combi boiler pilot light
 

Hi,

I'm helping a friend out who is in hospital with his wife who is in
labour!
Basically the pilot light on their SIME combi boiler won't stay lit
and the pressure on the boiler is 3.25 bar when cold. It's a saturday
so not a good day for this to happen (especially as they'll be
arriving home with their first child shortly!)
Plumbers are asking £70+ just to look at it but i have a feeling they
will then say they need a part and that the wholesalers are shut till
monday, so my questions are as follows:

a) any ideas on a quick fix for this? (For someone who doesn't know
much about boilers..i doubt it somehow)
b) Is a plumber likely to need parts? If yes,then I guess it's better
not to even get them out till monday and avoid extra call out charges

what do you think?

Thanks!
Charlie

combi boiler pilot light
 

On 7 Jul, 12:30, wrote:
Hi,

I'm helping a friend out who is in hospital with his wife who is in
labour!
Basically the pilot light on their SIME combi boiler won't stay lit
and the pressure on the boiler is 3.25 bar when cold. It's a saturday
so not a good day for this to happen (especially as they'll be
arriving home with their first child shortly!)
Plumbers are asking £70+ just to look at it but i have a feeling they
will then say they need a part and that the wholesalers are shut till
monday, so my questions are as follows:

a) any ideas on a quick fix for this? (For someone who doesn't know
much about boilers..i doubt it somehow)
b) Is a plumber likely to need parts? If yes,then I guess it's better
not to even get them out till monday and avoid extra call out charges

what do you think?

Thanks!
Charlie

Firstly - the pilot light may not be a permanently lit one! You didn't
quote a model.
Secondly the pressure "should" be venting out of the safety valve at 3
bar (unless the gauge is telling lies) is the pipe discharging water
outside?
£70 sounds perfectly reasonable for a call out. Yes - parts may be
required unless you have fortunately chanced upon a guy with decent
van stock

combi boiler pilot light
 

In article .com,
writes:
Hi,
I'm helping a friend out who is in hospital with his wife who is in
labour!
Basically the pilot light on their SIME combi boiler won't stay lit

Is it meant to? I can't imagine there are many combis with
permanent pilot lights. If you mean it goes out instead of the
main burners firing up, then the control board is probably
detecting a fault during the ignition sequence.

and the pressure on the boiler is 3.25 bar when cold. It's a saturday

Sounds like either the filling loop has been left connected
with water passing through (possibly to counteract a leak),
or the plate exchanger has a leak between the two sides.

so not a good day for this to happen (especially as they'll be
arriving home with their first child shortly!)
Plumbers are asking £70+ just to look at it but i have a feeling they
will then say they need a part and that the wholesalers are shut till
monday, so my questions are as follows:
a) any ideas on a quick fix for this? (For someone who doesn't know
much about boilers..i doubt it somehow)

No.

b) Is a plumber likely to need parts? If yes,then I guess it's better
not to even get them out till monday and avoid extra call out charges
what do you think?

I doubt that will make any difference, unless they charge more
for a callout today rather than Monday.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

combi boiler pilot light
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I'm helping a friend out who is in hospital with his wife who is in
labour!

Brave of you, I would leave it to the doctors and nurses.

Basically the pilot light on their SIME combi boiler won't stay lit
and the pressure on the boiler is 3.25 bar when cold. It's a saturday
so not a good day for this to happen (especially as they'll be
arriving home with their first child shortly!)
Plumbers are asking £70+ just to look at it but i have a feeling they
will then say they need a part and that the wholesalers are shut till
monday, so my questions are as follows:

a) any ideas on a quick fix for this? (For someone who doesn't know
much about boilers..i doubt it somehow)

No quick fix, a part has failed which is why it doesn't work. It must have
gone for some time, so why did they ignore it?

b) Is a plumber likely to need parts? If yes,then I guess it's better
not to even get them out till monday and avoid extra call out charges

Why would you call a plumber to fix a boiler? A lot of plumbers do not need
to be registered with any professional body.

what do you think?

Thanks!
Charlie

Leave it to the couple, never volunteer or say you can do something when you
can't or you will be caught out again and have to post on here!

combi boiler pilot light
 

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:30:35 -0700, cynic wrote:

On 7 Jul, 12:30, wrote:
Hi,

I'm helping a friend out who is in hospital with his wife who is in
labour!
Basically the pilot light on their SIME combi boiler won't stay lit
and the pressure on the boiler is 3.25 bar when cold. It's a saturday
so not a good day for this to happen (especially as they'll be
arriving home with their first child shortly!)
Plumbers are asking £70+ just to look at it but i have a feeling they
will then say they need a part and that the wholesalers are shut till
monday, so my questions are as follows:

a) any ideas on a quick fix for this? (For someone who doesn't know
much about boilers..i doubt it somehow)
b) Is a plumber likely to need parts? If yes,then I guess it's better
not to even get them out till monday and avoid extra call out charges

what do you think?

Thanks!
Charlie

Firstly - the pilot light may not be a permanently lit one! You didn't
quote a model.

He did, it's a [Vaillant] Sime and it has a permanent pilot.


Secondly the pressure "should" be venting out of the safety valve at 3
bar (unless the gauge is telling lies) is the pipe discharging water
outside?

Separate but unhelpful problem. The discharge valve should have operated
at this level, perhaps it is and the fill loop is letting by. See SealedCH
FAQ.


£70 sounds perfectly reasonable for a call out. Yes - parts may be
required unless you have fortunately chanced upon a guy with decent
van stock

The boiler is somewhat old. It's the thermocouple £15 [1] or it's over
heating. The latter could be the end of the boiler (let's say the heat
exchanger is blocked by debris due to the perpetual filling?).

HTH

[1] Yes it's includes connections to the O/H stat so not a generic part.

--
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