Potterton Suprima PCB dead - has anyone claimed from them?

[radiohead]

Hi all

I've recently had a faulty PCB replaced in my 3 year-old Potterton Suprima 40L (fitted in the house at the time of build). When the old PCB was removed scorching was apparent on the board, and it had been playing up for a couple of months (going to reset mode etc).

From reading these forums it seems obvious that this was caused by a poorly designed or manufactured board and that an awful lot of people have suffered the same fault. I'm aware that the Potterton guarantee is a paltry 1 year, but I don't think that a PCB failing after only 3 years is acceptable, especially when they're £130 a pop to replace.

Has anyone successfully claimed anything back from Potterton outside of a warranty period?

 

[Robc]

High quality & reliability

Founded over 150 years ago, the Potterton name has become synonymous with top quality, high specification products that are easy to install and reliable in service.

All Potterton products benefit from world class manufacturing skills and one of the largest and most experienced research and development teams in the industry. They are designed to be inherently reliable and to meet the needs of the most demanding user.

The above is from Potterton's home page. We have a Suprima 70L which was fitted when the house was built 4 years ago. We have had an intermitent fault since Christmas and looking at other posts on this forum it would appear to be a pcb problem. In light of the problems I have read here and on other sites, Potterton's claims are outrageous. As probably the UKs biggest supplier to the building industry they should be brought to task on this. I wonder if Watchdog wouldbe interested??

 

[radiohead]

That's not a bad idea - I'm going to contact Potterton first, and if I get no joy see how far I can take it....

 

[radiohead]

I've just emailed them:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing further to the recent failure of the PCB in my Potterton Suprima 40L boiler.

The boiler was fitted to my house at the time the house was built (December 2000, built by Bryant Homes) and started suffering intermittent faults just before Christmas 2003. The faults were, I now know, typical of PCB failure on the Suprima range - intermittent resets, firing and not holding the spark and so on. A very brief search on the internet quickly showed that these faults were far from unique to me, and that the PCB's on the Suprima range are notorious for failing after an unreasonably short period of time and the engineer who replaced my PCB was able to confirm this.

A new PCB has cost me £152 plus fitting. I do not consider it acceptable to have to spend that sort of money after just over 3 years service.

I note from your web-site the following claim:

High quality & reliability

Founded over 150 years ago, the Potterton name has become synonymous with top quality, high specification products that are easy to install and reliable in service.

All Potterton products benefit from world class manufacturing skills and one of the largest and most experienced research and development teams in the industry. They are designed to be inherently reliable and to meet the needs of the most demanding user.

With your company making these statements I therefore consider it appropriate that you contribute some or all of the costs of the replacement PCB and I look forward to hearing from you with your offer of recompense.

--------

 

[AlanE]

"From reading these forums it seems obvious that this was caused by a poorly designed or manufactured board and that an awful lot of people have suffered the same fault."

Sorry but I have been called to repair a lot of 'suprima faults'. Went to one Saturday evening. Complaint was that the boiler kept locking out. Visited and fault was the three port diverter valve. Another time it was defective pump.

Suprimas suffered in their early days from defective PCB's and this reputation is not helped by all and sundry who change the PCB as a first measure with out any concrete evidence it is faulty.

Intermittent overheat stats are responsible for a fair number of suprima faults but do not see many comments about that component.

Boiler repairs require knowledge of how the boiler works and a bit of diagnostic skill to eliminate components and find the faulty one. Changing components one by one is NOT the way.

Went to Baisi 2 days before Christmas. Customer informed me he had replaced the PCB and fan so the fault must be the air pressure switch and was, to start with, quite upset because I didn't change it.

Fault was not related to any of these components so how much had he spent unnecessarily prior to my visit??

There is no disputing Suprima PCB's fail but it is also a fact that many that have been replaced because 'It must be the PCB, they always fail'

Alan

 

[radiohead]

The fact that the PCB removed from my boiler shows scorching indicates a faulty PCB, but I take your point.

 

[AlanE]

I would suggest that you inspect the PCB's in any TV set and you will often, around high wattage components, see brown/black discolouration but the set continues to work for many years. Discolouration is evident with many boiler PCB's of various makes.

If you are not refering to mere scorching but actual burning and carbonisation then I would agree with you.

Alan

 

[boilerbeasty]

I think the weak link is often the use of relays to switch mains power. Those little pcb-mount ones have a lifetime of 100,000 contacts, which isn't a lot, if you think of the hot tap on a combi being on 20 times a day, with 5 heat/cool cycles as the temperature is modulated. Makes about 1000 days worth of operation, or 3 years.
I guess if there was an easier way (for similar cost), they would be making boilers more reliable. Unless you want to be really cynical...

 

[bodydoc]

Alan, if you work in West London pls let me know. I have just had another breakdown, my hot water is not heating up. I had a 3 yr service contract with British Gas and they recently fixed it saying it was the pump. That was about 3 weeks ago, broken down again. Pilot light comes on and flames for a few secs then shuts off. green light blinking but can't reset?? Not sure what to do next? Mark[/url]

 

[ollski]

post is 2 and a half years old....why not get Bg to come and repair this new problem if its on contract. I think flashing green light means the boiler is up to temperature.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

The fact that the PCB removed from my boiler shows scorching indicates a faulty PCB, but I take your point.

The scorching you are talking about is just a result of the Zener diodes getting hot. I'm always getting people who want Suprima pcbs telling me that they know the fault and I ask them if they want to put a £100 bet on it

... very rarely a problem, you are almost certainly wrong

I think you're on a hiding to nowhere trying to get anything out of Potterton, I have enough customers who have tried (even ones in the legal profession)

2 1/2 year old thread ?

Oops, sorry for replying

 

[ChrisR]

bodydoc - Agile and I both cover parts of W London (Bayswater and Chelsea all day today) but at the moment work's arriving from existing customers faster than I can do it. Others will be in a similar position I expect.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

Replacing the pcb is trivial. If you feel competent to turn the power off to the boiler, open the front panel, undo four screws and change half a dozen connectors, why waste money paying for a CORGIs holiday ?

 

[Nige F]

Zener diode........they`re a bit 70`s...........had one on my Triumph no wonder they fail

 

[geoff@cetltd]

So what would you use to establish a DC voltage if you wanted to make a pcb for a fiver and sell it for £130 ?