Potterton Puma 80e - pressure and power problems

[Greigw83]

Hi All,

Ive been reading a lot of topics on here about the Pumas 80e pressure problems and fixes. I just wanted to say whats going on with mine as i havent seen any similar posts.

When i was out at work my father was at my house and called to say there was no hot water i told him to check the boiler and he said the low pressure light was on, which maybe happened twice in the last 3 years, I told him its fine he just needed to re-pressureise it. But he done it far to much and i heard a horrible vibrating noise down the phone (which im guessing was the overflow pump?). Once it had stopped this after about 3-4mins i told him to switch it off and leave till i got home.

When i got home i bled the radiators and got the pressure back down to 1bar but over the week since i have had to repressure the boiler every 2nd day and when the heating is on the pressure goes way up to 3.5bar and cuts out then once the pressure comes down again it fires back up.

Has he busted my boiler or is it fixable?

I also noticed the PCB sparking in the top left corner when i switch the boiler back on at the wall (some times it doesn't switch on the first time), I noticed this was a common problem with the boiler as well, should i replace this board as well?

Thanks for any help,
Greig

 

[abrocky]

Dunno if it helps, but mine did this... Checked the expansion vessel and it needed represurising with a bike pump..l

 

[smeghead12]

Hi All,

Ive been reading a lot of topics on here about the Pumas 80e pressure problems and fixes. I just wanted to say whats going on with mine as i havent seen any similar posts.

When i was out at work my father was at my house and called to say there was no hot water i told him to check the boiler and he said the low pressure light was on, which maybe happened twice in the last 3 years, I told him its fine he just needed to re-pressureise it. But he done it far to much and i heard a horrible vibrating noise down the phone (which im guessing was the overflow pump?). Once it had stopped this after about 3-4mins i told him to switch it off and leave till i got home.

When i got home i bled the radiators and got the pressure back down to 1bar but over the week since i have had to repressure the boiler every 2nd day and when the heating is on the pressure goes way up to 3.5bar and cuts out then once the pressure comes down again it fires back up.

Has he busted my boiler or is it fixable?

I also noticed the PCB sparking in the top left corner when i switch the boiler back on at the wall (some times it doesn't switch on the first time), I noticed this was a common problem with the boiler as well, should i replace this board as well?

Thanks for any help,
Greig

check the pressure in the expansion vessel using a tyre gauge , you can also usually tell when they need replacing because the pressure will shoot up a lot quicker than usual when topping up , also when your father put too much pressure in bolier the prv opened , prvs are shut all the time so tend to build scale etc around them and then on the odd time they open due to pressure being to high they tend not to reshut correctly due to scale etc getting on seating , check pressure on expansion vessel and pump up with tyre pump if req - your boiler book will tell you to what pressure and see if it holds pressure , also as your gauge goes up is the prv outside dripping before reaching 3 bar - if so a new prv will be required as that dripping is making your pressure go down , suspect you will require a new expasion vessel and prv

 

[Agile]

The expansion pressure is all covered in the FAQ on this site.

The PCB is damaged and needs replacing..

Tony

 

[Greigw83]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I will check out the expansion vessel tonight and look to see if the PRV is dripping if the pressure goes up.

I'm going to purchased a new PCB also.

Last night incidentally the boiler worked perfectly and the pressure stayed steady at 1bar and continued to hold on 1bar through to this morning when both the heating (for 2hrs) and hot water (for 40mins) were been run at the same time.

 

[Agile]

The expansion problem only occurs when the rads are warmed up from cold.