Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24i Boiler Failure

[Mark Hennessy]

No disrespect, but I would never mess with a gas appliance - even a replacement sensor could need re-calibration - it has to not just burn, but burn absolutely right - just too much of a risk...

In fairness to the OP, he has been quite clear about the fact he's getting a Gas Safe engineer to look at it.

And our disclaimer makes it pretty clear that anyone reading this needs to make their own decisions and judgements - we're certainly not advocating that anyone unqualified should casually work on their boilers.

Having said that, it really doesn't hurt to be well-informed, even if you're not touching it yourself. My experience with Corgi/Gas Safe engineers is rather mixed, and the fact I've been slightly clued up has helped enormously over the years. Much of the logic that we as electronic engineers take for granted is useful for any type of fault finding, and that logic isn't always sufficiently apparent - especially when the engineer is under pressure to make a quick diagnosis and get on to the next job.

[Nick]

No disrespect, but I would never mess with a gas appliance - even a replacement sensor could need re-calibration - it has to not just burn, but burn absolutely right - just too much of a risk...

In fairness to the OP, he has been quite clear about the fact he's getting a Gas Safe engineer to look at it.

Absolutely - we all need to be informed, but the thread was moving toward self-diagnosis - I have personal experience of what can go wrong in these circumstances - not through anything I did, but the outcomes are all too often unpleasant.

An understanding of these things is essential, if only to ensure we're not blindsided by bullsh*t from someone who wants to charge us a lot... just need to be clear on the "don't go there" part

Out here, we don't have central heating - today is the coldest day of the year so far - temperature has plummeted to nearly 20C - everyone's in shock !

[Valvebloke]

So far as I know gas boiler maintenance is illegal except for Gas Safe registered engineers ...

The law is, perhaps unsurprisisingly, a little  more complex than that. Under some circumstances you can do 'gas work' without being Gas Safe registered. You just need to be 'competent'. The details are in Part B, Regulation 3 of the ACOP here http://consultations.hse.gov.uk/consult....tationHome inculding a definition of what 'competent' means.

My advice would be to think twice before owning up, on an internet forum, to breaking the law. If the HSE should decide to prosecute over this your defence will be seriously compromised. To be fair almost all the HSE prosecutions seem to be a) of gas fitters who are Gas Safe registered but who commit malpractice, b) of gas fitters who aren't Gas Safe registered but who do work for which they need to be and c) of landlords who break any of the rules. I don't think homeowners get caught very often. And even if you do the fines are not huge.

VB

[pwdrive]

I down loaded that and after ten seconds in I decided not to bother as I wasn't understanding it, but hey, that's just me.

For me, gas appliance and bits thereof are a no no apart from operating user operated controls, the last gas safety check and service cost me about £120, that was for all the gas appliances, no problem.

Lawrence.

[bobhowe]

Hi just to make it clear I am NOT working on this boiler I got a Gas Safe engineer doing the work regards Bob

[bobhowe]

Great news the gas safe engineer replaced the electrodes ( the old ones were worn out ) the boiler is now working fine he done a co check & a service don't know if its because I have had no heating or hot water it seams to heat up quicker regards Bob

[ed731pdh]

Before open gas boilers were outlawed, and when we had two of them in the house, the biggest cause of blocked pilot jets was dog and cat fur being sucked into the system. The second source of dirt was actually the gas itself. Contrary to perceptions, natural gas isn't that clean in nature, there will always be some sort of dirt contamination of the gas itself.

[bobhowe]

Yes you are right about dirt contamination as some dirt must get into the gas pipe network when the are changing the pipes from cast iron to plastic & when they are doing repairs you just got to see what its like when they do the same with water pipes dirty water when you first turn the tap on after the supply has been disturbed regards Bob

[ed731pdh]

It got so bad the gas engineer on a visit showed us how to remove the pilot tube on the front, clean the tube and the disk with the pinhole in it at the bottom. Totally illegal but saved us a small fortune on call out charges.

Main kitchen had a wall mounted open flue Chaffotex Britony 2 for quick hot water, back scullery had an old open flue Main Triton which was eventually replaced by a Main Medway that was a right royal heap of dingos kidneys, it would often overcook the hot water and eat diaphragms. British made, and it showed.

[davegsm82]

I know this is a month or so old, but for the sake of clarification, I found this document to be quite useful as it states without too much tech jargon the Do's and Dont's (or, Can's and Cant's).

https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/media/...tsheet.pdf