Back boiler cutting out

Taffy222

Hi all. I have an old back boiler behind a gas fire. Recently the only way to get it to fire is to turn the thermostat off count to 5 then turn it on again. This will work for a while but an hour or so later it's off again and the rooms haven't got up to temperature. I have to do this several times an evening and it's not funny when the house is so cold at the moment.
It's a Thorn EMI Housewarmer Spectacular. Any ideas? Thanks in anticipation 😀

markfj

Is the back boiler just not lighting properly or going out? I wonder if it's the thermocouple which is cheap enough to replace

Taffy222

markfj wrote: »

Is the back boiler just not lighting properly or going out? I wonder if it's the thermocouple which is cheap enough to replace

I know that the thermocoupler has gone and been replaced before.
What seems to happen is sometimes when the boiler tries to restart after the temperature goes down I hear the clicking noise as it tries to re-ignite but then it fails to relight and I have to turn the thermostat down then back up again and repeat this until it successfully lights again.

stator

So it's electronic ignition?

ie it doesn't have a pilot light that stays on.


You need a local engineer to be honest, someone who can source second hand parts and won't just condemn the boiler because it's old.


When was it last serviced?

Taffy222

stator wrote: »

So it's electronic ignition?

ie it doesn't have a pilot light that stays on.


You need a local engineer to be honest, someone who can source second hand parts and won't just condemn the boiler because it's old.


When was it last serviced?

I've not had it serviced before. Just a family friend replace parts when they went. Can't afford a new boiler or I would just go down that road. I think it has a pilot light that stays on from what I remember.

stator

Well if it's never been serviced hopefully it's just some dirt build up near the ignition? But I know nothing.
You definitely need a Gas Safe engineer. Look on Yell.com for a local engineer with good reviews.
If you google for "back boiler" (with quotes) and your city you might find an engineer who has experience with these types of boilers. When I did it I found a blog entry by a local gas engineer who had obviously done a lot of back boilers

southcoastrgi

I wouldn't use yell for anything tbh, sounds like the pump isn't working to me