Hello,
Here my current, rather chilly situation.
Setup is a Britony 80 Combi boiler with a Potterton digital control unit in a standard 3 bed semi. System is 7 years old (we have owned the house for 2) and it had a air separator leak earlier this year that was solved by fitting a new air separator unit and there is a very small, intermittent leak from the 3 way valve area but it is not too big to live with and I don’t think (?) this is causing the current issue.
The DHW and CH work fine when they work so the boiler is good; this seems to be a control issue. To be honest the DHW nearly always works and doesn’t cause us an issue, but the operation of the DHW does affect our CH.
There are a few intermittent scenarios that the boiler goes through that I can list in the hope you can shed some light onto this.
On a good day you turn the boiler from off to DHW/CH on the front panel and you hear a quick wirr but then it will sit there like it should with the power LED lit and nothing else. Then when you turn on the hot tap it will fire up and give hot water, but sometimes the pump doesn’t stop for a while after the tap is shut off. Another time, you call for CH from the timer unit it will start the pump, and the flame will light, but will go out after 5 sec for instance. Then it will keep doing this lighting/going out cycle. But will not heat the rads, till eventually it just sits there with the pump running.
The way to solve this issue (not all the time but maybe 4/5 times) is to run the DHW when the CH will not stay lit. Then the flame will light fully and give DHW. If you run the DHW for 2/3 mins till it’s piping hot and turn the tap off the pump will (sometime instantly but normally after couple of minutes) stop and for the first time the LED (temperature?) bars will light up on the front and then pump will stop. Then (as CH is being demanded by control unit) the pump will restart, the, gas will light and it will heat the house as it should. This HW trick is needed to get the CH going but wil does not always work.
Now that the CH is working it may run fine all day or within 1/2 hr it will get cold on the rads, you go back ot the boiler and see that the flame is out, all the LEDS are out and the pump is the only thing running. When this happens HW is available but the trick no longer works to get the CH working. You have the turn the whole system off and wait a few hours and try this technique again – though many times you will turn the power back on and turn to DHW/CH and the pump will just run and you’re screwed again.
Are the Heating Temp LEDS on the front meant to always be on for DHW/CH? as when they are lit the system almost seems happy, it’s just when they disappear it goes into no flame & runs the pump mode.
I’ve tried to add all detail here as it’s a complex intermittent issue (though we rarely get and period of CH now). We have had a local plumber out and he scratched his head for 1.5 hrs, phoned the help line for the boiler and said he would try a new air pressure switch that the boiler help line suggested. He relived me of £90 and I haven’t heard from him for 2 ½ weeks now and have no confidence that he can fix it.
Any help will be greatfully received guys – you’ve been great in the past.
Thanks,
Gareth
Here my current, rather chilly situation.
Setup is a Britony 80 Combi boiler with a Potterton digital control unit in a standard 3 bed semi. System is 7 years old (we have owned the house for 2) and it had a air separator leak earlier this year that was solved by fitting a new air separator unit and there is a very small, intermittent leak from the 3 way valve area but it is not too big to live with and I don’t think (?) this is causing the current issue.
The DHW and CH work fine when they work so the boiler is good; this seems to be a control issue. To be honest the DHW nearly always works and doesn’t cause us an issue, but the operation of the DHW does affect our CH.
There are a few intermittent scenarios that the boiler goes through that I can list in the hope you can shed some light onto this.
On a good day you turn the boiler from off to DHW/CH on the front panel and you hear a quick wirr but then it will sit there like it should with the power LED lit and nothing else. Then when you turn on the hot tap it will fire up and give hot water, but sometimes the pump doesn’t stop for a while after the tap is shut off. Another time, you call for CH from the timer unit it will start the pump, and the flame will light, but will go out after 5 sec for instance. Then it will keep doing this lighting/going out cycle. But will not heat the rads, till eventually it just sits there with the pump running.
The way to solve this issue (not all the time but maybe 4/5 times) is to run the DHW when the CH will not stay lit. Then the flame will light fully and give DHW. If you run the DHW for 2/3 mins till it’s piping hot and turn the tap off the pump will (sometime instantly but normally after couple of minutes) stop and for the first time the LED (temperature?) bars will light up on the front and then pump will stop. Then (as CH is being demanded by control unit) the pump will restart, the, gas will light and it will heat the house as it should. This HW trick is needed to get the CH going but wil does not always work.
Now that the CH is working it may run fine all day or within 1/2 hr it will get cold on the rads, you go back ot the boiler and see that the flame is out, all the LEDS are out and the pump is the only thing running. When this happens HW is available but the trick no longer works to get the CH working. You have the turn the whole system off and wait a few hours and try this technique again – though many times you will turn the power back on and turn to DHW/CH and the pump will just run and you’re screwed again.
Are the Heating Temp LEDS on the front meant to always be on for DHW/CH? as when they are lit the system almost seems happy, it’s just when they disappear it goes into no flame & runs the pump mode.
I’ve tried to add all detail here as it’s a complex intermittent issue (though we rarely get and period of CH now). We have had a local plumber out and he scratched his head for 1.5 hrs, phoned the help line for the boiler and said he would try a new air pressure switch that the boiler help line suggested. He relived me of £90 and I haven’t heard from him for 2 ½ weeks now and have no confidence that he can fix it.
Any help will be greatfully received guys – you’ve been great in the past.
Thanks,
Gareth
