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 =A370+ 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

Reply to
charlienospam
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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? =A370 sounds perfectly reasonable for a call out. Yes - parts may be required unless you have fortunately chanced upon a guy with decent van stock

Reply to
cynic

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.

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.

No.

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

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

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!

Reply to
TJY

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

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.

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.
Reply to
Ed Sirett

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