Boiler pilot won't relight

morning

my central heating was getting very slow to warm up with some rads not working, so i suspected it might be sludged up. a couple of weeks before christmas i drained the system down and added some x400. When i tried to refill, it was very difficult, I ended up cutting out my cold feed tee to see if that was blocked but it wasn't. Anyway after several hours, i managed to get it refilled, and my heating was back on.

this weekend i drained the system, and the water was fairly black. i was going to fill it up and re flush it out, but again had a problem refilling it. I ended up having to switch the pump on to draw some water into the system, after which it filled under gravity. the central heating fired, but only a couple of rads got warm this time. i fully bled all rads (with pump off), and opened up the screw on the front of the pump (grundfoss 15-50). while doing this, i noticed the pump was not working on settings 1 and 2, but was turning on setting 3.

After switching the pump between the three settings some air expanded into the system (it was ratting up through the boiler). I left it at that, but after a couple of hours i noticed the rad that was warm, was now cold. I looked at the boiler (glow-worm economy plus) and the pilot was out.

I tried to light the pilot, but i could not (gas valve button pressed in for a minute). I had my thermocouple replaced last year (when it could not be relit).

any ideas as to what may have happened? and why i can't relight the pilot.

thanks

Think theres a Pilot interrupter on those,its gone to overheat cause you were pizzing about with the pump,needs resseting on the interrupter on flow pipe

But isn't the o/h stat withing the combustion chamber which should only be opened by a gas enginer?

It sounds as if the pump may be sludged up and therefore difficult to turn that it will only move on the "3" setting.

Your system seems to be in a very dirty condition and may need power flushing.

Why do you use X400 which takes 4-6 weeks when you could use X800 which only takes 2-4 hours?

Tony

thanks slapper. how would i reset the pilot interupter?

thanks agile

i considered x800, but not being a plumber was not sure about the effect on my boiler of the harsher chemical, so i opted for the 'safer' option. it took me about 4 hours to refill the ststem anyway, so having not to empty it 4 hours after that was probably for the best (for my sanity)

cheers

Both X400 and X800 are non acidic and relatively mild compared with the citric acid based sludge removers.

As they are mild their efficiency is limited to loosening deposits whereas the acid based products actually dissolve oxides.

Tony

Thanks Agile

i'll bear the x800 in mind next time. I am going to fit a new pump at the weekend before i do anything else. maybe i should get a magnaclean as well.. If i do, could i put x800 in the system and leave it in there... emptying the crap out via the magnaclean?

my final question if anyone could be so kind as to tell me...............

does anyone know how to reset a pilot interruptor on a glow worm economy plus so i can get my boiler going again?

thanks in advance

I know but because I think its in an area which should only be accessed by a gas engineer I cannot tell you on a forum.

Tony

OK cheers Agile

How much do you think I should be charged by a gas safe engineer to reset it?

Thanks

We would treat it as a service at £55 but I cannot speak for anyone else.

But check in Instructions or by calling the manufacturer just to be certain its inside as I think.

Whenever you drain or are refilling a system the boiler should be turned off until you are sure all the air has been got out. But you need to run the pump as part of the refilling process.

Tony

thanks for your help tony. i bled everything (twice) before turning the boiler on. i'll fit a new pump this weekend and have a look at the state of the pipes by the pump and motorized valve.... then call an engineer to reset it.

cheers

if anyone has the same problem....

i had a gas safe engineer come around to look at this........


The OH stat cannot be manually reset on this and requires replacement. He tells me the part may be difficult to find though as the boiler is circa 1996

thanks for anyone who offered advice

The OH stat cannot be manually reset on this and requires replacement. He tells me the part may be difficult to find though as the boiler is circa 1996

Click to expand...

Stuff and nonsense.
I don't know exactly which boiler you have , but that part is widely in stock in the main national spares chain, for the two likely boilers I just checked.

Let me guess the phrase "new boiler" was mentioned??

thanks

no, he actually came back to me this morning telling me the part was available. he is coming tomorrow to replace it. i just don't think he was familiar with the particular boiler.

no mention of a new boiler at all