Buyer beware? - home ownership

[oolon]

Your Lawyer will know all the details of who your seller is as they have to check who has legitimate title to the property.

[peterb]

From what i can gather it does sound like the thermocouple has given up the ghost.

The 'knob' we've been holding in is the manual gas release, lighting the pilot light from this manually (push button lighter doesnt seem to work) and holding it should allow the thermocouple to heat up...allowing the gas to start flowing normally. This means it the pilot light gets blown out, the thermocouple cools down and shuts the gas flow off. Is this right?


edit: posted at the same time as some of you, think I have the above right though. When I get home later (posting from work - slow day) I will try and hold it for longer to make sure everything warms up properly, the push button lighter doesnt seem to work so i think that may have given up the ghost. In theory this just means I have to use a match to light it - but that should work fine i'm guessing?

Sounds pretty much like it. Some gas control s require you to turn the knob a bit further after you have released the pilot (stage one supplies gas to the pilot, the second stage - which only turns after the flame failure cct (thermocouple) has detected the pilot is alight - supplies gas to the main burner - but it depends on the type of control. Incidentally - if you can get to the pilot with a match, then changing the thermocouple is much easier as the combustion chamber isn't a room sealed unit.

[Funkstar]

In Scotland there is a standard amount of time to report faults like this for the seller to have their rectified at their own expense. I forget what it is, but I seem to think it is 3 weeks.

[badass]

Thought it might be the case of buyer beware, but figured I'd better check first. When we bought the house it was the estate agents who showed me round & we looked at it but neither of us could work it, he said they had some young children so doubted there would be an issue. The rest of the house seemed to be in good condition so I assumed the heating would work as well.

I've highlighted where the error occurred. It's not a criticosm BTW - we all do it Every time I make a mistake, I go back over what happened and simply look for where I assumed something and that's invariably where the error is.
Anyway, In my limited experience, thermocouples on central heating systems are reletively cheap and easy to get fixed professionally so you are probably OK.
FWIW, I think it's the thermocouple as well, but don't assume I know what I'm talking about

[Andeh13]

Yep, assuming is a problem I have & this isn't the first time It has gotten me in trouble! Live & learn and (touch wood) it could have been far worse with this house, first time buyer so still learning! .

The system does however seem to work, I helped the manual gas valve open for longer & the pilot light stayed lite. The Pilot light did seem like a fairly big blue flame which didn't look quite right. I havn't been able to figure out how to reduce it. There is a small turn screw which I have tried turning round +/- 180 degrees but it didn't change the size of the pilot light.

My flatmate also said that when the warm air system was blowing full pelt the flame seemed a bit orangey & reckoned that was because it wasn't getting enough air flow through it?

Think i am going to need to get the setup serviced at some point but would like to have it working before I do so! Thanks again for all the suggestions guys

[peterb]

Yes - but the combustion chamber exhaust should be to the outside - the air into the room will be indirectly heated.
Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? Although the risk is small, Carbon monoxide is a killer - no two ways about it - so it is a worthwhile investment just in (the extremely unlikely) case any of the products of combustion are contaminating the room air.

As I say, it is unlikely - the previous owners must have used it quite happily, but always better to be safe than dead.

But glad you got it working Warm feeling all round!

[TheAnimus]

I had an agreement with my previous housemates.

I never touched anything with water or gas. But I could have a crack at the wiring.

Water + Gas get messy.

[Andeh13]

Bought a Carbon monoxide detector just to be on the safe side, figured its not worth the risk!

My only concern now is the size of the pilot light, it must be a good 4-5cm tall and 2cm wide...which seems to be a fair old size & going 24/7 i dread to imagine how much gas it's consuming. The little screw control doesn't seem to do anything either (turned +/-180degrees)! If anyone has any suggestions i'm all ears, otherwise a service engineer will have to tell me how stupid i've been & charge me who knows how much for the privilege!

[oolon]

There are generally two adjustments treads one is the pilot light the other is the amount of heat the boiler outputs. The main burner could be adjusted in one of two ways, one by the high the flames the other way is by the water temperature in the system (who knows how your one works!). If its a temperature adjustment it could appear to have no affect what so ever however be having a large adjustment on the system. You said you were replacing it in a few weeks, if it keeps you warm until then, just live with it, and learn how to use the new system. Good you bought a carbon monoxide detector, its always pays to be safe.

Generally I would agree with the attitude, don't play with gas if you don't know what your doing, adjusting your boiler is not something you should be doing. I stick to water and electrics myself, installed a new pump, radiator and themostatic valves on all the radiators.