Managed to fix my gas boiler last night - the pilot light had shrunk
to a tiny, tiny flame due to the hole filling with crud. I cleaned out
the hole and today it is working fine.

However - the flame sensor and pilot light assembly was in a bit of a
state - rusty, covered in crap. Where can I buy new bits? I don't
suppose B&Q stocks this type of thing - they wouldn't want to
encourage DIY on gas boilers I'm sure. But I'm not keen to pay some
bozo to come and change these rudimentary parts.

The boiler is pretty old - Gloworm I think. Must be 15-20 years old.

Are there suppliers willing/able to sell to Joe Public?

cheers

Jeremy

"Jeremy Taylor" wrote in message
m...
Managed to fix my gas boiler last night - the pilot light had shrunk
to a tiny, tiny flame due to the hole filling with crud. I cleaned out
the hole and today it is working fine.

However - the flame sensor and pilot light assembly was in a bit of a
state - rusty, covered in crap. Where can I buy new bits? I don't
suppose B&Q stocks this type of thing - they wouldn't want to
encourage DIY on gas boilers I'm sure. But I'm not keen to pay some
bozo to come and change these rudimentary parts.

The boiler is pretty old - Gloworm I think. Must be 15-20 years old.

Are there suppliers willing/able to sell to Joe Public?

My boiler is a similarly aged Gloworm. The flame sensor is, hopefully,
replaceable by a universal replacement thermocouple which can be obtained at
B&Q for a few pounds (I replaced mine recently) - they fail quite
regularly. The pilot light assembly is an entirely different matter. They
do get rusty but if yours is actually falling to bits, you may have a
problem. The pilot thermocouple is probably in series with the other safety
device, the boiler overtemperature cutout. These can fail as well.

The pilot system is generally fail-safe, ie the problem is keeping it going,
not stopping it going when it shouldn't be. If the pilot light is staying
alight, and the boiler is operating correctly, I would leave well alone. I
hope, when you had it to bits, you gave the heat exchanger fins a good clean
out. Allowing these to soot up is a Bad Thing. It would be worth buying a
universal thermocouple as it's bound to go when the shops are shut!


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

In message , Jeremy
Taylor writes
Managed to fix my gas boiler last night - the pilot light had shrunk
to a tiny, tiny flame due to the hole filling with crud. I cleaned out
the hole and today it is working fine.

However - the flame sensor and pilot light assembly was in a bit of a
state - rusty, covered in crap. Where can I buy new bits? I don't
suppose B&Q stocks this type of thing - they wouldn't want to
encourage DIY on gas boilers I'm sure. But I'm not keen to pay some
bozo to come and change these rudimentary parts.

The boiler is pretty old - Gloworm I think. Must be 15-20 years old.

Are there suppliers willing/able to sell to Joe Public?

Yes, they're called central heating merchants

More information than "Glowworm, I think" might be useful when trying to
get parts
--
geoff

raden wrote in message ...
In message , Jeremy
Taylor writes
Managed to fix my gas boiler last night - the pilot light had shrunk
to a tiny, tiny flame due to the hole filling with crud. I cleaned out
the hole and today it is working fine.

However - the flame sensor and pilot light assembly was in a bit of a
state - rusty, covered in crap. Where can I buy new bits? I don't
suppose B&Q stocks this type of thing - they wouldn't want to
encourage DIY on gas boilers I'm sure. But I'm not keen to pay some
bozo to come and change these rudimentary parts.

The boiler is pretty old - Gloworm I think. Must be 15-20 years old.

Are there suppliers willing/able to sell to Joe Public?

Yes, they're called central heating merchants

More information than "Glowworm, I think" might be useful when trying to
get parts


Yes, well. I obviously wasn't going to turn up at the shop and tell
the man 'Gloworm - I think' was I? I was just asking for names of
shops that sell this kind of stuff. I didn't think B&Q had this kind
of thing - they don't seem list pilot light assemblies on their
website. And I couldn't think of any where else - I'm sure Homebase
hasn't got this stuff!

Jeremy

In article , Jeremy
Taylor wrote:
Yes, well. I obviously wasn't going to turn up at the shop and tell
the man 'Gloworm - I think' was I? I was just asking for names of
shops that sell this kind of stuff.

Google is your friend: 'Glow-Worm pilot spares' (without the quotes)
will give you some leads

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm

Jeremy Taylor wrote:

Yes, well. I obviously wasn't going to turn up at the shop and tell
the man 'Gloworm - I think' was I? I was just asking for names of
shops that sell this kind of stuff. I didn't think B&Q had this kind
of thing - they don't seem list pilot light assemblies on their
website. And I couldn't think of any where else - I'm sure Homebase
hasn't got this stuff!

Jeremy

try

http://www.mjtcontrols.co.uk/

Jon

or try:
http://www.curzoncare.co.uk/Default.aspx

I use them occasionally for boiler spares.
Hugh


"Jeremy Taylor" wrote in message
m...
Managed to fix my gas boiler last night - the pilot light had shrunk
to a tiny, tiny flame due to the hole filling with crud. I cleaned out
the hole and today it is working fine.

However - the flame sensor and pilot light assembly was in a bit of a
state - rusty, covered in crap. Where can I buy new bits? I don't
suppose B&Q stocks this type of thing - they wouldn't want to
encourage DIY on gas boilers I'm sure. But I'm not keen to pay some
bozo to come and change these rudimentary parts.

The boiler is pretty old - Gloworm I think. Must be 15-20 years old.

Are there suppliers willing/able to sell to Joe Public?

cheers

Jeremy

In article ,
says...
Managed to fix my gas boiler last night - the pilot light had shrunk
to a tiny, tiny flame due to the hole filling with crud. I cleaned out
the hole and today it is working fine.

However - the flame sensor and pilot light assembly was in a bit of a
state - rusty, covered in crap. Where can I buy new bits? I don't
suppose B&Q stocks this type of thing - they wouldn't want to
encourage DIY on gas boilers I'm sure. But I'm not keen to pay some
bozo to come and change these rudimentary parts.

The boiler is pretty old - Gloworm I think. Must be 15-20 years old.

Are there suppliers willing/able to sell to Joe Public?

cheers

Jeremy

http://www.powred.co.uk - Powred Heating & Burner Spares, Bristol
http://www.hcomp.co.uk - Powred Heating Components, Cardiff

Both do mail order, most of the info you'll need to give will be on the
boiler's databadge, or possibly on the front cover of the boiler.

At 15-20 years old you're approaching the point where parts become
obsolete, however both of the above companies (owned by the same people)
specialise in getting hard to find parts

(Ok, ok, I do some work for them )
--
Alex Threlfall
Cyberprog New Media
www.cyberprog.net
tel - 0870 446 0789
fax - 0870 446 1789