Powermax 135 bangs when windy!

pwt1976 · 11 Dec 2006

Hi folks, I have Powermax 135, more when it's windy you get the green ignition light coming on, off, on, off and then BANG (air escaping type noise), repeat with the bangs getting quieter until it lights and off it goes as normal. Homecare changed the gasket and some wiring from the pcb to somewhere (no paperwork left so I don't know) - is it air being forced in when windy???? Gas board are saying it's ok, but my neighbours must be crapping themselves! It seems ok when the weather is calm outside which isn't often as I live on top of a hill. Seems to be ok when it's calm and can go for a few days silent then start up again.

Any advice for me to give the homecare guys? Or should I write this one off. Ideally I'd like to keep it running as it's a great boiler apart from the nasty backfire noise. Oh yeah and it's been serviced, checked out for safety and all went ok!

a jeffries · 12 Dec 2006

hello, has the boiler had a gas valve upgrade, this could cause a banging noise on ignition, i would be very supprised if it was connected to it being windy outside.

pwt1976 · 12 Dec 2006

Hiya,

It's not been upgraded that I know of. Homecare replaced a gasket that apparently needs done every so often as it gets hair round it. And the PCB board connector wiring was replaced.

It seems to heat up from cold ok, radiators all go warm, burns for about 5 mins, then the burner cuts out and you get a big bang, followed by attempted reignition (on, quickly off then on for about 2 seconds, then BANG, repeat for a couple of times) before it goes on for a bit before repeating. Today it's nice and quiet, so it's not always happening, which i think is what stumps the gas guys, but sometimes it can happen every burn cycle. Could it be something to do with overheating? Also the water runs hot, scalding in fact, and I've seen mention about a jammed valve which causes this on another powermax!

Funnily enough the gas board came along today to do a safety inspection for homecare, which has already been done! Girlfriend asked the engineer who passed it ok but said he couldn't see what the fault was as everything seems in order (and he heard it making the noises). A while back the system got drained due to a leaky radiator with faulty valves and sludge got clogged in the expansion tank pipe which had to be removed and drained and pipe cleaned out. When it was filled it had a non corrosive sludge remover added and was drained again later to check everything was filling up ok.

I'm stumped! But hey at least the house is still warm.

a jeffries · 13 Dec 2006

if the boiler is banging when it is trying to fire it sounds like gas valve or electrode fault, i would highly reccommend you have your gas valve upgraded and this could cure the problem.

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Gas2Air · 13 Dec 2006

It's the sump/fan/electrode/gas valve/air gas ratio. Yes they have a modified gas valve, with new injector for fan. Don't mess with these lots of problems ie BG incident. Get a good CORGi in with sound knowledge of Powermax.

pwt1976 · 13 Dec 2006

A big thanks to you both for the advice. I'll get that dealt with.

pwt1976 · 11 Jan 2007

It went silent for a while (two weeks maybe), only thing I had done was add non corrosive sludge remover to the expansion tank. Now it's back.

Well, Gas valve upgraded. No difference. Can't find anyone who'll commit to fixing it without running through all the parts at my cost (which is pretty much what BG are doing except i'm on contract).

This morning with the high wind it was giving the 3 bangs every 5 mins or so while burning. (green light on, goes out, comes back on for a second, loud bang, light repeats pattern, quieter bang, light repeats pattern, quietest bang, then it lights without going off for about 5 mins or so).

Strange thing is, on new years eve when the wind was also bad, it didn't give any problems!!!!

It's had the gas valve, electrode and internal gasket replaced, BG are out of ideas. I'm loathed to resolve this by buying a new boiler as it hardly strikes me as beyond repair, passed another safety and service inspection for what it's worth. Boiler is upstairs in a cupboard and the flue vent is quite exposed as there is nothing behind my house at that height, but maybe it's just coincidence regarding the wind. Any use if I take a video (with sound heh) of the cycle of bang?

Agile · 11 Jan 2007

There are all sorts of little things which can cause this problem.

It really just needs someone who is experienced with your model. The average BG man is a jack of all trades who spends most of his time dealing with simple faults.

If you could get their lead technician or whatever they call them now that might be better but not necessarily!

You could also try to get them to call heat team who might be able to send someone who rather specialises in your model.

Tony

pwt1976 · 11 Jan 2007

Engineer is coming back with his technical manager tomorrow, if it remains unresolved the manager can apparently get a specialist in. I get the feeling this is going to end up with me being left with a banging boiler and apologies. I've been told I can replace the boiler for about £1000 with a corgi guy doing it (friend of a friend) but lets face it, the damn thing works great, it just needs a silencer.

Agile · 11 Jan 2007

"""with a corgi guy doing it (friend of a friend)"""

If he is working for an employer then he is not CORGI if working for you on the side. That price does not seem to involve CORGI registration.

As you are paying BG and they advertise that they are smashing engineers then you should press them to solve the problem!

Seen in posting above:-

find an expert, po12 postcode
always happy to help

Surely thats blatent advertising and against forum rules?

Tony

MOD 2

will run it past admin tony

ollski · 11 Jan 2007

Agile said:
The average BG man is a jack of all trades who spends most of his time dealing with simple faults.

Lol Tony why simple faults?, where do the complicated ones go?. Trust me when I say that Bg are pretty much up to speed on powermaxes for obvious reasons.

Agile · 11 Jan 2007

pwt1976 said:
It's had the gas valve, electrode and internal gasket replaced, BG are out of ideas.

Well Ollski, apparently PWT would not agree with you !!!

And what about that BG maintained power max that...... I seem to recall that BG were banned from working on them until they has received training. Seems the training was somewhat lacking?

Since most BG fault visits are under maintenance contracts they must suffer from the people who call them out when the pressure just needs topping up. Thats how they can do 11 visits a day.

I am not hungry for work so I get callers to run through basic checks and talk them through repressurising, checking gas and electricity supplies are present and that solves 50% of calls without any visit.

Most weeks at least half of the calls I go to are where another person has failed to identify/fix the fault. Keeping a good stock of common spares helps a lot here. Because I travel considerable distances within London traffic, I cannot easily manage more than three calls a day.

Tony

ollski · 11 Jan 2007

Well to be fair Tony the gas valve and electrodes are the obvious components we would all have gone for, gasket has to be replaced when the burner is removed....have the engineers heard the noise?, is it combustion or sticking pump?

Bg were banned from making any adjustments on the gas valve pending the coroners report I believe.

nickso · 11 Jan 2007

Agile said:
pwt1976 said:

It's had the gas valve, electrode and internal gasket replaced, BG are out of ideas.

Click to expand...

Well Ollski, apparently PWT would not agree with you !!!

And what about that BG maintained power max that...... I seem to recall that BG were banned from working on them until they has received training. Seems the training was somewhat lacking?

Tony

what utter rubbish....BG were never "banned" from working on powermax's....who would enforce such a ban?

and as far as rubbishing BG's attempts to resolve the problem ive not seen any bright ideas from you other than the very vague "There are all sorts of little things which can cause this problem". that must be the "little things" that BG have done so far then.

pwt1976. you are paying for a contract for BG to fix your problem. as annoying as it is it will get resolved as long as its part of the terms and conditions. you may have to be patient but BG, or the manufacturer BG will pay to have a look, will sort it.

in the meantime ignore agile's inflammatory and useless comments

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ollski said:
Well to be fair Tony the gas valve and electrodes are the obvious components we would all have gone for, gasket has to be replaced when the burner is removed....have the engineers heard the noise?, is it combustion or sticking pump?

Bg were banned from making any adjustments on the gas valve pending the coroners report I believe.

no one was allowed to change the gas valve settings....not even agile

MOD 2

calm it down fella and use the edit key

Agile · 11 Jan 2007

nickso said:
what utter rubbish....BG were never "banned" from working on powermax's....who would enforce such a ban?

in the meantime ignore agile's inflammatory and useless comments

Well Nickso, It seems that your view of the situation is not exactly the same as Ollski who said """ Bg were banned from making any adjustments on the gas valve pending the coroners report I believe."""

No one banned me from working on the boiler or adjusting the gas valve!

Its disappointing to me that you seem to be demonstrating a tendency of some BG staff to be quite rude and abusive. I hope that you do not talk to other BG customers like that!

There is no point in my suggesting what may be wrong with the boiler as the owner is not going to fix it himself. In any case I have not heard the boiler myself however, if it was an ignition problem as it appears, then I would be looking at the gas mixture and the ignition cable, spark generator and gas/spark timings.

Tony

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Powermax 135 bangs when windy!

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