Back boiler pilot light won't stay lit

oojeyboojey

We've had a week of disruption to our gas supply as our supply pipes are being "upgraded". We've made sure to turn off the boiler as instructed when the gas was turned off. However, when it was turned on again we had trouble getting the pilot light on - the ignition switch seemed to be busted, so we used matches. 24 hours later, it went out and I can't get it to stay on.

I was wondering if it's the thermocouple or if the gas pressure could be too low. It's very tricky to reach since it's a back boiler with a great hulking gas fire on the front! Anyone have any advice?

The boiler's ancient (probably as old as the house, circa 1975 - Vulcan Verona 55 D) but has worked fine up until now.


Edit to add: the pilot light goes out even while my finger's still on the supply button. Hmm...

ariba10

As you have had the problem since the job on upgrading your gas supply, that might have something to do with it.

Debris left in the pipework etc.

You do not say if you were doing the upgrade or your supply company.

oojeyboojey

ariba10 wrote: »

As you have had the problem since the job on upgrading your gas supply, that might have something to do with it.

Debris left in the pipework etc.

You do not say if you were doing the upgrade or your supply company.

Rest assured if I were the one doing the upgrading I wouldn't have used the sarcastic quotation marks! It was my supply company. I think you may be right - I've called the free-phone number they gave me and an engineer will be out soon to find out if it's low gas pressure. The woman who answered the phone was infuriating! "It sounds like it's an electrical problem if your ignition's not working." - she wouldn't listen to me!

I hope it's not the boiler, but at least it's happened in the summer time when I'm not too worried about not having heating!

Woofles

Although I can not help with your problem, I have a back boiler with a pilot light which is awkward to get at, solved the problem by buying those extra long barbecue matches, which saved a contortion or two.

oojeyboojey

Woofles wrote: »

Although I can not help with your problem, I have a back boiler with a pilot light which is awkward to get at, solved the problem by buying those extra long barbecue matches, which saved a contortion or two.

Good idea, that! I made a match holder out of very tightly twisted paper and that worked a treat.

The heating engineer came round and it turns out that the system wasn't purged properly by the gas workers yesterday! There was still air in the pipe. It's all running fine now - good to know the boiler's not at fault