It is very unpleasant when in the middle of winter in a private house some problems begin with heating equipment, for example, with a gas boiler. According to Murphy’s law, a heat source starts to mope on the coldest days, when it is turned off, the coolant in the system quickly cools down, and after it the entire building.
The first thing that comes to mind is to call a wizard who will solve your problem. The idea is true, but due to many reasons, the arrival of a specialist may be delayed for several hours, or even days. Instead of freezing slowly, try to find out the reason why the gas boiler goes out and fix the problem with your own hands. We will tell you what to do in a similar situation.
Why the burner of a gas boiler goes out
The answer is simple - reliable fuel supply is blocked by reliable automation installed on all heating units using natural or liquefied gas. The shutdown of the burner and the attenuation of the gas boiler will occur in any of three cases:
- the draft in the chimney has decreased or disappeared;
- gas pressure in the supply line has dropped below normal;
- the flame of the burner itself went out.
For reference. Automatic shut-off devices are gas valves of Italian production EuroSIT or American brand Honeywell.
Automation can work both from the influence of external factors, and due to the breakdown of any part of the heat generator. In this regard, it is easier to deal with non-volatile floor boilers of a simple design, since there is literally nothing to break in them, and the burner often dies out due to external reasons than from malfunctions. These include the brands Danko, Zhytomyr, Aton, Ross and other manufacturers of gas-powered devices from the countries of the former USSR.
A more modern wall-mounted electric-gas boiler, equipped with a closed combustion chamber, is a miniature boiler room, equipped with additional protection levels that turn off the fuel supply in such situations:
- the movement of the coolant in the heating system has stopped (the flow sensor is triggered);
- the air supply has decreased or stopped, as the pressure switch signals (another sensor);
- power surges occur in the home electrical system;
- during a power outage.
Note. At the moment, only one Russian manufacturer, Neva, offers quality wall-mounted boilers, the rest of the market is occupied by import brands from Europe and Korea.
When the wall-mounted heat generator starts to go out, it is not easy to fix it, but a number of malfunctions can still be eliminated with your own hands. How to do it right - read on.
Attenuation of boilers with an open combustion chamber
By default, we consider a situation where the heating unit has worked for several seasons without complaints, and now for some reason it has started to go out. An extended list of reasons that cause the automatic valve to stop the gas supply is as follows:
- the draft in the chimney has disappeared;
- there were problems with the supply of natural gas, which is why its pressure in the pipe dropped below normal;
- the boiler does not have enough air for combustion, which makes the flame go out;
- a strong wind blows out from the burner on the street or the flame breaks off with a strong draft inside the house;
- hardware malfunctions of a gas boiler - failure of the draft sensor or thermocouple.
Lyrical digression. The owners of the house may not notice the attenuation of the gas burner device right away, especially when the unit is installed in a separate room. The problem is discovered when the air temperature has already decreased in a private house.
So, if the main burner of the boiler goes out, then look for the cause in the indicated sequence, starting with checking the draft in the chimney. Let's take a closer look at each step.
Traction problems
The first thing that owners of atmospheric gas boilers should do when the burner attenuates is to check the draft. Take a match or a candle, light it and bring it to the viewing window and observe the behavior of the flame. If it has deviated towards the opening, then with the thrust everything is in order and you can proceed to the next step.
The fire remained motionless, - the cause of the extinction of the burner was detected, draft was lost in the chimney. Your actions:
- Open the window to the boiler room so that the air flow is guaranteed to flow into the room.
- Disconnect the chimney section connected to the outlet pipe of the heating unit, and then check for draft in the chimney itself. If it is, you need to disassemble and clean the gas boiler itself, as described in a separate article.
- If the thrust is not detected in the main channel, then it is probably clogged. Find the service and cleaning flap; it is located in the boiler room below the connection point or on the street. Open the hatch and push in the mirror to see the outlet. If it is not visible, then the chimney must be cleaned.
- Inspect the head of the pipe outside; during the summer period, a bird's nest could appear there. Another option is continuous freezing of the hood covering the chimney cut. This happens during severe frosts, when ice blocks the working section of the chimney.
Important! The rules for the operation of gas-powered installations directly prohibit placing umbrellas on top of chimneys. If you have such a cap, it must be dismantled. Only open tapering nozzles may be used.
Briefly about the causes of clogging of smoke channels:
- non-insulated brick walls are destroyed by the action of condensate, which makes the passage section clogged with construction waste;
- in cheap sandwich chimneys, the zinc coating can peel off from the inner wall and block the channel in the form of a thin film;
- 2 boilers are connected to one chimney - gas and solid fuel, so it is clogged with soot;
- Foreign objects from the life of birds can get into the pipe.
Cleaning the pipe may not give a result when its walls freeze through at low outdoor temperatures. The fact is that the combustion products of gas heat generators have a relatively low temperature (up to 120 ° C) and are unable to warm the chimney so that a stable draft occurs. Since you will not be engaged in warming in the middle of winter, there is only one way out - to buy a disposable burner with a spray can, light it and put it in the open cleaning hatch. When the frozen channel warms up, start the boiler to work, but do not turn it off for a long time, otherwise the procedure will have to be repeated.
Information for consideration. There are situations when a two- or three-story cottage is being built in the neighboring area in the immediate vicinity of your house. As a result, the chimney can get into the leeward zone of the neighboring building, and this leads to a decrease in draft, as a result of which the gas boiler goes out. Since you cannot forbid the neighbors from building, you will have to increase the chimney by 1-2 meters in order to remove it from the stagnant zone.
The easiest and cheapest way to combat wind blowing into a problem chimney is to install a gate at the outlet of the gas boiler. However, when the weather conditions change, its position will have to be corrected, because with a half-cross-section of the channel section, the heater will not reach the optimal mode of operation, and waste can go into the house. Therefore, the best way to defeat rollover traction is to increase the chimney by 1-2 meters.
Gas pressure reduction in the line
After making sure that the draft in the chimney is present, proceed to the next step - checking the fuel supply.A sign of low gas pressure at the inlet is the extinction of the burner for no apparent reason, and the flame on the igniter of the boiler continues to burn. What can be done:
- Check how well the gas goes from the pipeline. First close the door to the boiler room, open the window and unscrew the inlet hose from the nozzle of the heat generator. Open the gas valve briefly. A sign of good feed is a loud hiss from the hose and a strong odor of odorized methane. Replace the hose and check the tightness of the joint with soapy water.
- If the fuel does not flow well, clean the gas filter and then try to light the wick and the main burner of the boiler. If the result is negative, call the appropriate service and call the gas master.
Attention! Before performing any manipulations with the fuel pipe, be sure to shut off the gas with a shut-off valve!
On the way to your heating unit, the line may become clogged in another place - inside the gas meter. This happens after the repair of external pipelines, when they get rust or scale from welding. But disassembling the meter for cleaning is prohibited, only the wizard’s call will help here.
At the beginning of the heating season, when heating equipment is massively launched in private homes, the fuel supplier must monitor the pressure in the mains and increase the amount of gas supplied. Sometimes the reaction of the service is delayed, as a result of which the consumers at the dead end of the network may not have enough fuel. Here you can’t do anything but make an angry call to the company - the supplier or start a second boiler on electricity or wood (if any).
Shortage and excess of air
Any of these phenomena leads to the fact that the gas boiler may periodically go out. For its normal operation, supply air must enter the furnace through the ventilation duct or from other rooms. At the same time, strong drafts can not be allowed to blow out a burner operating in low power mode.
To make sure that there is a lack of oxygen is simple: open the nearest window and observe the behavior of the flame. If the burner has stabilized, then the cause of the attenuation is clear. Let's see why this happens:
- you installed sealed plastic windows and the flow of air into the house stopped;
- one or several interior doors were replaced and the gaps between the wings and the floor, where air had previously passed, were greatly reduced;
- You have installed a powerful cooker hood that pulls a portion of the airflow onto you;
- the same effect is observed when installing forced exhaust in the toilet and bathroom.
When buying various exhaust devices, remember that the remote air must be compensated by the influx, otherwise the draft in the chimney will decrease, or even tip over in the opposite direction. Then the question will arise - what to do when the gas boiler blows in the wind. On the plastic windows, special supply valves must be installed, and to compensate for forced exhaust, it is necessary to organize a mechanical inflow from the street.
Tip. Buying and installing a supply unit is not an expensive pleasure. A compromise may be the organization of a natural influx into rooms with excess heat (for example, into the kitchen or directly into the boiler room), where the street air has time to heat up.
Another story - parapet gas boilers and convectors with a short coaxial chimney that goes straight through the wall. Since the combustion products move along them naturally, then with an unfavorable location of the smoke outlet, the wind is often blown out of the burner. The problem is solved as follows: determine the direction of the draft in the yard and tightly close the protective grate on the windward side.
Atmospheric boiler malfunctions
Non-volatile floor heat generators have several elements that cause trouble over the years of operation. The signs of failure are as follows:
- When you try to light the ignitor, it goes out immediately after releasing the button on the valve. This means that the thermocouple has become unusable, heating up from the wick and keeping the gas supply solenoid valve open.
- The floor gas boiler does not ignite at all, even the ignition burner. This indicates an unreliable contact in the electrical circuit connecting the automation unit to the traction sensor. The element itself rarely fails.
- When the main burner ignites with difficulty, intermittently and pops, and the flame color is yellow, the main fuel nozzle is clogged.
The thermocouple is a copper tube with a bimetallic element at one end. A capillary connected to the gas valve exits from the second side. The joint of dissimilar metals is washed by the igniter flame, due to which a voltage of 20-50 millivolts is generated, which keeps the valve solenoid open. The thermocouple cannot be repaired, only replaced.
Briefly about the principle of work. When firing up, we open the valve manually; after heating, a thermocouple holds it from the wick. A traction sensor is connected in series with the electromagnet, breaking the circuit in case of overheating from gases accumulated in the smoke collector.
A draft sensor is a tablet-shaped part placed at the outlet of the combustion products and connected to the gas valve by two wires. It’s easy to check the operation - close the contacts where these wires are connected and try to light the burner, if successful, change the sensor to a new one. Since miserable voltage is supplied from it, the cause of the malfunction is sometimes the old connecting wires that create a lot of resistance. The issue is resolved by replacing or cleaning all contacts.
We do not recommend removing the gas burner device of the boiler with your own hands to clean the nozzle. But if there is no other way, then do not forget to shut off the gas before starting work, and only then unscrew the fasteners. Try not to disassemble the excess joints of the gas line, and after assembly, check them for leaks with soapy water.
Addition. The burner of the floor heating unit will not start up when the circulation pump installed outside the boiler has failed. It will heat the water in the boiler tank, and then turn off until this coolant cools down.
Repair of wall and turbo units
Wall-mounted gas boilers with open and closed combustion chambers are more complex devices equipped with modern electronics and safety features. But here, some problems can be solved independently. All the above manipulations with checking traction, fuel supply and sensors are equally relevant for atmospheric wall-mounted heat generators.
To find faults in a wall-mounted electric-gas boiler, you need to arm yourself with the product instruction manual and a Phillips screwdriver, you are unlikely to need other tools. The technical data sheet contains malfunction codes displayed on the heater display, and a screwdriver is needed to remove the front panel.
There are 3 inoperative conditions of the heat generator:
- The boiler is completely switched off, no indicator lights up.
- The unit is on, the display and network indicator are on, but automatic ignition does not occur.
- There are attempts to start the main burner, but after ignition it immediately goes out.
Tip. In the event of a complete failure of the wall-mounted boiler connected to the house mains, always check if voltage is supplied to it. The cause of the problem may be a tripped machine located in the switchboard.The second moment: almost all imported units are sensitive to the phase arrangement and the issue is often solved by switching the plug in the socket so that the contacts change places.
After making sure that the voltage is supplied to the heater, we can proceed to repair condition No. 1. To do this, unscrew the front panel of the gas boiler with a screwdriver or a key “under the asterisk” and remove it or open the front cover (depending on the model). Then the algorithm is as follows:
- Find the fuse box and check each one with a multimeter or visually. Surely there is one burned out.
- As a rule, a spare fuse is glued from the inside to the front panel. Put it in the place of the burned one or buy a new one (exactly the same face value!).
- Try starting the heating unit. If it works, then the repair is over, put the cover back in place.
- The device turned on and again "died"? It remains only to call the wizard, because the problem is more serious.
In the other two inoperative states, the error code is displayed on the display, by which you can determine the problem by looking at the product passport. The expert recommends the following: when the documentation opposite the error code says “contact the service”, then you need to do this, you yourself can’t cope with the breakdown. You can fix the following errors yourself:
- Clogged sump filtering heating medium from the heating system. Disconnect the heat generator from the house mains, turn off the taps and clean the element grid.
- The built-in circulation pump does not work. Reasons - jamming of the rotor or air lock. In both cases, unscrew the large screw (standing in the center of the pump) and let the air out or rotate the rotor with a screwdriver. Act carefully, a little water will flow out of the hole.
- When the boiler pressure gauge indicates low pressure, and there are no leaks in the heating system, you need to pump air into the expansion tank mounted inside the heating unit. The pressure on the air side of the membrane should be 0.2 bar less than in the system. Read more about pumping the tank here.
- If a leak is detected at low pressure, it must be repaired and then added to the water system.
Note. The display will not show an error in a situation when the electrical circuit of the room thermostat or the own thermostat of the gas boiler is broken. More information - in the second part of the video from our expert:
Conclusion
Of course, an ordinary user will not be able to overcome a serious malfunction of the heat generator. But if the gas boiler goes out due to some minor problems, then with your intervention you will not only be able to return heat to the house, but also save the money that you will have to pay for calling a service technician. The main thing is to confidently get to work, follow the recommendations and not make unnecessary movements so as not to cause additional harm to the heat source.