Potterton boiler manual prima f

H Brunt October Dave March Thanks forum members the hair dryer trick worked have to find my soldering iron now! The fan on my 20 year old Prima 60F boiler gave up a couple of weeks ago with seized bearings causing the boiler not to fire up. I took the unit out and managed to free it up, but thinking that would just be a temporary fix, I ordered a new one along with the two fibre gaskets, the originals having disintegrated during removal of the fan unit.

Having fitted the new fan unit, I found that ignition was intermittent and mostly when the boiler was starting from cold, but could be started by thumping the casing. I had had previous trouble with dry joints on the connector at the front of the electronics board so I decided to remove it and check for more dry joints.

I couldn't see any so I did a Google search and found this thread and learned about the three capacitors, which I then bought C, V versions from Maplin, fitted and re-fitted the electronics board. This time I had trouble with the fan powering up and down every couple of seconds, so I ordered a new pressure switch and fitted that.

The fan powered up properly but the ignition was still intermittent and I discovered that by tapping the metal tray on which the electronics board is mounted, a spark would be generated. Out with the board again and a detailed inspection of the solder joints with a magnifying glass and there it was! The output pin from the spark transformer had a dry joint; it looked OK at first glance but by pulling and pushing on the transformer casing, the pin could be seen moving up and down in the solder.

A quick dab with the soldering iron on that joint and a few others just to be sure; back with the board and bingo,the boiler worked perfectly. So some things to look for based on my experience:- 1 The spark between the electrode and the shield should be a long yellowish arc connecting both. If the spark is bluish-white and about the size of a pinhead located in the gap, then there is something wrong with the spark generation electronics.

If it does not do this, there is something wrong with the spark generation electronics. After all the faffing about, I am expecting another 20 years out of this boiler and the electronics board is probably working better and is more reliable than when the boiler was new. The soldering quality was abysmal! Many thanks for all the info from the others that have contributed to this thread, especially about the capacitors.

TAM September Scott W March Be warned: do not attempt soldering unless you're confident of your soldering and de-soldering skills and equipment. I hadn't done any for many years and made a botch of the connections.

PCBs are delicate and I think I may have damaged some of the on-board metal. Another success for the hair dryer quick fix. My Profile 50e was trying to fire for over an hour after a few days' holiday with the heating turned down.

Three minutes of the hair dryer with the bottom cover off did the trick. My girlfriend now thinks I'm some kind of genius. I'll examine the PCB tomorrow and report back. Jim N January What a result SteveR December Hi Robert, Yes, the links were for C radial parts. Not a perfect solution. In hindsight, I would have just fitted the cheaper C radial part, but I'd already bought the axial one.

Boiler still working absolutely fine several months on and now a lot colder. Colly November Colly You provide two links thanks , but neither link to an axial capacitor as required for C7. Do you have a link for it, please?

Rob Robert Reid October Thanks everyone. Now a rock solid 50V consistent with 51V zener. When gas turned back on or connector plugged back in the first spark should ignite pilot and then RL2 de-energises and the burner solenoid GV2 will open.

Colly September I have pictures of all of the components if anyone needs to see the values of any of the components Gastoff April I needed two x 22uF and one x 4. I used the V high temperature versions from Maplins. Boiler now starting every time! Woodside February Similar to what Paul H as mentioned below, can somebody please confirm the correct Maplins part numbers for these three capacitors please?

Paul February In answer to a query made in an earlier post, the fan can't run backwards - it's a shaded pole ac affair. Potterton manual says that the connectors can be put on either way round.

My problem appeared to be a PCB with dried up capacitors and a ridiculous number of dry joints. After I fixed the PCB, it didn't do the frantic clicking any more, but still took an age to start minutes to hours. Followed Potterton's flow chart and found that the air pressure switch contacts weren't changing over.

The fan appeared to be whizzing around merrily but I was only getting a differential pressure of 2 mm H2O on my home-made manometer. You need 3. I checked the seal thoroughly for leaks none , checked the APS tubes for blockages none and concluded that it must be a weak fan. I took the top bearing off the fan and cleaned everything up and sprayed a bit of WD40 onto the shaft near the far bearing that I couldn't get to due to rusty non-metric grub screw holding impeller onto shaft.

Now the fan didn't want to spin at all. I dismantled the fan again breaking what looked to be a graphite washer in the process , flushed out everything with WD40 and then put a drop of engine oil on the shaft and reassembled.

So boiler is now working, and replacement fan is on order. Wife is warm. Everybody happy! Paul H February Could someone, that has done the capacitor replacement confirm the values of C4, 6 and 7. Simon January Hope this helps.

Hi I know nothing about Boilers and have been reading these comments , I have Prima F series boiler that actually ignites for a minute or two then dies, it makes clicking noises after that and not much else anyone any ideas what the problem is? Hi guys - sadly this isn't working for me - can anyone help please?! I am reasonably competent at electronics and have replaced all three troublesome caps and checked the PCB closely for other issues but all seems well.

Still no starting up though. Boiler has been working fine for the three years we have lived here and was serviced a few weeks ago but worked fine non-stop since the service up to now.

Max March I had all sorts of intermittent problems: failing to ignite, cycling through and playing dead. Thanks to Leon Funnell Jan I pulled out the PCB and broken solder joints all over the place. Resoldered all the bad joints and it fired up straight away. Now running like a dream. Thanks Guys I had the same problem with my potterton with temp dropping on initial start up. Thank you for the information on the capacitor replacement. I suffered the same symptoms as most others on this forum, so visited Maplins this afternoon and replaced the three capacitors.

Fixed straight away, thank you. Coldest night of the year last night and it wouldn't start this morning, just kept on cycling through with no ignition.

Let's hope everything will be good tomorrow morning. Thanks again for the advice. Much appreciated. Norman H February Hi I have a Prima 50 F boiler with the same problems with not firing. If I tap the front of the boiler it fires up but intermittently doesnt cut back in. I would like to try the three capacitors but from the posts I cant be sure which three to replace.

Does anyone have the maplin reference or the spec of the capacitors. Any help much appreciated Thanks Matt Matt February Can anyone tell me the specs for the 3 capacitors on the PCB for Prima F that people have been changing and resolvig start up problems with? Had the same problem on my boiler for ages, fan running but not sparking up. Boiler now runs like new, sparks up first time and runs quieter than before. Thanks for the advice.

Antony June I have just done the 3 capacitor fix and low and behold my profile prima 60E has the fan working, calls for heat but no spark, I lit it with a match and it runs fine. Has anyone else come across this. Mal March I had been experiencing the same start up problems on my Profile 60E for a couple of months. It took less than an hour to change the three capacitors, and the problem is now fixed - just like that! Fantastic advice Mr. Berry and thanks for sharing it on the forum.

Guy Martin March Harry March Hi Guys Just turned on hot water and boiler fan just cycled. Boiler wouldn't fire. Took a look at these posts and tried the hairdryer. Fired after 30 seconds. Will be taking atrip to maplins for the capacitors. I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed to the info here. I replaced the capacitors on my control board and all is now working fine.

It cost less than a pound to fix - amazing! Hi, Symptoms the same as all previous posts. So a very big thank you for the excellent advice. Chingford Boiler February I have a 22 year old Potterton 60e which was giving the same problem i. I tried the usual things: door seal, checking the air pressure valve and re-soldering all the joints on the PCB. I found this web-site and immediately went to Maplins for the three condensers. They only stock the radial type now which wasn't a problem as there was plenty of room on the pcb.

Problem solved. The boiler is working fine now and firing every time - not bad for a total cost of 63 pence in 22 years. Bob February Potterton Prima F60 not fireing up. I then looked at postings about this fault and tried the Hair Drier trick and it worked at treat. Thanks for that we now have a warm house after 3days with no heating. Will get the 3 caps from maplins and repair myself.

Hi, many thanks to this post!! Eventhough I hooked the pcb up to an oscilloscope , it took me all day to cop to Google here the C7 ,22uF 63V was my culprit. When this is dud it makes the 48V "dc" chatter like hell.

The 48Vdc is below the Neutral rail and this cap being dud lends for a large spike back "up" to the zero. The relays then can not "click" , in the "meanwhile" of the pressure switch changing over from "white to brown" to the then "brown" carrying the mains via the RL1's contacts to the pressure switch"s "Orange" and back to the pcb and on to the gas valves etc.

I reckon that "cold" temperatures would "stiffen" the diaphragm of the pressure switch and make it slower to flip it's microswitch , which should be a good thing except that the capacitor has dried out with the normal running heat in it's usual life so that it's value is way off.

Heating it back up, as I read in some posts, is then making matters worse in the longterm , but would work as a quick remedy, but not for long, i reckon. I went through virtually every other component in the pcb ,unluckily, beforehand, so there are still loads of other possibilities for someone else's snag as several could give similar upshots.

C ya Boff January It Then points to the pcb. JEFF January Gas valve or PCB any ideas please?? David w January I think whats happenning is that, in very cold weather, you have a power cut, turn the boiler off etc, and when the boiler stops heating, the fan keeps running for a while, drawing in cold air and moisture. This then freezes in the air pressure circuit, stopping the rest of the ignition process. I might be wrong, any thoughts?

Thankyou to whoever it was that suggested it. If you are a woman, hairdryer will be on hand, blokey, borrow one from your mum!

I am soooo happy it worked. That may be why there have been so many posts over the last three or four weeks. I hope this helps someone else. You all stay safe and have a good christmas and new year, and love to everyone you hold dear! Can't find the part you're looking for? You can contact us and a member of our team will be more than happy to help find the part you need. All of our boiler manuals are free to download from our boiler manuals section.

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