Potterton Suprima 100L cuts out-11 Brit Gas visits in 4+ wks

[BBird1]

HELP. Reported problem to British Gas mid October. Have now had 11 VISITS and my social life is 'cancelled' waiting for engineers. Hot water & heating keep cutting out. LED Red light flashes 1x second (lock out diagnosis is 2 flashes = Ignition Failure apparently).

Cutting out problem started with pressure dial going down to 0 and I had to keep increasing the pressure and restarting the boiler. Then noticed rusty coloured water emitted outside from flue.

Cutting out became more frequent. Called out British Gas. Have since had new PCB, Fan, APS, Pump, Sensors, Gas Valve, Electrodes + a Power Flush (£800). When engineer leaves all working fine. Within anything from 10 minutes to a few hours cuts out again.

Have tried running heating with hot water off, and vice versa, which seems to generally keep the boiler working longer. In fact we were away last weekend and the weekend before and both times I left the heating only on and it was still on when I returned!? Both times once we were home the boiler cut out shortly after - last time I hadn't even switched the hot water back on again.

Yesterday I switched both heating and hot water and ran for 24 hours before cutting off - a record!

Potterton (British Gas asked them to come as they were perplexed) recommend a new heat exchange, or possibly a heat exchange flush. Meanwhile British Gas have sent off a sample of the water in the system to see if it needs a second flush?

British Gas flushed the system, but explained they no longer need to flush out radiators individually - and I am pretty sure they didn't flush the heat exchange.

I am not technical, but any help would be welcome. I haven't slept properly for nearly 5 weeks as it gets so cold I have to keep running downstairs to check/reset the boiler. [/b]

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

"Because it's your world",(hum annoying music now) or should that be it's your money and we want it now, I would want my £800.00 back for starters, just how big is your system to warrant that amount of money to flush it......

 

[mickyg]

as above, you should be demanding your £800 back. Ignition lockout? Has the gas meter governor been replaced? I wonder if anyone has checked the inlet pressure? probably not.

 

[BBird1]

Haven't paid it yet! That will be the next challenge. Thanks for the support

 

[BBird1]

Speaking to the engineer tomorrow and will ask (they are all 'nice guys' - don't look like they 'rip off old people and pee in tanks!!' - but as for the £800 for power flush, that's a Brit. Gas Issue - I know can get it cheaper but this is 'guaranteed for life'!?).

Meanwhile need to run downstairs and reset boiler for 3rd time in an hour as can feel the chill again. Have already been in bed for 3 days and had a bad back from the cold.

Thanks - any more suggestions welcome. IS THE HEAT EXCHANGE replacement, or flush a likely solution?

PS I'm only a bird - so reliant on these guys

 

[BBird1]

SUBMITTED IN ERROR - SORRY

 

[gavinda]

as mentioned, get the to check the 'working' pressure and also to remove the gas valve and inspect the inlet gauze.

also by this point you should expect thier service manager to get involved. this should be escaleted anyway with the amount fo visit you have had.

 

[BBird1]

Is it OK just to 'flush the system' without doing the radiators (or draining the system either??? Some friends say when they had it done they had radiators taken off and drained in the garden?

B Gas says they don't do it any more as chemical flush is sufficient.

New boiler was fitted by builder when granny annexe added. Don't remember him flushing system at the time!!

 

[gavinda]

the powerflush does flush all the radiators and the heat exchanger as long as its done correctly. i know we get a bit of bad press in here, but i can say for the guys that flush on my team, that they do it bang on. the diagnoses leading to powerflush are sometimes questionable however. in the case of your job i think they need to go back to square one and start with basics.

as for the builder fitting a new boiler and not flushing it, sadly comes as no surprise. saves him time and money doing the job properly and by the time it becomes a problem you cant prove it was his fault. this may not be true in regard to your builder, but it is a problem I see alll to soon.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Guaranteed for life or until the boiler is 10 years old ? I would check "all" the small print.

 

[petit_pablo]

Guaranteed for life or until the boiler is 10 years old ? I would check "all" the small print.

Where did you find that it says that?

 

[gavinda]

utter crap pvm.

 

[picasso]

Cutting out problem started with pressure dial going down to 0 and I had to keep increasing the pressure and restarting the boiler. Then noticed rusty coloured water emitted outside from flue.

gotta be the heat ex leaking , dont think i would be paying for a powerflush if this turns out to be the problem.

 

[BBird1]

Thanks for taking time to reply CHAPS. (I assume you are all chaps). Have made a note of the 'relevant' comments and will take up with BG tomorrow. Will keep post refreshed with the latest. So now await visit 12 .... meanwhile have run downstairs 3x to reset boiler in last 2 hours. If I don't update it's because frozen to death tonight...hope not. And dread the thought of the even colder weather predicted. For G-d's sake how long does it take to repair a b----y boiler?????

 

[BBird1]

I read this by a BG engineer on the Consumer Action Group website: "The powerflush lifetime guarantee was only introduced in 2004 (I think) but we will do a re-flush if needed as long as the same customer owns the property. Any radiators which corrode badly and leak will be replaced if a powerflush has been carried out".

(Haven't found anything on BG website - was told verbally by engineer - will ensure I have something in writing. However all the comments about power flushing refer to radiators which have cold sections - mine have always got hot when working - so not sure flush was necessary???)