Johnson and Starley Hi-Spec J32 - clicking noise

[Deepjoy22]

Hi.
I've a J&S Hi-Spec J32 with the cleanflow filter. For some time I've had an intermittent clicking (sometimes a couple; sometimes several in rapid succession) that occurs just as the heating unit tries to burst into life. It sounds like a relay struggling but I'm told (see below) that this unit doesn't have a relay but an electronic unit. The system works fine other than this

This is not the cleanflow filter which I know can arc at times.

When the unit was serviced a couple of months back, I was told to replace the electronic unit (ET003) - this made no difference.

Anyone encountered anything like this and found the solution.

Thanks.

 

[ollski]

Well almost always the control unit but maybe you have a gas valve solenoid failing?

 

[Bob100000]

I too have this problem with the J&S HiSpec J32. I have had the control unit replaced but it has made no difference.

I contacted J&S directly and they suggested replacing the wires that connect the unit to the wall thermistastat, and using fly lead instead. This seems a reasonable suggestion given that the current wires are now 30 years old and were never designed to carry the type of signal sent by the thermistastat. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done given the particular layout of my house. In practice, it would mean finding a completely new position for the thermistastat and frankly I'm not sure I'm prepared to go to that trouble and expense.

A thought that did occur to me is that the fault may be within the thermistastat itself, and replacing that unit isn't too difficult or expensive.

However, to be honest, I've come to the conclusion that J&S are simply selling overpriced crap and I regret the day I decided to replace my previous warm air unit instead of installing a wet system. I've already wasted a further 200 quid replacing the control board and not resolved the problem. If anyone reading this is thinking of replacing their warm air system by a "modern" unit then I'd advise against.

 

[David Henderson]

I had exactly the same problem. Replaced the control unit which made no difference. Later I needed to replace the fan with a refurbished unit. This seemed to solve the clicking problem. Probably the old fan was deteriorating and did not cool the unit properly causing the electronics to malfunction. Seems OK now. My J32 air warmer is 15 years old and should be good for a few more years (hopefully).

 

[ianmcd]

you can test if it is the thermistastat easy enough, remove the wires from 7&8 and put a temp link in (with power off of course) the thermistatstat is now disconnected, if the clicking now stops you have answered your question, dont leave it like that though

 

[bobmeade]

As a bit of additional info for those keeping these old J&S units working. I've found that the main circuit board used (ET001 & ET003) in the Hispec J25 & 32 - are identical, EXCEPT for the plug able internal daughter board with a collection of resisters on it - so if you have the wrong main board, you can use the daughter board from the otherwise faulty control board. This may be the case, in other Hispec heaters.
There are currently some used ET001s on Ebay for £50 - New ones, are around £270 - 300 !