Potterton Suprima flashing orange/amber LED light

[SixColdFeet]

Hi all,

I have seen many posts with some of the symptoms I am experiencing but nothing with my exact issue. I have spent many evenings Googling potential solutions with no luck so now asking the knowledgeable heads on this forum.

I have a Potterton Suprima 50. Moved into a 13yr old house earlier this year and the boiler is original to the build. Has had the PCB replaced about 5 years ago. Seemed to work fine over the summer with heating water but now I am faced with a flashing orange light.

System is a Potterton timer/controller. Suprima 50 boiler. 2 Myson Power Extra valves. Grundfos Selectric pump.

The following happens, for each this is after I have turned everything off at the mains and restarted. CH dial set to 30 degs.

-Timer set to OFF, Boiler Temp dial set to OFF : Solid orange light
-Timer set to ON, Boiler Temp dial set to OFF : Rapidly flashing orange light
-Timer set to ON, Boiler Temp dial set to ON : Slow flashing orange light.
...and it stays like this. It should flash green and then ignite.

Sometimes the boiler does fire up, but this is only after many turns on and off, and sometimes it doesn't fire at all. Sometimes it comes on with the timer but most of the time not.

When it is all set to ON and I expect it to ignite I can also observe the following:
- Motorised valve power light comes on. The MV unit gets hot and there is a very faint buzzing, but this sounds more like just the electrics working than a problem. The fact that it works sometimes, and that it is the same whether I have only HW or CH on leads me away from thinking it is a problem with the valves.
- Can't hear any noise from the pump. Never have heard any noise from the pump that I can remember though.

So, a bit weird that it works sometimes but not all the time. It looks like it is getting the external call for heat (flashing orange light) but just not firing.

Any suggestions on what this might be, or where would be a good place to start looking?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Gasescape]

Thinks boiler stat is turned down , new pcb required ....

 

[SixColdFeet]

Seems weird that it fires up sometimes (i.e. after 20 resets!).
Is there any way to check what it is getting from the boiler stat?

 

[Gasescape]

It's a common fault with the newer board, ive got about 500 suprimas on my patch & have replaced loads of pcb's with this fault...
If you've 240v sw/l , boiler stat set to max & it's flashing Orange then it's new pcb time

 

[SixColdFeet]

Thanks Gasescape.
If I am armed with a multimeter and reasonable electrical knowledge, would I be able to check the 240v switched live from the front panel under the PCB? (i.e. the choxbox connector thingy)

 

[Gasescape]

Yes....

 

[SixColdFeet]

Before I blow up a PCB, just checking... check between SWL and N or SWL and Earth?

 

[Gasescape]

Yes

 

[SixColdFeet]

Checked the switched live.

-Timer set to OFF, Boiler Temp dial set to OFF : Solid orange light : swL = 0 (obviously)

-Timer set to ON, Boiler Temp dial set to OFF : Rapidly flashing orange light : swL = 0

-Timer set to ON, Boiler Temp dial set to ON : Slow flashing orange light : swL = 240V AC

Is this the end of the road for the PCB or is there some other way to spark life back into this boiler?

 

[Gasescape]

As said new board time ....

 

[SixColdFeet]

Thanks, will update the thread with the results!

 

[SixColdFeet]

Turned it all off, turned it back on again, fiddled with the boiler stat and now it ignites. Weird.

 

[SixColdFeet]

Any ideas what the cost for a replacement PCB and labour is likely to be?

 

[Dan Robinson]

With a sneaky service, £340.

 

[SixColdFeet]

Thanks Dan, is that if I go privately?

I only ask as Heatteam themselves quoted about £369 for just the repair, but ideally I would like a service too.