather than installing to come and repair it.

Tony

paulmountford · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:40 pm

yes but why is it not recognising that the hot tap is on?

Agile · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:46 pm

I dont recognise the model number but you seem to be describing a combi.

If its not recognising a demand for hot water then the DHW demand switch would be the first suspect.

Tony

paulmountford · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:49 pm

Ok, cheers guys, i will ge someone out to have a look at it. I know i may come across as a bit nieve but i'm not stupid. i do think about things before i do them.
Thanks for the help and i'll post up to tell what the problem was.
Cheers