We've just moved into a new (to us) flat. It has a Potterton Puma 80 combi boiler that seems to have been installed in 1999.
Up until yesterday, heating and hot water worked more or less OK, but there were a couple of problems: if hot water was run continuously for more than about 2 minutes, about 10-15 seconds after the hot water was turned off there would be a "clunk" from the boiler and the pilot light would go out. Also sometimes the pressure dial on the underside of the boiler would drop into the red zone near zero or to nothing at all; I'd have to take the wall panel off below the boiler, turn the fill loop tap on until the dial went back up and then turn the tap off again.
I called out an engineer today who came and looked at the boiler, said it seemed to be in pretty good nick. He replaced the thermocouple, cleaned the pilot burner and dusted down something large with fins in what looked like the main burner chamber. He said the boiler didn't sound scaled ("kettle-y").
This evening the heating didn't come on and the flat got cold. I found the pilot light was out, re-lit it following the procedures on the inside of the boiler door and the heating came on again. However after around a minute of the boiler firing, there was the familiar "clunk" and the gas shuts down, although a motor still sounds like it's running (don't know if it's a fan or a motor).
This happens every time I try and re-light the boiler. If I turn the heating off, re-light the boiler and run hot water, the boiler stays lit to provide hot water as long as necessary (so I have at least had a hot shower!) but shortly after turning the hot water off, clunk. If no hot water is run and the boiler is re-lit, the pilot stays alight until the heating is turned on. Then, again after about a minute of running, clunk.
Can anyone offer any advice? I'm not planning on tinkering with the boiler myself, but I phoned the engineer and he was puzzled, couldn't come up with a potential solution and said he'd have to look into the costs of replacing a few things: a couple of thermistors and a wax valve of some sort.
As it might take a few days for him to order parts, and then it'll cost a fair bit to come out and replace them as well, am I in for a cold few days and an unhappy credit card, or does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
: P
Up until yesterday, heating and hot water worked more or less OK, but there were a couple of problems: if hot water was run continuously for more than about 2 minutes, about 10-15 seconds after the hot water was turned off there would be a "clunk" from the boiler and the pilot light would go out. Also sometimes the pressure dial on the underside of the boiler would drop into the red zone near zero or to nothing at all; I'd have to take the wall panel off below the boiler, turn the fill loop tap on until the dial went back up and then turn the tap off again.
I called out an engineer today who came and looked at the boiler, said it seemed to be in pretty good nick. He replaced the thermocouple, cleaned the pilot burner and dusted down something large with fins in what looked like the main burner chamber. He said the boiler didn't sound scaled ("kettle-y").
This evening the heating didn't come on and the flat got cold. I found the pilot light was out, re-lit it following the procedures on the inside of the boiler door and the heating came on again. However after around a minute of the boiler firing, there was the familiar "clunk" and the gas shuts down, although a motor still sounds like it's running (don't know if it's a fan or a motor).
This happens every time I try and re-light the boiler. If I turn the heating off, re-light the boiler and run hot water, the boiler stays lit to provide hot water as long as necessary (so I have at least had a hot shower!) but shortly after turning the hot water off, clunk. If no hot water is run and the boiler is re-lit, the pilot stays alight until the heating is turned on. Then, again after about a minute of running, clunk.
Can anyone offer any advice? I'm not planning on tinkering with the boiler myself, but I phoned the engineer and he was puzzled, couldn't come up with a potential solution and said he'd have to look into the costs of replacing a few things: a couple of thermistors and a wax valve of some sort.
As it might take a few days for him to order parts, and then it'll cost a fair bit to come out and replace them as well, am I in for a cold few days and an unhappy credit card, or does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
: P