Customer calls for pilot light out

jim_14

guy comes out, lights the pilot, tells customer the heats back on and then leaves.. He's there for 2 mins flat, boiler does come on when re-lit. This is a 1 pipe gas steam system.

This is a customer with a service contract and a call in the evening on cold night.

Should he have stayed longer to see if everything was ok? what did he do wrong?

theres more to this story and I will explain later if interested.

Pat Clark

First of all

he should determine why the pilot went out. Next, he should at a minimum stay through a complete cycle to make sure the heat is working. And he really should check all components to make sure they are working well and don't need other repairs to prevent another no heat call.

I require my techs to do a complete check of the heating system each time they are called out. It takes between 1/2 hour to 1 hour which we are charging for a minimum anyway.

Best way to piss a customer off and send him/her to your competition is give him/her poor service.

In this case, it appears the thinking is do as little as possible so that the company will make more money by having less time invested in it. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but when you make 3 or 4 trips out to this customer to finally maybe solve his pilot problem, how much money does the company actually make? How many referrals do they get from this customer? And who is going to get to replace the boiler when it is time?

Just my opinion.

Pat Clark

ed wallace

lighting pilot lite

he should have cycled the boiler a few times to see if it would stay lite

Sweet_2

Uncle

Cmon give it up. Its gettin late and Im curious.

t. tekushan

pilot going out

A couple things come to mind:

I once had a thermocouple go "flaky" before it failed outright. Thermocouples are cheaper than hypothermia and frozen pipes.

Also, there could be partial obstuction of the pilot orifice, causing a wisp-like pilot flame that will blow out upon start-up or shut-down. It must be cleaned if this found to be the case.

But my bets are on the former.

Weezbo

a thought....to reset a boiler over the telephone in advance

may be a better approach...have them turn the cuircit breaker off and then back on,re set or restart once...if for some reason it goes off,then one has some idea of what is needed to repair the burner,ahead of time. just because a burner does re start does not mean the original cause has some how magically dissapeared...the reason is still there. as Pat says,it would make more sence to make sure one has determined How the condition came to be and What caused it in the first place. it is much easier for me to diagnose oil fueled equipment than gas as it is not my forte,lp (propane) this i have a bit more familiarity with..it is extremely important to insure the persons safety irrespective of their desire for an easy fix for the heating system. what i hear loud and clear is well its going ,see yah! One other thing is theres a real hype in the gas industry to get rid of standing piolts altogether, now i question this a bit as the new parts life span seems to make me wonder of thier reliability...as many service tech advanced gas classes and manufacturers recommended parts replacement classes and for all the questioning i have done and materials i have read i still have the nagging suspicion there are some reliability issues with the parts active lifespan and hence reliability...sorry This Is America and i can have an opinion that doesnt have to agree with codes or energy boards or the price of tea in china.

Mad Dog

ITs 4:50 am and I just got back in

From the same type of call. You gotta stick around for at least 30-45 minutes after that. IF its going to fail, you'll proabably catch it then. I learned a long time ago, call backs can be cut 95% by sticking around and testing..whether its a sink you install or a thermocouple. Mad Dog

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MIKE6

pilot service

Well it depends.was thr unit serviced recently,did someone work in the house and have the gas off.Is this a repeat problem and no one knows why the pilot goes out.Yes the tech should diagnose the problem best he can.Take mv readings on termal couple,clean pilot,you said cold,take gas press reading,old gas valve weak magnet,steam boiler drippng water on pilot when heated up,propane in gas causing exstinction pop

jim_14

well the tech left and almost cracked the boiler!!!!

Im continuing this message under a new topic

Caselli

A-R-R-R-G-G-H-H-H. Where is it ?? (nm)

jim_14

its in \"tech almost cracked boiler\"