Potterton Puma 80 boiler won't fire up

[molly27]

Hi there,
My boiler's pilot light is on but it won't flare up when hot water/central heating are turned on. I've turned pressure gauge so it's on 2 (it was really low before) but still nothing. Sounds like it's trying to fire up but it just won't. It's been cold showers for a few days now!
I've only had one person come to take a look so far - he's suggested a new boiler but thinks that the circuit board needs replacing. I'm inclined to replace circuit board as money an issue but any thoughts/advice most welcome.
Thanks.

 

[maka2k2]

pilot light but no main burner, gas valve?

 

[maka2k2]

pressure guage should be at 1 bar when cold, and about 2 when hot so you shouldnt have bumped it up really, if it gets to 3 bar you have a pressure relief pipe and it chucks all the water outside, if this happens the washer normally gets a bit of muck and rubbish on it and doesnt close off properly = new prv

 

[molly27]

wow, that was quick!!
sorry, i'm a bit of a novice - does prv refer to circuit board? the guy that came round did say i'd overdone the pressure and released it, etc.
do you think i can get away with repairing rather than buying new boiler? could it be anything else?

 

[ChrisR]

Sounds like it's trying to fire up but it just won't.

Can you describe what you hear - does the fan speed up?
If you turn the HW on, does the red light on the PCB come on?

 

[Agile]

These are quite repairable.

I dont think much of someone who "thinks" its the PCB.

A competent engineer will KNOW what the problem is !

Tony Glazier

 

[molly27]

thanks for all the questions and advice! my reasons for going on this forum are exactly because he couldn't tell me what's wrong definitively.

when i turn hw on, the boiler makes a little clicking noise straightaway, but that's all. sorry for being a girl but by pcb do you mean the circuit board? if so, i'm afraid i don't know the answer to that as hadn't opened the front cover up. (I've managed to work out prv though!)

i only adjusted the pressure yesterday evening so don't think it's to do with that being too high...

 

[Agile]

"""I've only had one person come to take a look so far"""

That sounds as if you expected to have to get lots of different people to come and see it.

We go and diagnose the fault for a fixed fee and then ( if the client wants us to ) we fix it!

Tony Glazier

 

[gazthepottertonengineer]

"""I've only had one person come to take a look so far"""

That sounds as if you expected to have to get lots of different people to come and see it.

We go and diagnose the fault for a fixed fee and then ( if the client wants us to ) we fix it!

Tony Glazier

If only there were more like you Tony

 

[Softus]

These are quite repairable.

I dont think much of someone who "thinks" its the PCB.

A competent engineer will KNOW what the problem is !

Tony Glazier

This seems strange. It certainly isn't an answer to the question, nor does it contain any technical information. How odd.

Ah! I see . It's actually an answer to the question that the OP thought but didn't write down, which must have been What does Agile think of someone whom he's never met and knows nothing about?

We go and diagnose the fault for a fixed fee and then ( if the client wants us to ) we fix it!

Coo lummee - yet another psychic session, after molly idly wondered to herself whether or not Agile Services Ltd might remedy the problem for a fixed fee.

Hey! I guess molly's now wondering where Agile Services Ltd is based, and whether or not Tony himself would call round.

Tony? No answer to that one yet? I mean, she must be thinking along those lines, without any prompting from you of course!

 

[Gasman1015]

84 squid plus vat, just to diagnose, must be mental.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

Has anybody actually asked whether it's an electronic or perm. pilot ?

I didn't notice

as every good CORGI fitter here knows, the gas valve operation is different (boardwise)

OP do you have a means of testing the resistance of the gas valve solenoid, do you know what a solenoid is ?

I can probably diagnoese it quite easily if you have a meter and an ounce of common sense

 

[Softus]

My boiler's pilot light is on...

Has anybody actually asked whether it's an electronic or perm. pilot ?

I didn't notice

Indeed not - perhaps you were preoccupied with avoiding taking yourself seriously?

 

[corgiman]

My boiler's pilot light is on...

Has anybody actually asked whether it's an electronic or perm. pilot ?

I didn't notice

Indeed not - perhaps you were preoccupied with avoiding taking yourself seriously?

someone has to soft???

 

[Softus]

Hi cm - how you doin'?