Hi,
I would greatly appreciate some help and advice please. I woke up yesterday to a cold house and after talking to a "friend" who is a plumber to help diagnose the problem we stated on a diagnostic route. I checked that there was no voltage at the bolier despite the central heating "calling" (There wasn't). We ruled out it being an issue on the HW side by tinkering with the cylinder stat. He had me check the room thermostat and advised me to short across 2 terminals which I did and then caused my RCD and the 3 amp fuse in the spur to trip out..when I told him about this he said it must be the other wires I need to short together..I told him I had a multimeter and was quite happy using it to identify which terminals to short but to cut a long story short I ended up tripping the RCD and fuses another 2 times and the CH still didn't come on. So no problem with the room thermostat I guess.
A couple of months ago I had a problem with the 2 port honeywell valve on the CH side and ended up replacing the synchron motor (its been running perfectly for 2 months) but when I put my multimeter across the terminals I was getting 240V but the motor wasn't turning at all..So I figured I had found the problem..Nipped out to B&Q and picked up a spare synchron motor (the one I got from e bay 2 months ago must have been duff).
Fitted it, powered the system back up but the screen on the programmer (Potterton EP2000) was dead and despite switching the CH slider and HW slider to Off the boiler was still kicking in. My friend suggested that we may have knackered the controller so I put on my original EP2002 and that was ok and seemed to control as well as it used to (I had replaced it because there seemed to be issues with the connections inside and the advance and extend button rarely worked and it was quite temperamental).
So to get to the remaining problem - It seems that when the boiler first fires up in the morning, it stays on for awhile and everything warms up but then it seems to start cycling constantly going through this process - Boiler ignites and runs for 2 mins, boiler then goes out for 1 min 15 seconds whilst the ch valve stays open and the pump keeps pumping, then the boiler ignites again and this process keeps repeating. Now the raidators are nice and hot but I am concerned about this cycling. When I switch the CH off the pump stops and valve closes. I should include that it is one of the honeywell valves which has the micro switch which gives the signal to rest of the system only when the valve is fully open so that tells me that its not a blockage or restricted flow at the valve.
I am just hoping it is the controller and my "Friend" is sending me a replacement EP2002 in the post but I am concerned as to whether, by following his instructions, I have knackered something on the boiler PCB or something more serious.
I would class myself as a competent DIYer but no plumbing expert and am happy using a multimeter etc so if anyone could help me diagnose and get to the bottom of this I would be extremely grateful. The Boiler is an Ideal Classic FF380P (LPG) and has been installed and running for 7 years.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated..Many Thanks
Tim
Should just add that its a fully pumped system with 2 x 2 port honeywell motorised valves.
I would greatly appreciate some help and advice please. I woke up yesterday to a cold house and after talking to a "friend" who is a plumber to help diagnose the problem we stated on a diagnostic route. I checked that there was no voltage at the bolier despite the central heating "calling" (There wasn't). We ruled out it being an issue on the HW side by tinkering with the cylinder stat. He had me check the room thermostat and advised me to short across 2 terminals which I did and then caused my RCD and the 3 amp fuse in the spur to trip out..when I told him about this he said it must be the other wires I need to short together..I told him I had a multimeter and was quite happy using it to identify which terminals to short but to cut a long story short I ended up tripping the RCD and fuses another 2 times and the CH still didn't come on. So no problem with the room thermostat I guess.
A couple of months ago I had a problem with the 2 port honeywell valve on the CH side and ended up replacing the synchron motor (its been running perfectly for 2 months) but when I put my multimeter across the terminals I was getting 240V but the motor wasn't turning at all..So I figured I had found the problem..Nipped out to B&Q and picked up a spare synchron motor (the one I got from e bay 2 months ago must have been duff).
Fitted it, powered the system back up but the screen on the programmer (Potterton EP2000) was dead and despite switching the CH slider and HW slider to Off the boiler was still kicking in. My friend suggested that we may have knackered the controller so I put on my original EP2002 and that was ok and seemed to control as well as it used to (I had replaced it because there seemed to be issues with the connections inside and the advance and extend button rarely worked and it was quite temperamental).
So to get to the remaining problem - It seems that when the boiler first fires up in the morning, it stays on for awhile and everything warms up but then it seems to start cycling constantly going through this process - Boiler ignites and runs for 2 mins, boiler then goes out for 1 min 15 seconds whilst the ch valve stays open and the pump keeps pumping, then the boiler ignites again and this process keeps repeating. Now the raidators are nice and hot but I am concerned about this cycling. When I switch the CH off the pump stops and valve closes. I should include that it is one of the honeywell valves which has the micro switch which gives the signal to rest of the system only when the valve is fully open so that tells me that its not a blockage or restricted flow at the valve.
I am just hoping it is the controller and my "Friend" is sending me a replacement EP2002 in the post but I am concerned as to whether, by following his instructions, I have knackered something on the boiler PCB or something more serious.
I would class myself as a competent DIYer but no plumbing expert and am happy using a multimeter etc so if anyone could help me diagnose and get to the bottom of this I would be extremely grateful. The Boiler is an Ideal Classic FF380P (LPG) and has been installed and running for 7 years.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated..Many Thanks
Tim
Should just add that its a fully pumped system with 2 x 2 port honeywell motorised valves.
