Thorn warm air heater

[nemouk]

I have a problem! Came home and house had a bit of smoke and smelt of burning.(not a lot of smoke) I have a Thorn Warm air heater like 20+ years old easily - The pilot light is still on but the things no longer fires up. half way down the unit some wires go into a metal thing (I know well technical!) that is screwed in above the pilot light, I took this out and there seems to be 2 round Magnet type things that the wires are soldered to, one of these has been burnt and the wires have come off. Any ideas what this is? Why it would get burnt? and would i be stupid just to solder them back on?

Thanks!

 

[Agile]

It might be the gas valve! It sounds as if it has definately failed whatever it is.

I very strongly recommend that you get a competent CORGI engineer who is registered to work on warm air units.

Tony Glazier

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

Get a CORGI man in. I suspect you have not had the unit serviced in the last 12 months

David

 

[nemouk]

One of the wires that comes out of it goes into the bottom of the Gas Valve if that is any help......

 

[nemouk]

Service you say - I tried but i cannot find anyone who deals with Warm Air heaters of this kind, i have called around 10 places

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

I deal with this model, and when did you have it last serviced?

Sooting occurs due to lack of service which is why we ask. Your unit may be unsafe to use until it has been serviced by a CORGI regidtered engineer.

David

 

[nemouk]

never been serviced..... what would the cost be? and do you know anyone who deals with these units near me - south east surrey area

 

[ollski]

I would guess that yours is probably going the same way as this one I saw the other day through lack of servicing....they only got someting done because the carbon monoxide alarm was going nuts.

 

[nemouk]

Point taken - I will get mine serviced asap!

 

[pierrot]

possibly the limit/fan stat, it may well be smelling of burning because the fan isnt coming on and running. if the burner has fired up and the stat is broken it may well run for a few minutes at the main burner before cutting out again, often giving off a nasty burning smell.
I can not empathies enough how important it is to get warm air units regularly serviced. these are very dangerous appliances if not looked after correctly.

 

[nemouk]

It was the Fan limit thing you spoke of - I have soldered it back together and Boiler now fires up - but only lasts around 5 mins and shuts down again. FAN spinning but very slowly. Do i need to replace the limit switch?

 

[Baxmax]

What you need to do is get a corgi man and stop scaring the **** out of us.....

 

[nemouk]

thanks for that..... British gas coming round to quote for whole new system..... Bout time the whole thing got ripped out anyway.
Cheers for the help all

 

[pierrot]

thanks for that..... British gas coming round to quote for whole new system..... Bout time the whole thing got ripped out anyway.
Cheers for the help all

British gas, are you mad.why dont you just burn 5 pound notes it`l probably be cheaper. they charge twice as much as anybody else.

 

[nemouk]

I just dont have a clue.... Its never gone wrong before.... Any ideas on who to call for my quote? I live in the south near gatwick...