ICON T Fried PCB?

[bron]

Last night the boiler in our recently acquired house starting making quite a lot of clicking noise, even when no hot water was being pulled. I put it onto hot water only setting and went off to bed.

This morning I woke to the smell of electric boards not being happy and the sound of crackling. I turned off the power supply to have a look at it when i got home.

I took a look, pulled off the access hatch at the front and turned it on. I can see "sparks" at the back of the unit and it obviously refuses to start the pilot light.

I rang the first gas enginner in the book and he says the last two of these he saw the flue had "got stuck" and as such the PCB kept trying to start up the boiler. BUT the PCB has no fuse on it, and after a while it just burns itself out. He advised me this will cost about 400 quid to sort out.

Is this about right? I've had a look around and not seen this problem on this boiler before. Any advice please?

 

[Agile]

It sounds like a cock and bull story!

These are not very common boilers and most independents only see the odd one or two a year.

A typical PCB is about £90-£150 and the charge for attending to diagnose and fit a new PCb should be about £90 so a total of closer to £200 would be more normal.

Tony

 

[bron]

Thanks for the reply!

An Update! I isolated all the power, water and gas and took the front cover off. This led me to the source of the smell and "sparking". It's what looks like an oversized,blue, spark plug, with a copper feed going into the bottom and power going into the top. I assume this creates the spark. The top (power end) is completey burnt out, melting plastic....all that fun stuff.

Could I get away with just gettings this replaced? Or is there likely to be reprecussions?

 

[Agile]

This sounds like the spark generator and may be what the plumber was describing.

If its part of the PCB then it has to be replaced as a whole.

Most boilers can spark all day without burning out!

Tony

 

[bron]

It doesn't appear to be mounted on a PCB. It seems like a screw in unit with a fitted cap / power lead on the top (which is the melted part) - sort of like the leads you'd fit to the top of the spark plug in a car. I'm obviously not going to attempt a swap myself, but as far as I can see nothing else is damaged. What does worry me is that the melted part was all of 5mm away from the Pump power lead - glad I caught it when I did!

 

[corgigazza]

asked for price for pcb for one of recently and they retail at £250 plus vat from hrpc (special order) u could try heateam (gloworm) as they do fixed fee repair that can work out cheaper.

the part u are talking about is the low pressure water switch, hrpc sell them about £50 they leak into the 240v electrics

 

[bron]

asked for price for pcb for one of recently and they retail at £250 plus vat from hrpc (special order) u could try heateam (gloworm) as they do fixed fee repair that can work out cheaper.

the part u are talking about is the low pressure water switch, hrpc sell them about £50 they leak into the 240v electrics

Ah, that makes sense with the clicking I heard. I assume this basically kept telling the boiling one thing, shorting out and telling it another. Is it possible this is an isolated problem or will it have knackered something else in the process?

I called Heateam but they said they only cover Baxi products, so that's a non-starter I'm afraid.

Here is a picture of the part if there is any doubt.

 

[Agile]

As CG says thats the low pressure water switch.

Its a bit difficult to get to but you could change it yourself if you have enough skills. You will probably have to reterminate the leads as well !

As a VERY short term solution you could connect the leads to the working position if you knew how but thats not recommended when the part is easily available.

Tony

 

[bron]

As CG says thats the low pressure water switch.

Its a bit difficult to get to but you could change it yourself if you have enough skills. You will probably have to reterminate the leads as well !

As a VERY short term solution you could connect the leads to the working position if you knew how but thats not recommended when the part is easily available.

Tony

I've worked on pretty much everything I've ever laid my hands on, but I've always stayed away from boilers fro 2 reasons. The first is it's my first house so I've never had reason to. 2nd is gas scares me a little, I'm good with wires -- but if I can't see it I'm a little weary. I do think I could swap it out myself, but if anything does happen to go wrong I don't want to be the cause of more damage.

 

[AlanE]

Heat Team is Baxi/Potterton Icon is GlowWorm - HeatCall!

 

[bron]

I've had a local corgi out to this -- but since he can't find a wiring diagram anywhere, I fear he's done a bit of a bodge job. Does anyone know where to find one?

 

[ChrisR]

Spose thisn'll do till you find one
send chocolate

CAn't find a spares listing for the beast though.

 

[bron]

Spose thisn'll do till you find one
send chocolate

CAn't find a spares listing for the beast though.

Excellent! Thanks very much.

The milky bars are on me!!!!