BOILER BREAKDOWN

Very often we are called to a job when the customer has said their boiler has broken down and in fact it is only the heating, which has gone wrong.

There are a few things that you can do just to try to establish what is happening before you call us out.

If you have lost hot water and heating then, yes, the boiler probably has packed up!

Many boilers today are electronic and have an automatic ignition system.

All you can do with these is: -

Make sure the power is on
Is the pump running? (The pump and the boiler run off the same electrical supply wire from the timer)
Is there a reset button you can press in?
Does the boiler fire up and go off again? If so you may be low on water or you have an air lock.

Please do not delve inside the control box in the boiler as you will probably do more damage and not have the spare parts anyway. It may also be live!

If you have an older type of boiler with a pilot light, the pilot may have gone out.

The instructions for lighting are usually written on the boiler somewhere.

As a quick list (which may not apply to you).

Turn timer to off.
Wait 3 minutes.
Find your main gas button which when pressed in will let the gas go to the pilot. And find the ignition button (or match as required).
Press in the main gas button, (this will let the gas go to the pilot jet) and hold in.
At the same time press the igniter button (or light with a match). This can take a minute or so. Keep gas button held in even when lit.
When the pilot gas has been lit for about one minute, slowly release the button.
If the pilot goes out, wait 3 minutes before retrying.

TIP

You may need to give a good firm push on the gas valve before releasing it just to make the connection work. There is a sensor in the boiler which turns off the gas if the pilot is not on. By pressing the gas valve down you are restarting the sensor.

CHECK

Check that the flame is burning blue and if you have not had the boiler serviced for more than a year, it would be best to get it checked out.