Now very desperate - Potterton 100e

[steveroy]

What can i say, my boiler is driving me mad and i hate it i want a divorce from this piece of junk.
Over the weekend again after the regular banging, the centeral heating came on, the wall mounter controller was set to 6 deg to stop the heating, but on it came and we started to get reather hot. I went up into the roof and switched the heating rocker switch to off. Did that turn off the heating? no it didnt!
I tried the reset button but no success and finally i switched the hot water rocker switch to standby and it all shut down. Great i thought, i switched the hot water back on and on came the heating again. the solution is to turn it all off and leave it for an hour or two and then put the hot water back on and the heating stays off. When the heating is on the rads heat very quickly. The water pressure is 1.5 bar. Even with the heating and no hot water running the boiler makes some clanking noises and then it all either shuts down or the heating comes on.
As its intermittant i dont know if i should pay for someone to have a look or have this heap of junk removed with a hammer and replaced with a pretty new model. If anyone can help i would be very grateful, as my wife pointed out climbing the loft ladder in my dressing gown with nothing else on was not very pleasent for her.

 

[jonathanb]

You need to contact a reputable Gas Safe reg heating engineer or outfit and get a professional to look at this as soon as possible. Your wife will thank you for it also!

 

[Puddle]

If we are talking about the 100e combi here the probable fault is the seal on the hot water flow switch is leaking slightly and leaked into hot water micro switch shorting out and keeping on so the boiler thinks you are running the hot tap all the time therefore boiler lights heating comes on but controled by hot water side therefore banging solution replace parts mentioned above seal/complete valve and micro switch

Some of the banging sound could be the sound of exposed bits banging together when you are going up and down the ladders,some plumbers mate packed around our inner thighs should stop this

 

[migoplumber]

is it possible that the clanking sound you here is the water boiling in the pipes, like a kettle with the lid on? how hot is your expansion tank? could be a faulty gas valve or pump.

really would suggest a local plumber to pay you a visit.

good luck
shaun

 

[steveroy]

Thanks for the advice guys i have tried to contact a plumber, they are like hens teeth. I have left a message and hope this one will come back to me.
You may have stopped me giving this boiler what for. I will see if i can sort out the valve myself, wish me luck. if you hear of a house blown up in hampshire think of me. The problem has got worse this week it now does the usual noise like a train then a rush of gas excaping and then it switches itself off. if i reset the heating comes on. the short term solution is to turn the whole boiler off and wait for an hour or so. My wife said the plumber mate dont do it for her.
I will let you know how i get on, new boiler, visit the nut house or divorce.

 

[steveroy]

Here we are again, the plumber has been. Its more than likley clogged up he tells us and it will cost £500 -£600 to fix. It would be better to have a new boiler he suggests. I think i will get a second opinion. The problem of it shutting down is now every day so al least its getting closer to a total breakdown, like me.
I have yet to try the seal and sensor on the hot water flow switch as you have suggested Puddle, that sounds cheaper.

 

[newbie1]

where in hampshire are you if it a powerflush you require then it shouldnt be 500-600 pounds it is poss it is clogged and pump struggling to circulate water and so boiler keeps overheating and shutting down and if it is clogged then poss divertor valve also sticking
to flush properly it is a days work
a new boiler and straight swap is going to cost at least 1300.00 so dont jump in and waste your money

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

Could be sludge, but so could it be many other things. So its probably best to make sure of the basics first.

Is there enough water in the system? i.e. 1 bar when cold? Are all the valves open everywhere. This sort of boiler, I assume its the Potterton Puma 100e the "e" being for electronic ignition we are talking about? It requires an external by pass valve fitted in the system, its not like a lot of combi boilers which have their own automatic by pass fitted inside the boiler itself.

Some installers instead of putting in a by pass, they leave one rad with ordinary valves on usually a bathroom rad. Make sure these are open at all times. If its shut or closed down to far, the boiler can overheat and lock out.

If the by pass is turned off or turned down too far you will probably get some of the symptoms you are talking about.

The hot water the same. Check all valves open. Just a note: This boiler has got a flow restrictor in the cold to the hot water supply, make sure you have at least 1 bar pressure but not more than 10.

So those are some basics steps to start with. You can go on from there if it doesn't do anything. All the other mails suggest some good things to try as well. But fault finding can take some time, especially possibly distance fault finding.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Be British have a cup of tea and settle back!!! its nearly Summer and your probably more in danger of drowning in a Brit Summer than freezing.
Huh! Don't know though, its been funny weather!!!!

And don't forget if you get it to work, the harder the job the bigger the medal!
Tell the wife that! You might be credited with a night or two unaccompanied out with the lads!

So step one is to check system is full, all valves on rads are open, all external controls such as room stats or time clocks are calling for heat.

 

[steveroy]

H Bernie2

Great information, Yes you are right it is a Puma 100e. I did turn off all the rads when the heating came on on its own. i will open them all up again to see if this helps. Since i turned the rads off the problem increased in frequency to a daily problem. The gauge under the boiler base that i can see is at 1.5 bar and seems to be staying there at the moment. i will look again for the flow restrictor on the hot water side, does it also have a gauge? if not how will i know the pressure? I am going to purchase the seals etc mentioned by puddle above, as this issue of the heating coming on even though heating is switched to OFF on the boiler is really odd. T he power flush will be the next on the list and a good offer from Newbie1.

I suppose with all people like me i am not a boiler engineer but i can usually trun my hand to fixing mechanical breakdowns with the right advice. With this magic box i dont want to spend out and then be told my Puma is dead meat.
wish me luck guys i have some things to try.
Plumbers mate didnt work and horse hair too itchy, PTFE tape could be the answer.

 

[Bernie2]

Hi! Steveroy

Unfortunately the mains cold water supply to the hot water side of th boiler doesn't usually have any way to tell what the pressure or the flow on the cold main to the hot is. I suppose they reckon the installer should check that before they install it. But things may well have changed since they installed it. But there are clues as to what it might be.
If the boiler pressure when its cold, reads at least 1 bar, then the chances are the same cold main pipe was used to fill the boiler. So the cold main must have at least 1 bar or it could not pressurise the boiler to 1 bar. That is of course assuming the boiler is topped up or filled directly from the main and not a booster pump.

 

[steveroy]

thanks Bernie2 i can chek this out.