potterton boiler problems

fsdss

had my 5yr old potterton suprima refitted last year (and serviced) after having an extension to the house. anyway the boiler over the past couple of months has been playing up, and keeps going off (and therefore losing hot water etc). after 3 attempts to re-start it will start again.

rang potterton they want £250 for a call out to service, is this reasonable? i'm unsure wether there's another way to get the boiler fixed, i am sure that before when we've used potterton theres been another route that we can take to get the boiler fixed etc at a fixed price

any suggestions would be appreciated

bestyman

Hi,
£250 seems a lot to me. Why not look in the yellow pages ( under central heating ) and find someone local, or better still ask around for reccomendations? Hourly rates here ( leeds) are about £50 - £70 with no extra call out ( ring round) . Check if they charge for going to collect parts and if so how much.

Did the £250 include parts? If so its not such a bad deal if major parts need replacing but a very bad if only the pilot is blocked.

Bestyman

moneysavingplumber

The problem could be the result of the refitting. What rating is the boiler? If it's 60,000 BTU or larger the 22mm tails should be upsized to 28mm directly from the boiler back to where it effectively manifolds with the zone/mid-position valve and cylinder return. If it is continued in 22mm it can contribute to overheat problems and scale formation in the boiler. I would contact the service engineer that refitted and serviced it before calling Potterton in. It could also be that the system doesn't have an automatic by-pass or a poorly adjusted one.

If it is the boiler then it may well be the PCB, they are notoriously unreliable on older Suprimas.

fsdss

moneysavingplumber wrote:

The problem could be the result of the refitting. What rating is the boiler? If it's 60,000 BTU or larger the 22mm tails should be upsized to 28mm directly from the boiler back to where it effectively manifolds with the zone/mid-position valve and cylinder return. If it is continued in 22mm it can contribute to overheat problems and scale formation in the boiler. I would contact the service engineer that refitted and serviced it before calling Potterton in. It could also be that the system doesn't have an automatic by-pass or a poorly adjusted one.

If it is the boiler then it may well be the PCB, they are notoriously unreliable on older Suprimas.

eh?
i'll contact the fitter, he's well known and qualified, just out of interest whats the PCB?

moneysavingplumber

Sorry mate, it's a bit jargonified I know. The PCB is the printed circuit board that ultimately controls what the boiler does.

Basically the pipes coming off the top of the boiler may be too small in diameter to effectively shift the heat back and forth in order to prevent the boiler sensing a difference in temperatures so great that it automatically responds by shutting down sensing an overheat. The same effect can be caused by an inadequate or non-existent 'by-pass'. Your fitter/service engineer should understand what all this means, although they may not appreciate it being mentioned so tread carefully :beer: .

fsdss

thanks for this, just had our mate round this morning, who happens to be an electrician and has the same boiler, although he's not professing that he knows what hes on about but he said it could be the mother board, it this the same? as his boiler had the same problem and it turned out to be this

moneysavingplumber

It is the same thing, but get it diagnosed correctly first as £140 is alot of money if it's wrong, and they can't be returned.

zareer

hi, i had probs with my potterton boiler recently - had a yellow pages plumber come by firstly and £70 later he said it was the air pressure switch needed replacing.

Not entirely trusting of the guy (he said I could just replace it myself), I phoned Potterton, who charged £200 (are you sure it's 250) for a year's maintenance. Informed him that I thought it could be the air pressure switch, so he brought one round with him.

ultimately proved not to be (the prob of misdiagnosis), but the point is that if you are going to spend a vast sum on parts, it may be better to sign up for a year's maintenance - maybe with Potterton maybe not (there is a separate thread on this I think) - as you are then covered for any future problems during the Winter, as well as the initial problem + parts.

fsdss

thanx zareer and moneysavingplumber, yes it is a £240 fee (inc vat), ihave rang potterton this morning, as i am having trouble locating our engineer, and booked an appointment for friday.that includes replacement parts within the boiler (which now i believe could be the PCB) and the engineer will bring spare parts for our boiler, it also includes a service,which seperately costs £90. after this is done the boiler is guaranteed for 12 months, so perhaps not such a bad deal after all. its just finding the first £240.