Boiler problems - Faulty Gas Valve???

[RyanL]

Hi all,

First of all I'm a complete novice when it comes to CH so I apologise in adavance for any stupid questions or incorrect assumptions I make.

We woke up this morning with no heating so I called brittish Gas who we have a service agreement with. unfortunatly they can't come out until Thursday so I decided to have a look at it myself.....

The boiler model is an Ideal Mexico 2.

I noticed the pilot light is on but the main burners don't appear to be coming on. I switched the pilot off as well as the power and restarted everything but no change. I checked the room thermostat, the boiler thermostat and the timer/control box. They all appear to be working and are outputting 240V when switched on. This has let me to suspect the gas valve is faulty and is not switching on. Is this a fair assumption???

I proceeded to check the gas valve solenoid & confirmed power at the pins. I also switched power off and did a ressistance check at the soleniod coil which appears to be open circuit. I would have expected to see a ressistance reading here so am now suspecting the gas valve solenoid.

So I have 2 questions I'm hoping someone here can help me with

1 - Have my investigations led me to a reasonable diagnosis?

2 - Is it possible to replace the soleniod in the gas valve? I obviously wouldn't replace the complete valve myself, I would get an expert to do that. But if the solenoid can be replaced without disturbing the gas supply I would be willing to attempt that. The gas valve is a Honeywell V600E.

 

[gas112]

Do you mean 4600e. Yes your diagnosis sounds correct and solenoids can be changed but involves breaking the gasline so proper guy req

 

[mickyg]

you cant do this yourself its gas work . Also BG are advertising that they come out the same day now, so maybe you should quote this back to them when you call them. Whats the point in paying for a service contract if your not gonna use it

 

[RyanL]

Thanks guys, appreciate the quick response. In that case I'll just have to wait for the experts.

Had an hour long "discussion" with BG this morning about their same day appointments but didn't get anywhere. So I agree, it defeats the purposed of having the service contract........

 

[ajsdoc]

I had exactly the same last year with EON's version of boiler cover. I put the money aside and let a local guy do the servicing this year. Can't guarantee he'd be out same day to a breakdown, but I doubt it would be much worse than the 7 day wait I had for EON (who also promise much more than they can deliver).

I've decided that cover is expensive, false reassurance.

The local guy that came spent a lot longer servicing our boiler (and fire) than we've noticed before...

 

[Boilerman2]

BG Dont say the will complete ther work same day their Advert on TV cleverly says some one will "Start the Repair" that could mean the Call centre operative that takes your details is deemed to have "Started the repair process" personally I think its playing with words and is very misleading and downright dishonest!!

 

[Agile]

Had an hour long "discussion" with BG this morning about their same day appointments but didn't get anywhere. So I agree, it defeats the purposed of having the service contract........

Since I dont telephone them I would be interested to hear their response to your request for the advertised same day response.

I an not sure that I agree with BM2 above that "starting the repair" is activated by a non gas qualified girl merely taking details of the fault. Someone should complain to the advertising standards but that has to be the person who calls BG out.

Tony

 

[ollski]

BG Dont say the will complete ther work same day their Advert on TV cleverly says some one will "Start the Repair" that could mean the Call centre operative that takes your details is deemed to have "Started the repair process" personally I think its playing with words and is very misleading and downright dishonest!!

No it means someone will be out to physically begin the repair before 8pm if the call was placed before 1pm. Guessing the get out at the moment is the 'exceptional weather conditions'