Glow Worm Space Saver 38 cf

[bewdley13]

British Gas came to service my boiler on annual contract - when he left, he had broken it - tells me the gas valve has gone, even though it had been working perfectly well up until yesterday!

So - I think I've found a new one here - does anyone here know if this will fit the bill?



Any help greatly appreciated!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Glowworm-K904...&otn=3&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=8246471676354046255[/url]

 

[Agile]

You dont say what kind of contract but surely if he broke it then they should replace it?

Its not wise for a customer to obtain gas parts and expect others to fit them anyway.

Tony

 

[bewdley13]

Hi

many thanks for your reply.

He claims that the valve could've gone at any time given the age of the boiler. It was pure coincidence - he says.

So he has capped the supply, and left us without any gas to heat the water/heating etc.

He says that the valve for the boiler is now obsolete - but the guy on ebay assures me that that valve will fit the boiler as its a maclaren, and so is the original one.

 

[namsag]

Yes it is the correct valve.
And it is not unusual for a gas valve to fail during a service . Work perfectly well till pilot turned off then will not relight. No ones fault just one of those things
.
If pilot is lit there is sometimes a fuse in the wire that supplies the gas valve check this has not blown.


Strange he capped boiler what fault did he say it had

 

[bewdley13]

Yes it is the correct valve.
And it is not unusual for a gas valve to fail during a service . Work perfectly well till pilot turned off then will not relight. No ones fault just one of those things
.
If pilot is lit there is sometimes a fuse in the wire that supplies the gas valve check this has not blown.


Strange he capped boiler what fault did he say it had

Just said that the gas valve had gone. That was all. This means that it's not safe.

Here's a photo of mine - it's not 100% the same as the blue is less on the new one.

[/img]

 

[bewdley13]

Basically what happened was, the engineer serviced it, turned it back on, then after about 60 seconds, it went off - but the pilot stayed alight.

 

[gas_man_gaz]

how much is the gas valve?

 

[bewdley13]

how much is the gas valve?

See top post - it's £229!!! But as its for a boiler fitted on an inside wall and flued up a chimney, this is far chaeper than having a new boiler system fitted - the gas engineer told me you can't have boilers fitted like that anymore and that as I live in a terraced house it would have to be a new one fitted in the loft with the flue out of the roof! How much would that cost me, I wonder!!

 

[gas_man_gaz]

£229 think me uncle has a couple in the garage

 

[namsag]

Can be a mixture of two things.
Gas valve has gone or the transformer that supplies it with 24v has gone and is giving out too much voltage thus burning out the elecrtical side of gas valve.
This needs checking before new valve is fitted

 

[bewdley13]

Can be a mixture of two things.
Gas valve has gone or the transformer that supplies it with 24v has gone and is giving out too much voltage thus burning out the elecrtical side of gas valve.
This needs checking before new valve is fitted

I've printed off your advice - after calming down a little, I've decided to get British Gas back in to fit the new valve, as a local gasman wants £150 to fit it and reconnect the supply, whereas British Gas will do all that as part of the home service agreement. I will show the engineer your messages, as I'm not 100% confident that they know what they're doing to be honest! I know I should be, but I'm not, given what has happened.

At these prices for valves, the last thing I want is for the new valve to go because they haven't checked everything else first. If it turns out to be the transformer, or whatever, then I'll keep the new valve just in case!!

My only concern now is that British Gas might refuse to fit the new valve as it is not absolutely identical to the one it's replacing (see ebay link and my photo above)

 

[bewdley13]

Here's a better photo of the 'broken' valve...as you can see it differs 'cosmetically' from the one I've purchased on ebay, in that there is less 'blue plastic' on the new one.

Here's the ebay one again...

[/img]

 

[Agile]

Did the BG engineer ever measure the voltage applied to the gas valve coil?

It will be an expensive mistake if there is no voltage being applied!

If the coil has failed thats usually gone open circuit. Can you measure the coil resistance? I would expect something like 240 ohms.

Previously if I had an old one I would have thrown it out. It seems that I should keep them in future!

Tony

 

[nicknox]

If you want BG to fit the new gas valve it will have to be

1. the correct valve
2. unused.
3. in manufacturers packaging.

If none of the above, then I'm afraid you've had it

 

[bewdley13]

Right, the new gas valve has arrived - slightly different to the one advertised (he had 2 for sale). The screws on the right on the original for connecting the 2 wires are at the bottom instead of on the top.

Can anyone conform that it's still a viable replacement for the original one.

It says its a K9049.

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