Glow Worm - Hot Water Express 80 - Not Firing Up
 

Hello every one..

My boiler is an old Worm Hot Water Express 80, the hot water or central heating don't work. I don't have any of the original documentation so I would be greatfull if anyone who has some could either send me it or point me in the right direction...

At first the pilot light wouldn't light, so I assumed it may be the Thermocouple so I have changed this. I can not relaiably relight the pilot without it going out. The pilot light stays on for at least two hours so I suspect the thermocouple etc is now ok.

When I turn the tap hot water on the main burner turns on but within about 5 seconds the main burner goes out and also the pilot light. The thermocouple cooks and there is a click which I suspect is the pilot gas been cut off? I then have to wait 5 mins until I can relight the pilot.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what this could be.... Could it be a ventelation problem or something over heating? .... I've tried to clean the inside of the boiler with a vacume but that didn't help.



Anyone any ideas?



Thanks for your time

Daz.

Glow Worm - Hot Water Express 80 - Not Firing Up
 

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:17:27 +0100, dazzlera wrote:


Hello every one..

My boiler is an old Worm Hot Water Express 80, the hot water or central
heating don't work. I don't have any of the original documentation so I
would be greatfull if anyone who has some could either send me it or
point me in the right direction...

At first the pilot light wouldn't light, so I assumed it may be the
Thermocouple so I have changed this. I can not relaiably relight the
pilot without it going out. The pilot light stays on for at least two
hours so I suspect the thermocouple etc is now ok.

When I turn the tap hot water on the main burner turns on but within
about 5 seconds the main burner goes out and also the pilot light. The
thermocouple cooks and there is a click which I suspect is the pilot
gas been cut off? I then have to wait 5 mins until I can relight the
pilot.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what this could be.... Could it be a
ventelation problem or something over heating? .... I've tried to clean
the inside of the boiler with a vacume but that didn't help.



Anyone any ideas?

Almost certainly.
The boiler is over heating. This is due to something stopping the flow of
water through the main heat exchanger, of which there are upteen possible
internal and external causes.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

Thanks for the reply....

Before I call an expensive plumber I would like to get to the bottom of this myself!!! :)

Running the ho****er tap when the boiler is on starts the burner and as I've stated warm water runs until it turns it's self completley off therefore I can assume for sure that any valves are open and water is free to flow? Also running the water really slowly also increases the time the boiler remains lit

Could the possability be a duff temperature sensor?

If some one could give me a list of the possabilites I'd like to have a go.


Cheers

D.

Glow Worm - Hot Water Express 80 - Not Firing Up
 

On Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:06:23 +0100, dazzlera wrote:


Ed Sirett Wrote:
On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:17:27 +0100, dazzlera wrote:
-

Hello every one..

My boiler is an old Worm Hot Water Express 80, the hot water or
central
heating don't work. I don't have any of the original documentation so
I
would be greatfull if anyone who has some could either send me it or
point me in the right direction...

At first the pilot light wouldn't light, so I assumed it may be the
Thermocouple so I have changed this. I can not relaiably relight the
pilot without it going out. The pilot light stays on for at least two
hours so I suspect the thermocouple etc is now ok.

When I turn the tap hot water on the main burner turns on but within
about 5 seconds the main burner goes out and also the pilot light.
The
thermocouple cooks and there is a click which I suspect is the pilot
gas been cut off? I then have to wait 5 mins until I can relight the
pilot.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what this could be.... Could it be a
ventelation problem or something over heating? .... I've tried to
clean
the inside of the boiler with a vacume but that didn't help.



Anyone any ideas?-

Almost certainly.
The boiler is over heating. This is due to something stopping the flow
of
water through the main heat exchanger, of which there are upteen
possible
internal and external causes.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ
http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he
http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards






Thanks for the reply....

Before I call an expensive plumber I would like to get to the bottom of
this myself!!! :)

Running the ho****er tap when the boiler is on starts the burner and
as I've stated warm water runs until it turns it's self completley off
therefore I can assume for sure that any valves are open and water is
free to flow? Also running the water really slowly also increases the
time the boiler remains lit

Could the possibility be a duff temperature sensor?

If some one could give me a list of the possabilites I'd like to have a
go.

Although I'm not familiar with this precise model - boilers which turn off
the pilot light to 'lock-out' are almost certain to have a simple
normally-closed fixed temperature thermostat in series with the
thermocouple.

You need to really work out if the boiler is over heating or not.
There might be quite a number of things that could cause the symptoms.
The fact that it takes longer before tripping when you run the water
slowly might means something. This is one of those problems that quite
likely means there is no substitute for experience and 'being there'.
Sorry to sound so dismissive.

I'm fairly sure the one things it's not is the thermocouple.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

Glow Worm - Hot Water Express 80 - Not Firing Up
 

On Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:06:23 +0100, dazzlera
wrote:

Running the ho****er tap when the boiler is on starts the burner and
as I've stated warm water runs until it turns it's self completley off
therefore I can assume for sure that any valves are open and water is
free to flow? Also running the water really slowly also increases the
time the boiler remains lit

Could the possability be a duff temperature sensor?

If some one could give me a list of the possabilites I'd like to have a
go.

I think you are missing a ****, yes definitely missing a ****, that's
the problem with posting via diybanter, they stop the ****'s getting
through. Maybe you didn't notice the missing **** but I think everyone
else did.

You see ho****er has a **** but you can't see it, and hot water hasn't
a **** in the first place and so even though they look basically the
same, one has a **** and you can't see it, the other hasn't a **** and
you can't see it but the absence of a **** doesn't cause a problem.

You're not from S****horpe are you? if you were and had a problem with
your ho****er then you'd could also be missing a ....

well you get the idea.

Ho****er eh? **** of a job to sort out.


--

I've now managed to get the boiler to work, for just over 3 weeks!... The problem was the fan, it wasn't going round. I got the old fan to go with a little push to start it off and the hot water worked, so I changed the fan thinking this would solve the problem.... It then turned out that the pump had gone, I had a plumber round (friend of a friend) and he told me to replace it so I did... Every thing worked ok for about 3 weeks, when all of a sudden the boiler started to kind of make a clicking sound, fire up for about a minute and then fire off. After a cpl of days it don't fire up any more!....

I've found there was a small leak and over three weeks the system depressurized from 1.5 to under 1. I remember when it gets to 1 it auto cuts off. I've repressurized the system but not hot water or heating. Pilot stays lit, I think the pump is going round as if a place a scren driver to it I can hear the pump make a wizing noise. The boiler no longer fires up, the pump gets hot, though I can touch it. I guess this is heat from the pilot been transfered via the pipes etc. The pipes coming from the pump though are no way as hot as the pump itself!... .

Anyone any further ideas?

Daz.

bout 5 months down the line I think I've got this thing fixed and living with hot water is wonderfull, guess it's the small things in life that you take for granted, hot water being one of those....

Thank you to everyone who posted in response to my question and all the other problems, by reading all of the posts I kind of worked out how to fix the boiler, ok 5 months was a long time but it's finally working! The thing for me was been a tight person I wanted to save some money (nowt wrong with that, well I do come from Yorkshire - bah-tat) and most importantly I saw it as a challenge.

Just in case anyone has similar problems these are some tips I learn't in no particular order, some are common sense (guess I lacked a bit of this)

Thermocouples - B&Q stock a universal one's but there half price at the local plumbers merchant and I even got the specfic thermocouple for the boiler! It took me 3 attempts to fix a new one and about 3 days!

If the boiler fires up but then cuts out check the fan (i.e it goes round) Sounds simple but it took me a month to work this bit out! If the fan works check the pump, I eventually worked up the courge to unscrew the end and stick a screw driver in. Water came out, but not too much but at least it proved that there was water in the pump. Sounds daft but I wasn't sure at one stage. Also you should be able to hear of feel the vibs from the pump spinning...

I should have done this step at the start, contact the manufacture and ask them for technical documentation. Glow worm didn't have any literature for my stone age boiler on their website so I emailed them and they posted it 1st class in the post to me, it took 3 days from email to getting it... This included loads of fault finding flow charts, which eventually led me to work out the problem

Parts - You can get lots of working 2nd hand parts on ebay. I'm a technie by trade but forgot about ebay until I need a circuit board, where I got one for 15 quid, 135 cheaper than the shop price!

I'm not 100% sure on this but it seemed because the boiler wasn't working for such a long time things started to break through lack of use. Fan broke, then the pump failed and finally a circuit board!

Pub - Go a tell everyone at the pub your boiler is knackered, someone's bound to have an idea of the problem! - I've fixed mine now (touch wood) and got a plumber m8 to check it over and no problems!

Trade - In the pub find a plumber and trade your skills for his!... I've now a computer down stairs that needs fixing ! lol


Ok.. enough of that... The above are my experiences.. I don't hold any prof qualification in anything to do with boilers, so take them as you will........ It's all light hearted etc, but you've for to have a sense of humor having no or little hot water for 5 months!

Glow Worm - Hot Water Express 80 - Not Firing Up
 

In message , dazzlera
writes
Parts - You can get lots of working 2nd hand parts on ebay. I'm a
technie by trade but forgot about ebay until I need a circuit board,
where I got one for 15 quid, 135 cheaper than the shop price!


You wouldn't believe the number of pcbs I get in to repair from people
who have bought "working" boards off Ebay


--
geoff