Oil Boiler Timer Dial

M

majee

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we've woken up to a cold house in the last few mornings and when i checked the time on the boiler dial it was a few hours behind what it should be, hence the timer didn't click in to heat for early in the morning. Don't have a model number but it's a Firebird oil boiler and it's approx 5 years old. Can anyone think of a reason why the timer dial would be losing time?
 
Maybe you had a power cut for a few hours when you were out of the house?

Any other signs of that, such as cooker clock or microwave clock being wrong or flashing?
 
Usually such timers have a backup battery to tide them over if the power is cut. But maybe this one doesn't or the battery is faulty and the power was cut for a few hours at some stage? Or maybe it's just faulty altogether?
 
Would have thought that the losing time aspect was pretty unusual though - I thought basically these things either work or they don't as they are mechanically/electrically very simple?

Is the OP sure that the dial is advancing at all?
 
Maybe the original poster can clarify if the timer is actually losing time after being set to the correct time and, if so, at what rate? Or if the power outage hypothesis might be correct.
 
Do you have a wall thermostat in your house that controls the on/off condition of the boiler?

If so, I would consider replacing it with a digital timer/thermostat and putting your boiler on constant.

This way, you control your on/off times more accurately and you only have the heating on when it needs to be on.

I have heard of these manual rotary timers on boilers failing after some time
 
This happened to me last winter, the timer spent a couple of weeks losing time, and then started jamming when it reached the 'on' sections.
Landlord replaced the timing unit and that sorted it out.
 
thanks for the replies. Definitely did not have a power cut. Thought initially that the kids were getting at it but it was correct last night when I went to bed and when I checked it this morning it was 3am by the timer. Went to bed around 11:45 and was downstairs at 6:30. Looks like it might be shot so. I would have thought that these things either work or they don't - not gradually begin to fail.
 
For what it's worth there are some existing threads about replacing such timers. Try .
 
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