Please Help Potterton Netaheat 10/16 Spark Electrode ?

[Pablo2006]

hello all

whilst removing the cover of my boiler i was left with a dangling wire which seems to have come loose. Its looks like it has space for 2 pins to connect into it and looking at the schematic i think its the wire that connects the spark to the gas.

Its connected at the top end but where the hell does it go on the electronic board? I've looked everywhere and can't find anything obvoius.
I've no hot water and am well peeved off and would be grateful for any help.

Please help.

Felicity

 

[ChrisR]

Felicity, I go further than many in advising diy'ers with their boilers.

But you're in serious danger of giving yourself serious grief with this one, for all sorts of reasons.

Don't even try to put it together. Call a Corgi engineer.

Meantime see if you have an electric immersion heater on the HW cylinder.

 

[Pablo2006]

Hi thanks for your reply

How do i check if i have an electric immersion heater?

The tank is below the gas meter and i never thought it could switch to electric.

Thanks

Flic

 

[Agile]

Be aware that the Potty Netaheat is classed as a "positive pressure" boiler and opening the combustion chamber requires the seals to be properly checked and after reassembly the case has to be checked for leakage.

Failure to do this properly can mean that toxic flue gasses can leak from the boiler. People have been killed as a result of this.

For that reason opening up the boiler should only be done by a competent CORGI engineer who knows how to ensure this boiler is left operating safely.

Tony Glazier

 

[ChrisR]

How do i check if i have an electric immersion heater?

Look for 4" / 10cm round thing on ther HW tank/cylinder with a thick wire coming out of it, hopefully going to a switch.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

FFS

If it really is the HT lead on your netaheat boiler ...

It depends which Netaheat you have, there are two variants

If you have the one (which it sounds like from you saying pcb, the 407676) I think you have,the HT lead pushes into a slot at the top (as in the writing on the pcb case) at the opposite end to where all the other wires are

If it's the other style, it attaches to the only pin on the ignition box not taken up with the kive, neutral (and earth) connections

 

[ChrisR]

If you get things wrong a Netaheat can explode. One did recently, it made the press.
Flic has demonstrated a worrying lack of competence with this boiler, so is very likely to get something wrong. Hence the warnings.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

I fail to see how the HT lead could be responsible for an explosion if the rest of the boiler is OK

The question is "a wire's come off, where does it go back ?"

no more, no less

 

[bripl]

you need three things for a explosion,
fuel
air
and guess what the third is,yes you got it source of ignition and lo and behold the ht lead is not connected THAT IS THE SOURCE OF IGNITION.to the op leave the boiler alone and get a competent person to repair/replace, that is and should be the only advice given to the op.

 

[ollski]

I fail to see how the HT lead could be responsible for an explosion if the rest of the boiler is OK

The question is "a wire's come off, where does it go back ?"

no more, no less

But there is more isn't there?, flic has already removed the cover of her netaheat and what else possibly while she has been in there?, plus there was obviously a reason for its removal in the first place. There is so much more than just replacing a wire. I'll help anyone do almost anything but there are some boilers even I would draw a line at for diy.

 

[ChrisR]

I fail to see how the HT lead could be responsible for an explosion if the rest of the boiler is OK

Geoff I have great respect for your knowledge of boiler pcb's but
failing to see THAT is perhaps is due to not seeing inside so many boilers. The rest of the boiler is obviously NOT OK or the front wouldn't be off. These things are 20 odd years old and have all manner of problems sometimes; everything out of line, collapsed asbestos combustion chamber linings, rusted and sooted up heat exchangers, backplates with rustholes you can put your fingers through, oversized pilots which don't light, huge delays in ignition, and more. Their aps's switch on far less than full fan pressure (and do NOT even detect a missing case.) They can build up a ton of unlit gas and spend an age trying to light it - there's no "lockout" after a couple of seconds trying, on these.
Explosive ignition with a vengeance, is common. Cases have blown out like balloons and boilers have come off the wall.

The question is "a wire's come off, where does it go back ?"

It might sound a simple question, but anyone who can't find where a wire goes is pretty unaware technically. There are many more questions.
It's a bit like asking how you connect up a detonator, it's deadly simple....

 

[Agile]

A mercury fulminate detonator is a simple two wire device which is not polarity conscious.

It is therefore very simple to connect and when powered will do its job.

Tony

 

[ChrisR]

There is no such thing as

A mercury fulmate detonator

and the comment does not appy fully to any detonator, let alone mercury fulminate detonators...

Was that post meant to be an example of a "simple" answer which might get someone hurt?!

 

[geoff@cetltd]

you need three things for a explosion,
fuel
air
and guess what the third is,yes you got it source of ignition and lo and behold the ht lead is not connected THAT IS THE SOURCE OF IGNITION.
.

Completely rewritten ...

Yes, I know the things you need for an explosion, I did a course at the local fire station for my D of E at school 35 years ago - I'm an expert

The OP asked about replacing thew HT wire. a better way to reply woud have been "here's how you do it, BUT ..."

rather than a "Stand away from the boiler, put your hands in the air where I can see them"

 

[geoff@cetltd]

There is no such thing as
Quote:
A mercury fulmate detonator

Of course there is - what do you think a Netaheat combustion chamber is lined with

"STEP AWAY FROM THE BOILER ... NOW !"