Puma 80 problem!

[mavyse]

Our Puma 80 Combi has starting to act up over the past month.

What happens is;

Turn hot water tap on and the red LED on the PCB comes on. (OK)
Turn on heating....works fine.

Then with the heating on the diverter valve seems to continually click on and off very very rapidly. It has got to the point now where the pilot light is also going out!

Also now it seems to be happening with the hot water on........Rapid 'clicking', the burners appear to be going on and off rapidly followed by the pilot extinguishing.

In all instances the pilot relights fine.

At first the boiler was making a brief 'clicking' noise every now and again and remained on and functional. But, during the last month it is now going off every 10 mins or so. Although it can then remain on for many hours.

Something on the way out I guess. Can anyone throw any light on the problem and recommend a Corgi registered Puma specialist in the Newcastle Under Lyme/Stoke on Trent area.

We had great difficulty getting hold of someone a few years back!

Help appreciated
Mark

 

[ChrisR]

The diverter is operated by a slow-moving wax element - nothing to click at all. Possible is the fan's pressure switch, but also very very likely to be a bad joint on the PCB, top left corner goes first with several others following if you mend that one.

 

[mavyse]

Thanks for the speedy reply Chris

mmmm, this takes us back to our first puma boiler we had , which was replaced by Potterton because of this exact same thing. Is this a common problem with these puma 80's?

How can I check the PCB? (Visually for any signs).

 

[ChrisR]

"Is this a common problem with these puma 80's? "
Well, it's only about 98% of them..

You had a whole new boiler because of the problem ??

Remember the beast has mains voltages inside but if you can see the red led you must be in far enough - if you pull a little at the wires which go to the connector top left of the main board, (or similar disturbing) you'll probably hear sparking noises! If you switch everything off and look at the back of the board having taken it out, you'll see black scorchio marks.

 

[kevplumb]

aint they the ones that cook the resistor on the left of the board