----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Baker"
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 8:43 PM
Subject: Boiler pilot light went out
Subject: Boiler pilot light went out
From: "David Hearn"
Date: 24/10/03 19:34 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:
Our boiler pilot light went out today. Not sure when - the heating was
working this morning, but wasn't by about 2pm when my wife got home and
turned it back on.
I had some trouble getting it to stay lit - I kept the gas button pressed
in
for 30 seconds as per the instructions, but it didn't stay lit when I
stopped pressing it. In the end I turned the boiler thermostat to
something
other than 'Off' (which the instructions said it should be on). When I
released the gas button, the main burner fired up and it stayed lit.
When
the main burner turned off later, pilot was still lit. 
Now - any idea what may have caused this? Problem with the boiler I
would
assume - the chance of the gas running out is low. Its an old Baxi wall
mounted boiler.
Possibly the pilot light thermocouple starting to fail. Get a universal
one
from your nearest shed or plumb centre. Under a tenner and a few minutes
to
fit. Best to keep a spare handy anyway as they only last a few years.
Are they really universal? I just want to make sure. We had our old boiler
serviced (requirement of house purchasers) and they replaced the
thermocouple at a cost of £15 or so. I've seen them in Screwfix for about
£4. If I was to buy 2 (just in case they wanted to replace both) - what's
the chance they'll use my ones? If I can get two for £10, that's better
than potentially being charged £30 + VAT.
As for fitting it myself, from what I can see, I'd need to take the front of
the boiler itself off to fit the thermocouple - something I don't really
want to do. I have a healthy trust for gas etc - and whilst I may well be
able to do things with it safely (if asking the right questions and taking
it slowly) - I'm certainly not 'competant'.
When I'd got the boiler working again, I saw that the burner would pulse
orange. It would be blue, then you'd hear a bit of a 'woosh' and it went
bright orange (whole burner) and then went blue again. It kept doing
this
on a 5 second or so cycle. After its been on for a couple of hours, its
burning continuous blue again. Oh, and when it went 'woosh' you could
see a
little puff of something come out the whole where the top thermocouple
comes
out - which worried me.
Therefore I've booked the boiler in for a service on the 3rd Nov - its
the
first time we'll have had it serviced since we moved here in May. Looks
like its not been serviced in a while (though the pilot thermocouple
looks
quite clean and shiny!). We've had a little CO check thing next to the
boiler, and it hasn't gone dark. Since noticing the puff of something, I
moved the CO check thing to just above the thermocouple hole and I think
its
gone a little darker than it may have - but its certainly not "grey or
black" as the thing says to check for.
So - any initial thoughts about the cause of the pilot light going out?
Any
problems you think I've got with my boiler? I certainly don't want to
have
to replace it!
I was already planning on getting it serviced - just made sure I did it
now!
Thanks
Waste of time having boilers serviced IMO. While the boiler is running tap
the
gas pipe where it runs into the burner a few times with a lump of wood.
That'll
dislodge any crap in it. You'll see the flame flare orange each time you
do it
and then it should settle back to blue. As long as the flame is blue
everything
is fine.
My parents never had their boiler serviced (at least,
AFAIK), and I'm
inclined to do the same. However, as we didn't have the boiler fitted, its
old, and it does sometimes burn yellow and things (slight bang from it
sometimes - I think when the boiler turns off possibly) - I'd just like it
checked (maybe pressure checked etc) and then from then on, keep an eye on
it myself.
Thanks
D