Gas fire not working properly AFTER servicing

MagWag

I had an old radiant gas fire with back boiler serviced a couple of days ago. Before servicing the fire part worked well enough but the back burner did not & I have not been using it.

After servicing the back burner is 100% better, but now the central two ceramics of the fire no longer heat up as they should...there is a blue glow at the bottom but no heat. The two outer elements work as before.
I am going to call the servicing engineer back but first I wanted to try to find out what might have happened...in case he tries to charge me extra to fix the problem...I do not know that he would, but a little information would give me a bit of leverage if he did.

I watched the service as he did it and the ceramic bricks were in good condition and still are...but they didn't necessarily go back in the same order they came out - I don't know if this makes any difference?

Thanks :-)

booty40uk

The fire should have been tested after the service. ie , turned on for 5 or 10 minutes at full rate and a spillage test carried out. This would have shown up the fault you have described. Did this happen?

gas4you

Perhaps he has not opened the 3 way gas valve to the fire front fully, easily done, but as said, should have shown up upon testing and taking a burner pressure reading.

MagWag

He did test the fire using lighted wads of some material, but he only took a minute or two to do this & I think he was mainly concerned about looking for spillage and not the appearance of the fire? It was a sunny day in a very light room, & I only noticed the problem myself last night with lower lighting.

MagWag

gas4you wrote: »

Perhaps he has not opened the 3 way gas valve to the fire front fully, easily done, but as said, should have shown up upon testing and taking a burner pressure reading.

Burner pressure reading...would I have seen him do this, what would it have looked like - would he have used some gadget? I don't remember anything like that happening?

MagWag

The engineer is going to 'call in the next day or 2 and have a look'
Thanks for your replies :-)

Buzby

I had a Canon Gas Miser that did this after a service. It turned out that the centre radiant elements were misaligned, preventing the flame going up the inside of the element and throwing out the heat. Jiggling it with a knitting needle seated it correctly and all was well!

MagWag

Buzby wrote: »

I had a Canon Gas Miser that did this after a service. It turned out that the centre radiant elements were misaligned, preventing the flame going up the inside of the element and throwing out the heat. Jiggling it with a knitting needle seated it correctly and all was well!

The gas man came back this morning, took the fire apart again, cleaned out some 'nipples'...that didn't help, so he took out the burner and washed it in my sink & when he put it back (before he put the front on the fire) it seemed to have fixed the problem BUT once the front was on again the problem returned and he went away saying he had done everything he could (charged me an extra £20 but that was for a new flue seal).
I did try jiggling the radiant elements myself before I read your post...so I may have another go!

MagWag

Well I took the front off the fire so I could see a bit more clearly what was happening; nothing to do with the ceramic elements as far as I could see...more like the burner - the flame on the outside two sections is more vigorous than the two inner ones.

I copied what I saw the engineer do, & tapped the burner sharply with the handle of my screwdriver & some more little flakes of white ash (?) fell out of the funnel like air inlets on the bottom of the burner.

I got a needle & checked that all the openings in the burners were free (they were) & I got some old frayed bicycle brake wire & poked it up the vents to see if I could dislodge any more ash...but nothing appeared.

I then switched off the gas & when the fire was cold I got my vacuum cleaner & sucked at the bottom of the air inlets to remove any more ash that might be there. I then relit the pilot light & the fire...& if anything I've made it worse & only the right hand burner is burning vigorously, so I guess there may be some blockage in there somewhere.

It looked complicated to remove the burner so I shouldn't really do that myself, though I know I could do a better job of cleaning it than the engineer - he just dunked it in water & not much debris came out, & I know he will want to sell me a new burner. So I guess I'm going to have to put up with it as it is... unless anyone else has any ideas.

Thanks to all who have tried to help! :-)

MagWag

Another update in case there is anyone out there who knows about these things...

I just put the fire on full for about 25 mins & after 5 mins went upstairs to do stuff. When I came back down there was a smell in the room from the paint finish (original) on the fire front - which had become very hot. This never happened prior to servicing, so what can have gone wrong?

None of the ceramic element glow as much as they did originally (they are dark & 'blue') & it seems the body of the fire is getting hot instead. I'm not sure if I should contact the gas bloke again; every time he encounters a problem with it he mutters about "might have to switch it off" & I am certainly in no position to get a new fire!

rustyboy21

STOP USING THE FIRE, STOP MESSING WITH THE FIRE and get someone in who is qualified !

You may be trying to save yourself a few £'s, but could end up killing yourself. Something is obviously wrong, no RGI on here will tell you how to fix it, as it will be on their heads if you go wrong.

It is time to get someone else, not the guy you got out first of all, he looks like he doesn't know what he is doing.

Try Gas safe website for an engineer in your area, who is qualified to work on boilers AND fires.