Well, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to fire it up, only to discover that there was no gas being released. I contacted Calor and was advised by a rep. that it was probably the regulator, and suggested that I might order a new one at the link they provided.
Up till that point, I didn't even know that this was the regulator, having instead had a go at loosening couplings within the heater itself! Anyway, all told, that was going to cost me €22 to replace, and as the Rep. had pointed out, there was no guarantee that that would fix it, and that maybe I should instead seek out a professional. While pondering this dilemma, and with nothing to lose, I decided to attach an air compressor to the regulator's output - the narrow 'pipe' thing in the above pic - and was delighted to discover on reconnecting it to the heater, that it was working again. Hurray!!!
So, a quick post for a (possible) quick fix for someone encountering the same situation.
Edit:
Well, this had worked, sort of anyway. Gas had been released, but not at the rate necessary to fire up even one 'heater-section' properly. I therefore went at it again and gave it a proper going over with the air-compressor, then attached a small vacuum pump to the outlet for good measure - which killed gas output completely! Undaunted, and as a last resort, I air-compressor'ed the arse out of it, this time, including the regulator's input. Wee, I had gas output again! But after15-20min, the rate reduced, until one section would barely stay lit.. I guess I'm stuck with having to purchase a new regulator. Heavy sigh.
Edit2:
Cracked it! While the compressed-air did 'something' to resurrect the gas regulator, just a couple of minutes after it was lit, the gas throughput was never close to what could be deemed normal - for instance, after 5-10 min, it would slowly undergo 'gas-starvation' and the pilot flame would eventually go out. And that's with just one bar lit, switch on more than one and it would go out almost immediately.
So, with nothing better to do, I decided to heat up the regulator with a gas torch! Sounds a more aggressive move than it actually was - my butane torch is just a little thing! So after removing the plastic rain-protection cap, I spent about 5min getting it nice & toasty, then let it cool. Result? - one perfectly working gas regulator! It's being running for a couple of hours over the last two days without a problem. So, Yay for me!
Almost one year on, I've just had to eat crow and fork out for a new regulator. The "fix" proved to be frustratingly variable in nature. One day I'd get the expected gas output from it, another, it could be a reduced gas output or none at all. Even when it was 'normal', the gas flow would invariably peter out after an hour or so of operation. Despite this unsatisfactory situation, I would probably have continued on in this way for a while yet but for a recent 'occurance'.
I happened to come across an old regulator lying about in a neighbours barn and borrowed it to establish once and for all that my regulator was faulty. It was an old model, something that I remember seeing being used by relatives/neighbours in my youth. I hooked it up to the cylinder, fired it up, and confirmed my suspicion - there was plenty of gas being output, causing one of the 'bars' to quickly redden - too quickly as it happened! I immediately noticed that there was an excess of gas being released,the top of the lit-bar having a flame 2-3cm rising above it like a candle. I then figured that the smart money would be on switching on another bar, thereby dividing the gas output between the two, mitigating somewhat the 'surplus gas' problem.
What actually happened was that the flame-front traveled right back to the old regulator! In an instant I had a 30cm flame squirting straight up from the top of the obviously faulty regulator, and a moment on, a smoke detector screaming for attention. I managed to kill the flame by flicking the old-style regulator switch to the off position - or at least I think I did, it's all a bit of a blur. The possibility of the flame having made it past the regulator and into the cylinder itself is what freaks me out. Just how close was I to a gas explosion and a smear on a bedroom wall I wonder?
On the bright side, there are worse ways to go I suppose - with a full cylinder of gas, at least it would have been quick! :) I also got the new regulator today, which works as expected, though I'm no longer as blasé about gas heating as I used to be...
Edit4:
Calor just keeps on giving & giving - but only frostbite and misery, as far as yours truly is concerned anyway.
Unbelievably, the second, brand-spanking new regulator that I ordered from them has failed in an identical manner to the first one and in pretty much the same time-frame - it lasted only 9 months!!!
The purchased regulator worked perfectly - until it didn't - one minute I could happily have all three 'bars' lighting, next, not even a single 'bar' would remain lighting. Worse, I managed to use only 3 gas refills before this deplorable state of affairs reasserted itself. Just how difficult can it be to design a regulator that works?!?!?!? Ironically, I have found that if I disconnect the regulator and leave it sitting on the oil-fired central-heating's radiator for a few days, it provides a temporary fix sometimes - about 1 hour, before the heater once again starts spluttering from gas starvation.
Anyway, I contacted Calor, fully expecting to hear that the 'new' regulator was also no longer in warranty, but instead learned that it had a 5-year extended coverage - YAY!!! - and that they'd send me out another one. I next received an invoice for a new regulator from Hamilton Gas Products, who no doubt Calor sub-contract, followed by an email from Calor themselves, saying that a new regulator was on the way.
That was more than a week ago, still no regulator! Looks like it's going to be a 'Cold, Cold Christmas without...' Calor. Sigh.
Edit5:
Weee, the regulator finally arrived and unsurprisingly, it works as it should (see pic.) Also note perched on top of the heater, the other unblemished-but-faulty regulators. It's more than a little disconcerting that the newly arrived regulator seems identical in every respect to the faulty ones - 1 going faulty could have been put down to bad luck, 2 faulty, especially in the same time-frame, it's more likely to be down to a bad design - but I hope I'm wrong!
