I’m lucky enough to have central heating in my house, and as the weather is cold in SE Australia at this time of year, we’ve been using it a bit.
Every few years a strong storm will blow out the pilot light. To fix it I climb up into the roof (fortunately I have an attic ladder fitted) and re-light it. Generally the effort involved to re-learn how to light it is more than the effort to actually do it.
So I’m doing like any good geek would: documenting it.
The unit is a Brivis Wombat 92 (I assume that means it’s a 1992 model). The instructions are written in tiny writing on a label attached to the inside of cover — so tiny it’s quite difficult to read while in the cramped roof space.
The steps are actually pretty quick and easy, as follows:
1. Make sure the heater control (eg in the house) is set to Off, and grab yourself a torch if you have to climb into the roof.
2. Take off the cover. On mine you pull it upwards, but I think my unit is actually mounted upside-down, judging from the logo on the side.
3. Find the dial. Turn it clockwise to the Off position.
4. Find the power point for the unit. The power cord on my unit leads to a power point about a metre away, mounted on a joist. Switch it off.
5. Wait a few seconds and switch it on again. You will hear a regular clicking sound – this is the heater trying to re-light. You’ve got about 20 seconds for the next step.
6. Turn the dial back to the Light position and press down on it. A couple of clicks later you should hear the pilot light.
7. If all looks well, now turn the dial to On. That’s it! Put the cover back on. Enjoy the heat.
So basically, you’re turning it off then on again.
If it doesn’t work? I guess try it again. I know in 2013 mine wouldn’t re-light, and needed a service, but that’s perhaps not surprising for a 20 year old unit.
Good luck!
(Edit: Added to turn the dial to On when the pilot has been lit. Thanks for the feedback!)
I never usually comment on blogs but THANK YOU! This helped me. I don’t have a wombat model, nor is mine inside and upside down, but the sequence of steps helped me reignite my heater so THANK YOU!
Another techo 🙂 yep, mine died as well, and won’t re-light. Suspect thermocouple and either new jet /clean of existing given its only been looked at once in the 14 or more years we have been here.
Very helpful, but where is the pilot light located in the unit? To the top or bottom of behind the cover? Left or right?
Just want to say A HUGE thankyou for these instructions! 🙂 My elderly parents have been without heating for a couple of days now (and it’s been cold here in Melbourne) & couldn’t afford to get a professional in, so I got up in the roof & had no idea at all what I was doing & was looking at you tube videos & they all said to light the pilot with flame, I couldn’t even find or see the pilot?? And i wasn’t keen on blowing myself up in the roof & was just about to give up WHEN I came across your instructions, to which I followed step by step and it worked perfectly! Yay. After it came on, I then turned the dial from pilot to ON (which you didn’t mention in your instructions) the reason I did this, was that it was in the ON position when I first looked at it, is this ok?
Thank you sooo Soo much, Michelle 🙂
Is desapoint went not received information I am 64 I can’t go to the top to turn on, I called for the guaranteed, asking for year was fabric,last year charge$700, to change the mother work,
Thank you so much for writing this, saved me from having to call maintenance!
Just wanted to add my thanks for posting this incredibly useful information.
With your instructions I was able to relight my partners gas heating and she is now very happy and warm.
I also returned the pilot to “on” as well after lighting.
Thanks Martin and Michelle too. Have added the step to turn the dial back to On at the end… don’t know how I missed that!
Thank you so much for this!!!
Brilliant instructions. Clear, concise and really easy to follow. So glad I read this before jumping into the roof. I wouldn’t have thought of turning the power to the unit off and then on again. This has saved me lots of troubleshooting time. Thank you.
Thank you 🙂
I can light the pilot manually but when the dial raises to twist to on the pilot goes off….frustrating n cold lol
Hi Bruce. I had the same problem. I left the pilot light on for around 30 seconds and then slowly turned it to on. I found that worked.