Combi-boiler advice
 

Ok....I'm having a mare of a day :(

For the second time in 18months the flat above mine has had a significant leak from their kitchen into my bathroom.

Last time they merely threw some frighteningly caustic product down a blocked sink which proceeded to melt through the ceiling, my electrics, my light fitting, a bathroom unit, most of my towels, and start a fire on the floor. My insurance company said that as I could not prove they had done it deliberately, I would have to pay the policy excess (twice, if I wanted to claim for contents too!).

Almost two weeks ago I heard a dripping noise coming from the boiler cupboard in the corner of the bathroom. Lo and behold, there is another leak coming through the ceiling. I informed the tenants, they did **** all about it, and last night a bit a ceiling came down and my boiler refuses to work.

After much discussion with the tenants upstairs, I finally got hold of a new number for their landlord and got him to come out last night to see the damage and sort out the leak.

So now I have no hot water or heating. After much arguing my my insurers (who again insisted that I must pay for the excess), they did agree to let me speak to the legal department. The legal team say on the face of it I have a good chance of being refunded my excess (they will sue the landlord of the flat above mine for negligence), but in the meantime, I need to pursue a standard insurance claim so that I can get the repairs assessed and started.

And here is the rub.....apart from the fact that the assessors cannot come out until next Friday, neither the insurance company, nor the assessor/repairers have any heating engineers. They both say I have to get someone out, pay the bill, and then they'll decide if it is covered on the insurance :rant:

So, I need some general advice re my boiler (cos I can't afford to get an engineer out not knowing if I'll be refunded the cost). The fault at the mo is ignition cutout - it attempts to light the pilot light, and after 5 failures, it stops trying. My guess is that the wick-thingy (moving on to technical terms now) is damp so it won't light.

The destructions say not to remove the cover of the boiler without switching off at the mains and having a remote clue about what you are doing. I need to get the cover off to check it was just dampness causing the problem, if it was, will just letting it dry out solve the problem, or should I really get a corgi bloke in to look at it?

I tried standing in front of the boiler swearing at it, but this did not solve the problem :(

Any advice appreciated :smt023

Jo

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

It's always the first thing to try, you'd be surprised how often it works.

Anyhoo, you have my number, call me.

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

Nah never works for me either!

There is a multitude of things that could cause it not to light could be that a cicuit board is damaged or the ignition is damaged loads of stuff really


sorry i'm not much use i'll see if i can work out a better answer for you

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

I sympathise, I have a SIME combi boiler, the damn thing never stops breaking down, and they are a complete mystery to me. hasn't flooded me yet though.

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

Well (touching wood) I had this boiler installed when I moved in 7 years ago, and until now it'd never had a days sickness in it's life.

Some good news though....the leak from upstairs has stopped. I tried starting the boiler last night (i.e. i switched it in, then moved back a bit - god knows why, if it was going to blow, I'm sure it would take half the street out with it).

No joy though.....willl attempt again tonight. Heating I can manage without, but it's amazing how much we rely on instantly available hot water...

Jo

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

Jo I can't help with your heating issues but sounds like you need a

:grouphug:

will be over later to deliver in person ;)

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

Going back to the first claim, and it is relevant to the second problem too..you should claim against the landlord, not the tenant. Your tenancy (i.e. contract) is with the landlord and they will then need to counter claim against the tenant upstairs. It sounds long winded, but if you start chasing the landlord I bet you will see some action

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

If the pilot wont stay lit the two most likely culprits are the pilot thermocouple (the wicky thing goes into the back of the gas valve) and the gas valve itself (it may have a pilot solenoid on the side of it - not sure without seeing it).

You shoulnt be playing with the gas side of your boiler, but if you are competant you can work on the water side.......

Not sure if that helps.......

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

Sorry, I may have been a bit misleading on this part. I own my flat, but the one upstairs is let out. I'm gonna give the upstairs landlord the opportunity to pay my excess (and not fill in the legal forms), although I'm not sure where that would leave me if there was another leak in future.

Jo

Re: Combi-boiler advice
 

Disclaimer - I may have used totally appropriate words to describe quite technical terms. Sorry :confused:

Well, I've tried to light it every morning and evening, and just get the same problem - the ignition gives up after 5 attempts to light the pilot light.

Now....I'm not sure if I'm imagining this, but this morning, I turned the hot tap on full while trying to get the boiler to light (my warped idea of trying to help it start by trying to light all the burners at once).....and although it gave up again, the water coming from the hot tap *did* warm up a little during the minute the boiler was attempting to light.

My new strategy is to spend today thinking positive happy thoughts about my boiler in the hope that this will help when I try to light it tonight (seeing as cursing it hasn't helped).

Jo