Boiler Problem

[Tommont]

I have a Potterton (Profile, I think) boiler which has started to give me a problem. The boiler clicks and starts, the pilot ignites and the burner ignites. After anything between a few seconds and a few minutes the boiler will make a banging noise and the burner flame will jump about. Eventually the burner flame will go out but the internal fan will keep running and the boiler doesn't re-cycle to start again. This means that once this has happened it will only restart once the heating or hot water timer has gone off and then back on again. When I had hot water on constant it never started again without manual intervention.

I have had a plumber visit but this does seem to be an intermittent fault and he found nothing wrong. After he left it did seem to work for a few days but is now not working properly again.

Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Nick

 

[Agile]

Could well be pump failure. That can be intermittent.

You can identify that by an excessive temperature differential betwen the flow and return ( or no differential at all if there is no flow but there is often a little gravity circulation ).

Tony

 

[Kev F]

have you checked the pump, the bit about the flame jumping is worrying though

 

[Tommont]

Maybe flame jumping is the wrong description. It could be that as it bangs the flame briefly goes out but manages to re-ignite as it is so quick. When the flame goes out for too long it then has no ignition to light again. This does happen in time to the banging/clunking sound.