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Original poster

Pilot light not on on boiler

16 replies

mrpenny · 29/10/2023 19:04

Have tried to follow advice from previous related posts but nothing happening and I am totally clueless plus pretty elderly….. No fuses blown. Does anybody have any suggestions?? the lights are on the heating and hot water switch
thank you

OP posts:
4naansjeremy · 29/10/2023 21:53

Can you tell me a make and model of the boiler?

dementedpixie · 29/10/2023 22:02

Have you googled the make and model to see if there are instructions on how to relight the pilot light? What boiler is it?

Original poster
mrpenny · 30/10/2023 12:50

Sorry for late reply. All boiler people seem booked up until the end of November and I have grandchildren including a baby visiting on Friday!

It is a Greenstar Worcester Ri. My son has had a look and can’t see anything wrong. He’s a heating engineer but R and D. He thinks it is an electrical fault and has changed all fuses etc but it’s still not working. My regular boiler man messaged to say he’s not available but that our boiler does not have a pilot light so that proves how little I know.

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4naansjeremy · 30/10/2023 12:56

there is no indicator on this model to show if there is a power supply. If you turn power off to the boiler then on reinstating the power the fan will run at top speed for three seconds which you will be able to hear standing at the boiler.

my suspicion is that an internal fuse has blown. This wouldn’t be a diy thing and may have been caused by a failure of a boiler component.. The only other thing for you to check that is whether you have a condense pump. At the bottom left of the boiler it connects to a white plastic pipe. Can you follow this and let me know where it ends up?

user1471505356 · 31/10/2023 07:40

Do Worcester gas boilers need a pilot light? Shows how little I know.

Original poster
mrpenny · 31/10/2023 09:36

Thank you very much for your advice. I really appreciate it. I agree ( with my tiny knowledge) as my son has checked everything g else and he is usually pretty good at finding out the cause.

i have managed to find someone to come out and will update!
thank you again.

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Original poster
mrpenny · 31/10/2023 09:37

You are absolutely correct….someone has just told me that it’s not a pilot light. Embarrassing….

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Original poster
mrpenny · 31/10/2023 09:44

I have just asked my son who’s gone now but he says there is a plastic box to right of boiler .An in-line RCD switch? He says It’s for the external heater which lags the external condensate pipe. He pressed the button on that and it blew the fuse board for downstairs electrics?He doesn’t know why and says there is no condensate pump? Thank you

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4naansjeremy · 31/10/2023 10:30

It’s possible that heater has a faulty element. If it’s wired in with the boiler electrics then the fast blow 1amp fuse in the boiler could have blown (to protect the delicate electronics in the circuit board).

You need to be gas safe registered to remove the case and access the fuses so you’ll have to wait now for your guy to turn up.

please update and let us know how you get on!

Ihatewinding · 31/10/2023 10:48

What was the actual issue in the first place for you to notice the lack of pilot light? Was the heating not clicking on?

We had this issue and had the boiler on max and didn't understand why the heating wasn't coming on but the hot water was... The thermostat was still set to 14... So as it was 15 degrees and cold enough to have switched the heating to on, it wasn't cold enough to click on due to the thermostat 🙈

Very thankful that we didn't call someone out!

Original poster
mrpenny · 31/10/2023 14:06

Boiler man has just been here for an hour and changed some fuses but is scratching his head…Doesn’t know basically. He is going to ring Worcester but seems to be suggesting that it is too old at 12 years paid we need to be prepared to replace….

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Original poster
mrpenny · 31/10/2023 14:07

Nothing so simple, sadly. Thermostat is up to high but absolutely dead…

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Fieldofbrokenpromises · 31/10/2023 14:58

Our Worcester boiler is 23 years old - plumber says the emissions are cleaner than a new one and it works fine.

GasPanic · 31/10/2023 16:00

12 years doesn't sound long for a Worcester Bosch. They have a reputation for being good quality and lasting a long time.

Sadly these days its often cheaper just to replace than fix.

That "RCD" issue sounds a bit dodgy. In the old days the condensate pipe used to get blocked (frozen) and then the condensate would back up wrecking the boiler. If you do have an external heater for the condensate pipe then maybe it has been damaged in some way, hence when you re tried to turn it on it blew up the fuse board. If I was designing a system with an external heater like that I would interlock the external heater on the condensate pipe to the boiler, so the boiler would only operate under perhaps a certain temp if the external heater was working. Maybe that is what caused it to stop functioning in the first place, although its a complete guess. I have no idea as to whether boilers actually work like that as I have never seen one with an external heater on the condensate pipe.

Original poster
mrpenny · 31/10/2023 16:49

We had a Potterton in our old house which had been isinstalled in 1962 and still fine.

OP posts:
GasPanic · 31/10/2023 17:41

Unfortunately anything that old will have a horrifyingly low efficiency.

If you are using any reasonable amount of gas then a replacement would probably pay for itself pretty quickly.

A lot of people like to go on about how their boiler has lasted 50 years. But their gas bills are probably horrendous, especially if they live in big houses (older houses that are likely to have older boilers generally tend to be bigger).

My guess is that a lot of people with boilers that old don't get them serviced either because the CO levels are probably off the chart.

Older technology can often be longer lasting/more robust, but there is a price to be paid for that. IME anyway.

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