Caldera bloqueada

A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional), module 0302 Montaje y mantenimiento de instalaciones calorificas of the Tecnico en Instalaciones de Produccion de Calor (Real Decreto 1792/2010), with module 0136 of the Tecnico Superior en Mantenimiento de Instalaciones Termicas y de Fluidos (Real Decreto 220/2008).

The learner is Maialen Urquidi, a newly qualified heating technician on the boiler-lockout callouts of a fictional heating maintenance company, Termoservicios Valdegrulla.

Four situations set the company's course in 2027: a boiler that locks out at night with a smell of gas reported, and how the technician enters and makes the boiler safe before the casing is opened (the room checked with the gas detector and for ambient carbon monoxide, the power and the gas cock off before anything is dismantled) and how the lockout code is read (against the maker's table and the fault history); a flame that makes noise, and how the combustion is analysed (a calibrated analyser at maximum and minimum output against the maker's values) and how the evacuation of the products of combustion is checked (the duct, the terminal, the condensate drain and the pressure switch before any part is changed); a pressure that drops, and how the heating circuit is checked (the pressure, the expansion vessel pre-charge, the safety valve and the leaks before refilling) and how the boiler is left in service (a complete check, the boiler not left running if any point fails); and the annual review of how each callout is reported (the analysis before and after, the parts, the RITE maintenance record) and closed (a call at thirty days, repeated lockouts reviewed).

The combustion analysis says more than the error code. Scored on the callouts right first time, the cost of the callouts, the hours without service per callout and the parts replaced without need; training-level decision practice that complements the module's supervised practical work, the company's procedures and the makers' manuals, with no carbon-monoxide threshold, adjustment value or procedure given.

Two critical errors cap the round at 40: the casing opened and the ignition tried with a smell of gas, and the flue safety pressure switch bridged so that the boiler runs (Ley 31/1995, article 29.2.3). Spanish primary, English parity.

An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.