Hi,
I tried to do this post before, but it didn't seem to work - I think I did it in the wrong place.
Please humour me, as I am a new forum user, and ignore any duplications.
I have a problem with a Wickes 65F that wont fire up. The ignition is working, and after a few minutes it will sometimes strike the pilot, but the flame immediately drops halfway down the pilot/ignition assembly, and burn for a few seconds before extinguishing.
By removing the cover and fooling the pressure switch I can get the main burners to fire, but they only flash fire. I began to suspect low gas pressure, so I consulted the fault finding reference in the manual, and the flowchart lead me to the pressure switch or the solenoid. I have obtained a replacement solenoid, which has turned out to be one of two solenoids in a housing (more later).
When I test the new solenoid, I get the same open circuit condition as that observed on the old solenoid (tested with 3 different digital multitesters!). Upon discovering this, I disassembled the solenoid assembly, and retested the boiler, holding a magnetic screwdriver inside each of the solenoids in turn. One of the solenoids energises and grabs hold of the screwdriver, but the suspected faulty solenoid does not. However, upon substitution of the suspected faulty solenoid for the new unit, the same conditions are observed. This leads me to believe that either:
a - only one of the solenoids energises in the first instance, and the other solenoid enrgises when a certain condition is met, ie, the pilot is lit. If this is the case, then, maybe I have a faulty sensor, pointing to the pressure switch again (or thermocouple, but I doubt the thermocouple as it does not really get the chance to heat up and have any effect on the operation of the boiler).
b - I may have a faulty control board. I can source a control board, but the cost is £150 or so.
Does anyone have any ideas what I might try before splashing out on an PCB that may not cure the fault?
Any ideas or suggestions would be gratfully received.
Background - the Wickes 65F appears to be a Halstead unit, and uses a Halstead 600503/A control board. The solenoids are Johnson Maclaren S29AGB, and are often referred to as Glowworm parts. The boiler was fully operational until switched off (by remote heating control switch) for the summer, and refused to fire up when recently reactivated. It is fully serviced and has no air flow problems.
Many thanks
I tried to do this post before, but it didn't seem to work - I think I did it in the wrong place.
Please humour me, as I am a new forum user, and ignore any duplications.I have a problem with a Wickes 65F that wont fire up. The ignition is working, and after a few minutes it will sometimes strike the pilot, but the flame immediately drops halfway down the pilot/ignition assembly, and burn for a few seconds before extinguishing.
By removing the cover and fooling the pressure switch I can get the main burners to fire, but they only flash fire. I began to suspect low gas pressure, so I consulted the fault finding reference in the manual, and the flowchart lead me to the pressure switch or the solenoid. I have obtained a replacement solenoid, which has turned out to be one of two solenoids in a housing (more later).
When I test the new solenoid, I get the same open circuit condition as that observed on the old solenoid (tested with 3 different digital multitesters!). Upon discovering this, I disassembled the solenoid assembly, and retested the boiler, holding a magnetic screwdriver inside each of the solenoids in turn. One of the solenoids energises and grabs hold of the screwdriver, but the suspected faulty solenoid does not. However, upon substitution of the suspected faulty solenoid for the new unit, the same conditions are observed. This leads me to believe that either:
a - only one of the solenoids energises in the first instance, and the other solenoid enrgises when a certain condition is met, ie, the pilot is lit. If this is the case, then, maybe I have a faulty sensor, pointing to the pressure switch again (or thermocouple, but I doubt the thermocouple as it does not really get the chance to heat up and have any effect on the operation of the boiler).
b - I may have a faulty control board. I can source a control board, but the cost is £150 or so.
Does anyone have any ideas what I might try before splashing out on an PCB that may not cure the fault?
Any ideas or suggestions would be gratfully received.
Background - the Wickes 65F appears to be a Halstead unit, and uses a Halstead 600503/A control board. The solenoids are Johnson Maclaren S29AGB, and are often referred to as Glowworm parts. The boiler was fully operational until switched off (by remote heating control switch) for the summer, and refused to fire up when recently reactivated. It is fully serviced and has no air flow problems.
Many thanks
