Potterton Kingfisher 50000BTU Floor Boiler Clicking

[Pigunderaroof]

3 year old boiler. Been brill. Now when it gets hot it seems to have trouble firing up and you can here a clicking noise several times then it eventually fires up till the next time. It is heating water and central heating just fine n dandy and it seems the nosies is when the stat has reached its peak and it is then cycling on and off. When staring from cold it does not do it.

Could air pressure switch do this?
Fan is coming on

If you have starter motor gone on car and solenoid is clicking this is what its like.
PS I am aware its a boiler and not a car but just for example even though my wife drives the boiler as well!

Thanks in advance to all

 

[ChrisRoberts]

Has it been serviced? Could be the sprk electrode gap has increased.

 

[Pigunderaroof]

Was serviced last Sat by Tame BG engineer although he was not sure what it was??????????????? Glad I ain't got a contract with them!

He said Gas Valve, pressure switch or PCB

Bulk Surgery that looks like

Its only 3 years old

He did a pressure test and emission test that came up OK

 

[ollski]

Was serviced last Sat by Tame BG engineer although he was not sure what it was??????????????? Glad I ain't got a contract with them!

He said Gas Valve, pressure switch or PCB

Bulk Surgery that looks like

Its only 3 years old

He did a pressure test and emission test that came up OK

Did he hear it??

 

[johnty]

modern fanflued boilers go thru a prepurge sequence where the fan will operate first to clear any unburnt gas. this inturn operates the air pressure swith which confirms that the fan is working and then the spark sequence will begin then gas valve will allow gas. It does sound as if the spark gap may be too big or too small (same principle as on a car)

 

[Pigunderaroof]

yes he did hear it and he suggested the three possiblel causes.
I think he just wanted a quick Saturday morning service call on the side nice and easy money although to be fair he did offer to fix it if I found out exactly what it is and get the part.

I presume if its the spark gap it can be bent a little just like a spark plug? what gap should it have?

Many Thanks to all thus far

 

[Baxi-Remeha]

check your ignition electrode wire isnt shorting out. somtimes the spark can jump through the insulation on the wire if its sitting too close to a metal part on the chassis....

also, i could be the ceramic on the electrode, this can somtimes crack where it goes through the metal plate which secures it. as the electrode gets hot, it could be opening this crack up, causing the spark to short to the chassis......


have a look, to see if you can see the spark EVERY time it clicks, if it misses, its shorting out somwhere....

 

[Pigunderaroof]

Last night the heating went off even tho room stat was on full. When I turned boiler stat up full, the boiler lit for about 20 seconds then went off with the famous clicking noise. After leaving it for a while it suddenly fired up and worked for the rest of the evening.
Today it came on as per timer at 3pm. I have noticed it went off again aftre about 30 mins and when i again turned room stat up full and nowt happened. I then turned boiler stat up full and it came on for a few seconds (20) then went off again.

I looked through peephole; to see if spark thingy was ...sparking and it was. The clicking is definitely coming form the top right hand side of the boiler. It has quite a few goes at the clicking cycle the shuts down.

Any ideas appriciated as its getting c.c.c.c.cold in here Brrrrrrrrrr

Many Thanks to all

 

[Pigunderaroof]

Pumped Heating Gravity HW.

Both showing as "on" on the timer. boiler still kicks in then goes off. Cant feel pump going could this shut off boiler?

 

[HarrogateGas]

If its the Kingfisher MF range the pump is wired back to the boiler. The PCB's are a common fault on these, the gas valves can intermttantly stick too/

 

[Baxi-Remeha]

sounds like youre pump is either sticking, or youre pcb is sending out an intermitang pump live.....