Potterton Puma 80 - DIY or not???

[Mikey_B]

Hi everyone, I've just joined up here I the hope someone might be able to give me some educated information. I've got virtually no DIY experience at all, let alone any plumbing or central heating experience, so I'm completely in the dark with this...

I live in a house which has a Potterton Puma 80 boiler fitted, it's roughly 5/6 years old. Yesterday morning (Sunday 9th April) it suddenly stopped working and the 'Low System Pressure' light has come on. If we run the hot water taps the pressure is very low and the boiler squeals like a kettle. Similarly, we've got no central heating either.

Now... this morning I called the agent I rent the property through intendign to get an engineer out to fix it. The letting agent had this to say...

1 - Underneath the boiler at an angle there should be a braided cable with a tap at one or either end and a gauge. All I need to do is repressurize the system buy turning the tap until the gauge hits around 1 bar.

2 - It's a combi-boiler, and combi-boilers regularly suffer from low pressure, particularly if you bleed the radiators or something. It's something that will probably happen once or twice a year.

If he's telling me the truth then that's fine, but of course he's going to avoid spending money on an engineer, so I'm sceptical. I'm especially sceptical since a quick search on the net came up with suggestions that it could mean the pressure valve needs replacing or needs to have 'gunge' cleaned out from it, which definitely involves someone qualified than me.

So... please... can someone tell me - is my estate agent a money grabbing, work-shirking conman, or is he actually telling me the honest truth???

 

[Agile]

I dont understand why you are so scathing of the Agent. Saying " is my estate agent a money grabbing, work-shirking conman " is totally unjustified!

Its a user task to keep the pressure topped up and the Agent has explained to you exactly how to do it.

Why not just do it and then you will have no problems.

If your Agent wanted us to come to investigate it then he will need to contact me ( from my profile ).

Tony

 

[Mikey_B]

I dont understand why you are so scathing of the Agent.

Its a user task to keep the pressure topped up and the agent has explained to you exactly how to do it.

Why not just do it and then you will have no problems.

If your agent wanted us to come to investigate it then he will need to contact me ( from my profile ).

Tony

????? Nice friendly and understanding forum then...

I dont understand why you are so scathing of the Agent.

Because as I said, I'm a total novice with anything to do with these appliances. My understanding is that boilers aren't something to play around with unless you know what you're doing, so the estate agent telling me to 'do it myself' naturally (in my view) made me think that he might be trying to avoid getting a job done properly, and maybe I shouldn't lay a hand on it. Believe it or not Estate Agents have been known to do things like that when you rent properties.

Its a user task to keep the pressure topped up and the agent has explained to you exactly how to do it.

Why not just do it and then you will have no problems.

Well, er... that's exactly the question I was asking mate - is he telling em the truth, is it that simple, or should I demand he gets someone out to look at it? Didn't I explain that clearly enough or were you incapable of just answering the question in a more polite manner?

If your agent wanted us to come to investigate it then he will need to contact me ( from my profile ).

I was after an educated opinion, that's all. I'm in Coventry, not London, and I certainly wasn't asking you directly to come and have a look (although if I was I get the impression that would be putting you out ). I expected that the agent who manages the property would have his own contacts who he use for these type of job since he manages a lot of other properties.

Anyway, I guess in short your saying he's telling me the truth. I'll make sure I know the answer to a question before I ask in the future for fear of disrupting your day with my ignorance.

Cheers anyway.

 

[Agile]

I dont know why you reacted so negatively to my reply. I explained the situation quite simply and clearly to you.

This web site does not set out to list the areas which we cover. Its just takes one location. We can cover Cov as well as some other areas outside London.

There was no question of me thinking that you were instructing us to attend, thats why I said "If your agent wanted us to come to investigate it then he will need to contact me".

It seems that you have a very negative attitude towards your Agent and now towards me as well!

Tony

 

[geoff@cetltd]

Well, you did rather bite his head off

Mickey, if the filling loop's been left in position, it could be that there's a residual leak - which would be the agent's responsibility to get fixed

under lwater bye-laws, the filling loop should not be left in position when not in use

 

[ChrisR]

Mikey - look in the FAQ section!!
On second thoughts don't, because you'll probably assume the advice given there is designed to make you damage something so you have to call an expensive dishonest lying cheating engineer out.

You admit you're clueless, so why not try the advice you've been given.
It only involves turning a tap for god's sake.

Stop at 1 to 1.2 bar. If the light doesn't go out you have a different problem.

 

[kevplumb]

you have to call an expensive dishonest lying cheating engineer out.

but i don't do coventry

 

[ollski]

I dont understand why you are so scathing of the Agent. Saying " is my estate agent a money grabbing, work-shirking conman " is totally unjustified!

I don't believe it, surely that description would never fit an estate agent

 

[corgiman]

you have to call an expensive dishonest lying cheating engineer out.

but i don't do coventry

 

[Mikey_B]

Mikey - look in the FAQ section!!
On second thoughts don't, because you'll probably assume the advice given there is designed to make you damage something so you have to call an expensive dishonest lying cheating engineer out.

You admit you're clueless, so why not try the advice you've been given.
It only involves turning a tap for god's sake.

Stop at 1 to 1.2 bar. If the light doesn't go out you have a different problem.

I was sat at work when I actually got word from the estate agent, so maybe what I should also have said was that I couldn't get up there and then to have a look under the boiler for the gauge and the tap he was talking about.

Regardless of that, I am completely clueless about these things, as I said previously, and also as you reiterated. As I also tried to say earlier, the limited knowledge I had went only as far as this:

1 - The general knowledge that a boiler is not soemthing you should try to fix yourself unless you know exactly what you're doing (as also pointed out in a sticky thread in this forum).

2 - More than one result on the net through serching for my boiler and the problem which stated that an engineer is needed to either replace the pressure valve or 'very carefully' clean it out. One result even stated that an engineer might be needed just to repressurize it.

Given that, and the fact that an estate agent who I'm fairly sure isn't corgi qualified tried to tell me how to fix it, I think I was entirely justified in asking "Should I do as he says". What's more, I asked expecting a little help without the attitude that I must be an idiot to ask in the first place. Even if I had been at home and able to look for the parts the agent described there and then it's likely I would have posted here to check it was a good idea simply because of what I had found online.

As for the comment about my agent being "money grabbing and work shirking" - it was actually meant in a more light hearted sense, besides the fact that I wasn't calling him that, I was ASKING if he was on the straight and narrow or not.

So... hopefully that answers the ever-approachable ChrisR's "You admit you're clueless, so why not try the advice you've been given.
It only involves turning a tap for god's sake" and Agile's "Why not just do it and then you will have no problems". If you're actually engineers who do this for a living then I hope your customer service skills with clueless homeowners shine through a lot better in person than they do when you're asked for a simple bit of advice on here.

To Raden - Thank you VERY much. As the only person to actually give me a useful and friendly suggestion on what the problem might be and what to do about it without talking to me like I'm a moron I'm very grateful I actually went home and did as the agent had said since if nothing else Agile had more or less said to do that. I assume the 'filling loop' is the braided hose? And if by 'left in position' you mean the tap was left open, then no it wasn't. But I'll keep an eye on it for any drop in pressure. Cheers

 

[bender]

You would almost think that diy'ers aren't welcome here.

I've only been visiting this forum for a few months but have been surprised by the amount of 'smart Alec' or sarcastic replies to what often are just straight forward requests for help or opinions.
Several posters seem to revel in picking holes in the questions rather than just answering the obvious point.

This doesn't seem to happen as much on the other forums that I visit, perhaps it's a plumbers thing?

 

[jobloggs]

And if by 'left in position' you mean the tap was left open, then no it wasn't.

This was not what was meant. The tap should be closed after the pressure is raised back to recommended value. What the poster was suggesting was that the loop was physically disconnected to avoid damage if tap was accidentally left open.

In defence of the plumbers on this site (and i'm not one): I have found them very helpful but like anyone else they take the hump when they give advice that is then questioned and/or ignored. Having said that there are one or two Smart Alecs who have appeared lately. No names but they are soon sussed.

 

[Mikey_B]

You would almost think that diy'ers aren't welcome here.

I've only been visiting this forum for a few months but have been surprised by the amount of 'smart Alec' or sarcastic replies to what often are just straight forward requests for help or opinions.
Several posters seem to revel in picking holes in the questions rather than just answering the obvious point

Exactly my feeling too, and this was just my first post!

This was not what was meant. The tap should be closed after the pressure is raised back to recommended value. What the poster was suggesting was that the loop was physically disconnected to avoid damage if tap was accidentally left open

Hmm, thanks for that. I did think that if the tap had been left open then it would cause serious damage (and maybe even be dangerous?), so I wasn't quite sure if that's what Raden was saying or not. The loop was alwasy connected, and now that I've repressurized the boiler I've left it conected myself. I guess based on what you've told me and also what Raden said I should have a look at disconnecting it. If the fact that it has always previously been connected has caused the 'residual leak' Raden suggected may have happened, then I guess the damage is done already and the boiler may lose pressure again? Anyhow, at least I have a better idea now of what to look out for and what to bear in mind. Thanks a lot

 

[geoff@cetltd]

I think the reason for the by-law is to orevent the possibility of the "water" in the central heating circuit being able to pass back into the potable water supply (whether or not there is a one way valve there or not). For the same reason, I understand, a shower head should not be capable of dangling in the bath

 

[lor]

mickeyb , you ungrateful t*** these people give there advice for free and u slag them off .I hope no one replies to u in future ,u make me sick