Potterton Suprima & PCB & Powerflush!

Hello everyone.

I know the Potterton Suprima has been mentioned before but wondering if anyone can help me with my problems. it was fitted in 2000 i think and I know very little about plumbing/heating......

Last year (almost to the day) had problem with the boiler locking itself-flashing red light and eventually burning itself out. Found a friendly plumber on his day off who said he had a new PCB and could fit for £80 to solve my problem. This was followed by 1 year happy heating!!!

Same problem comes back yesterday-boiler needs constant resetting lasting from 1 minute to 1 hour. Called a plumber out today-same problem, new PCB at crazy price of £300!! Ok so i am in a bad situation, people living with me, girlfriend here for a few days and i have a broken leg so i need all the comfort possible so i pay the ransom and work completed. everyone is happy..............untill about an hour later! Same problem back!!! called company and got the guy out again, he cant understand the problem for a while and does a double check of all system. Now reccomends i get a poerflush done as he believes a load of gunk is blocking the system causing the boiler to overheat.

Can anyone tell me if this is a sensible explanation? Will i be robbed again? Would i be better off looking in to getting a new boiler fitted as the potterton is known to be crap?

Any help appreciated!!!!!

Did he do basic checks on the ntc in the boiler? I've had a couple that had come loose in their pockets and gave a pcb looking fault.

Has he checked the pump over?

Have you an auto by-pass valve that is stuck shut? Had this on a boiler 3 weeks ago that kept giving random overheat cut out?

Hope he will refund the £300 as it was not needed.

Unless the system water is like treacle I would not think this would give random faults as this.

I think he is clutching at straws.

Thanks for the reply Dave.

He said his boss wouldnt cash the cheque till the problem was solved-i thought it was steep anyway even if it did solve the problem! I am thinking of cancelling the cheque tho just to be sure-what would you think about that?

As i say i am very limited in my knowledge and all i really saw him do was twiddle the thermostat, look at the hot water tank, test the valves on it-3 way valve etc.

Not sure if he did the checks you mentioned-broken leg prevented me from being up and about keeping an eye. i think he just assumed it was a pcb fault to be honest.

Im not really sure which way to turn with this!!

£300 is about the going rate for a new pcb. It's what I charge inc vat.

Could always call in heat team on a fixed price call out. They'll have all the bits on their van for a first time fix.

sorry for my stupidity but what is heat team?

thanks for being so helpful!!!! really appreciated!!!

Lately i have changed quite a few gas valves on suprimas especially if there is 911 stamped on the solenoid (black plastic)

Heat Team is the service division of Baxi/Potterton

thanks guys

update on situation, boiler still flashing red light 90% of time, no heating and a little hot water. am waiting on a call from the boss of the company who did the 'work' yesterday. giving it till 12 before i call him.

will be asking him about the issues brought up here. will be asking if all your points were checked as i doubt they were. will also be asking him about his powerflush proceedure, and about magnaclean possibility? hopefully he will come up with a decent solution.

will prob cancel cheque or ask for at least partial refund for unsatisfactory work/unnecessary part installation!

You dont actually know if the PCB was faulty or not. Perhaps it was faulty?

Its easy to check the flow rate through the boiler! Just measure the temperature of the flow and return pipes while its working.

The diifferential should be no more than about 10-15 degrees. If its much higfher then the flow is restricted and the system is dirty and blocked or the pump is faulty/blocked.

All these things are very simple for anyone who understands heating properly.

Tony

Agile-i know what you are saying. But, if the original PCB was faulty, and the new one not, then surely there would have been some noticable difference in the system? the fact that the new PCB displayed the same flashing red light after one hour (as the old one was doing) and has not kept the system going for more than 30mins since suggests to me the problem was more than the PCB.

The thing is the guy told me that the PCB had cured all the problems, there was nothin else wrong with the system and then came back 2 hours later telling me that there WAS a problem with the system after all!!

I asked for him to fix my problem not give me a new PCB. That was 9 on sat morning, now here i am on sunday midday, no heating, no water, 4 unhappy housemates, 1 unhappy girlfriend who hasnt been able to shower while she has been here for a visit, and no call from the company!

I once had a customer who had 2 suprima pcbs fitted.

It took me 30 secs to diagnose his blocked cold feed

Tip: its not always the PCB

exactly the point i am trying to make scatman!!!

another engineer coming sometime today to try and sort it!!