potterton puma 80 boiler not igniting

bretts

Hi

I have a potterton puma 80 combi boiler which came with the house, I dont know how old it is really but it was working fine till a few days ago when it started making weird noises. I left it as it is and now after 3 or 4 days the ignition will not switch on, It would not fire up, I am having to do it manually and then in a few hours it goes off.

Is there anything I can do, there are steps on the front of the boiler which I follow to ignite it but I dont really know if it is safe to keep doing this for long.

I spoke to a friend who said any repairs to boiler will cost you about 500 pounds and you end up still with same boiler and no guarantee as to how long it will work for, he suggested to get a new one in as it is much more energy efficient.

I dont know how old this boiler is really but it works fine otherwise if the ignition comes on.

Any advise please.

southcoastrgi

What sort of weird noises ?

bretts

Its like a motor thats running, feels like it and some clicks too. Last night I switched on the heating for 30 mins just to check if it is working at all or not, I dont really use heating a lot as I use oil rads when needed as I am only in one room most of the times. The CH worked absolutely fine and as long as the ignitions comes on time it will give hot water too, I had to switch the ignition on in the morning again to get hot water.

I spoke to another boiler guy and he said its a very old boiler and we struggle to get the parts for that so we dont come out to repair it anymore but he could come down and have a look for 100 pounds but cant say if he will even start to fix it.

I only use about 25 to 30 pounds of gas per month at an average, so replacing a boiler just to get an A rated boiler is not really going to be worth it for me, I just dont want to throw away a working boiler but the quote to install a new one is about 1800 pounds with a magna clean. I dont know if this is about right, it is for a valiant eco tec pro 24

imho

Read this

And this

bretts

Hi

Thanks a lot for the reply, I will go home and check this. I have done a lot of research too and somewhere it says it could be the thermocouple too. Does it sound right? Is it something I could replace on my own or do I need an engineer to come out and do it for me?

macman

Your friend is an idiot (for suggesting that it will cost £500), and the boiler guy is a con man if he wants to charge you £100 just for coming out without a fix.
Find a decent local independent GSR RGI who knows the boiler and can do proper diagnostics. A thermocouple needs to be changed by a GSR RGI.
Why don't you get the boiler serviced at the same time to save you money?

southcoastrgi

& if it is what it sounds like then it's still gonna cost somewhere between £300-£400

barnaclebill

My boiler was not working last week, from the noise I thought it was the fan at fault.
Called a small family firm with good reviews on checkatrade, one guy came out the next day and confirmed the fan bearings were very noisy and probably the cause of the problem said he would get a price and availability of a fan and give me a price for the repair.
Next day he called with a price £269 + vat so I agreed and fan was fitted next day and boiler now working ok and he charged the price quoted it was £312 with vat, found the fan on the internet and it was £129 to buy so I think the repair was a fair price.

unclebulgaria

Potterton Puma boilers are old, the parts are still available.
They also have a well known fault on the gas valve's solenoid where they start to get warm and then the solenoid shuts down which shuts the gas off. They are also a pig for sticking fans!
As above don't go messing with it, don't go paying for idiots who say they'll come out for £100 but also expect to pay someone to have a look if they do. Don't be fooled into letting someone start changing parts without being very confident he's changing the right part either.
In short if you want it fixing then do something about it, if it can be fixed don't spend too much as its not really worth it. I currently keep a Puma working for a landlord and he's paid me a lot of money to do so, more than a new boiler would cost, when I've been telling him for the last two years to get rid and buy a new one, no skin off my nose if he's daft.

bretts

Thanks a lot for all the comments. I am in london so chances of getting people like the one's I mentioned are quite high, I think I will go with calling someone who knows what he's doing and also get the service included.
I got a few companies quoting me 50£ + VAT for 30 mins for callout. Does this sound right? I did not ask them how much will they charge for servicing. These prices sound higher than british gas prices for callout if I am not wrong.

bretts

Hi

I spoke with about 12 to 15 different boiler companies and none of them are ready to come and fix that boiler and everyone suggests to get a new vaillant boiler or anything similar and charging 2k for it. I really cant afford that sort of money but if i have no option i have to go with it, any suggestions that I could do anything on it on my own to make it last for some more time.