I wouldn't dare to suggest that I was better then others . It's all perception anyway, and if you perceive me to be better or worse, then others, then be my guest
All I was trying to get across was a thank you, and information that might be of use to someone somewhere at sometime in the future. Just paying back.
It's a resistor in series with the mains live supply, via a 3 amp fuse. If there had been a major problem on the board, the fuse would have failed. The resistor feeds via a drop capacitor, a low voltage rectifier and zener diode which supplies the gas valve solenoid and spark generator circuits. I didn't look at any more of the PCB, as it wasn't neccessary in this case.
The resistor probably failed through normal old age, or an adverse environment over time. I did however notice that the PCB I inspected to check on the original value, was a newer design and although the resistor was the same type, it was mounted on the board slightly differently, although I wouldn't expect that to have much of an effect.
Some resistors in circuits are designed to be sacrificial in case of a fault, when they act as fuses and blow. I decided in this case, it probably wasn't being used as such, just a current limiter into the low voltage supply stage, of the AC mains.
regards,