Potterton boiler woes!!! Desperation post!!

[CliffJ]

Hi All,

I'm sorry that my first post is a little desperate but I've had boiler issues for a week now and I'm almost out of ideas, money and my mind!!!

My house has a Potterton Promax HE15 boiler fitted and a week ago it stopped firing.
By this I mean the boiler was making the right noises and gas was present, but not igniting.
A central heating engineer came out and showed me there was no spark at the electrode, replaced my ignition pcb and it then operated correctly, firing up okay, but for the work we were charged a wopping £492!!!!
The boiler would then work for a while and then go off and wouldn't restart, it ignored the room thermostat but the water in the taps was piping hot.
The guy left saying we have heating, which is true, you can keep resetting the boiler every 20 mins or so!!!!
The radiators get nice and hot but before room temp is reached (set at 25 degrees) the boiler stops and they go cold.

The boiler never fires up with the programmer now, so I have replaced that, no change.
The only difference made temporarily was by disconnecting the wire off the condensate trap, which made the boiler fire, but even though it's still off and the condensate trap is almost empty, it still needs a manual reset to fire.

I have replaced the room thermostat, I can hear it turning on and off the valve in the airing cupboard when I go from low temp to above room temp, but no boiler action.

British gas came out and gave up, they had no clue, and we got no bill.

Can anyone shed any light on my issue at all please?

My main issue is my wife (only 47 y/o) is disabled with Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis and needs the heat on constantly 24 hours as her bones are badly affected. She has knee and elbow replacements, needs hips and another knee done too, our heating is so important it's unreal.
She sleeping fully clothed now and wearing a bobble hat, it's not a good situation at all!!

Yours in desperation

Cliff

 

[Agile]

You should have called British Gas first under their fixed price repair, about £300. Then pestered them to repair it.

Why did it cost £492? Seems a bit high!

We do not give DIY advice on gas/combustion issues here. You should not have opened the boiler I am afraid.

You should have called me in the beginning!

Seems your best chance is to call the manufacturers Potterton/Baxi and they have a fixed price repair too about the same £300.

It is not a very reliable boiler and I have to say it is not the easiest to work on either. It would have been better to have replaced it with a better model during the summer.

Tony

 

[CliffJ]

British gas came out on the 1st fix deal and gave up as I said, told us to ask elsewhere.
We've not had enough money to replace a boiler and it's been largely reliable for the 10 years we've had it (New build house).
With the first guy leaving us in a non-working state and a near on £500 bill, then walking away, and British gases effort, im left looking about for a fix myself

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I would be looking to reclaim my money from the 1st guy. You paid him (or he robbed you!) to fix your boiler. He didn't fix it, and you are no better off, still needing someone else to look at it. Therefore how can he justify that price whilst not achieving anything? I'd be speaking to Trading Standards too.

 

[Agile]

You should have called BG on the fixed price repair. I would expect that you probably still can do that! In fact it may be your only option!

But why was the partial repair so much at £492?

If the experienced engineer from BG could not repair it then I really dont think that you would have any chance at all !

Tony

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Tony, Cliff has said twice that BG have said they cannot repair it. I think the first bloke has completely ripped him off, and the poor guy is at his wits end now!

Is there anyone on here from the Bucks area that could look at it for him?

 

[Agile]

I think he called BG out on a timed charge basis or a system which only allocates a short time to try to repair.

They certainly do manage to fix some Promaxes. But he may need the fixed price deal to be able to get them to keep sending out engineers until they find one with the skills to get it working.

Tony

 

[petit_pablo]

I think he called BG out on a timed charge basis or a system which only allocates a short time to try to repair.

They certainly do manage to fix some Promaxes. But he may need the fixed price deal to be able to get them to keep sending out engineers until they find one with the skills to get it working.

Tony

BG are under no obligation to carry out a repair if we deem it to be beyond help. As has been done, we walked and didn't charge. Unlike the robbing RGI who charged nearly £500 for a PCB that costs less than £100.

Potentially there is more than one fault present, I could hazard a guess at what's causing the 20 minute cycles. Theoretically a full service would help with gaskets and seAls changed.

 

[howmuchlonger08]

Why ring BG ......try Baxi Heat team for a fixed price repair. if they cant fix it.....