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I HAVE HEARD THAT SOME RESIDENTS HEATING SYSTEMS FAILED AS A RESULT OF A POSSIBLE POWER SURGE, DURING THE POWER CUT LAST SUNDAY 2nd MARCH. Powercuts were also on Wed 12th Feb
IF YOURS FAILED , PLEASE CONTACT CLAYTON EMAIL clayton.hudson@ntlworld.com OR PHONE 07802 394249
BRIEF POWER CUT ALSO ON MONDAY 2ND JUNE 2003 AT APPROX 4-30 AM HAS ALREADY RESULTED IN THREE REPORTED FAILURES BRIEF POWER CUT ALSO ON MONDAY 16th JUNE 2003 AT APPROX 8-20 PM
When the builders / plumbers turn up please ensure you try and get an explanation why the boiler failed. If they say they are going to replace the PCB board then ask them to get as much diagnostic information from the on board memory before switching the boiler off. Once the board is removed the diagnostic memory is not recoverable.
Hi, I am a Cambourne Resident who lives in Willow Lane and I believe like you have suffered a Potterton Boiler Failure (Replacement Circuit Board) following a power outage / surge in the Gtr Cambourne Area this Year. My failure occurred I believe on Wed 16th April, although I was away and only found out when I returned over the Easter Weekend (lucky me) and was without Hot Water and Heating for 4 days. Thankfully I did have Central Heating cover with British Gas who fixed it (so I didn't have to stomach the £163+ for a new board since my boiler is now out of guarantee). What I am trying to do is to find out is how many other Cambourne residents have suffered the same incident? I believe you or either a friend or Neighbour had a boiler failure following a power outage, can you please confirm this is the case, and give some brief details as follows Name: Address in Camborne: Type of Boiler (i.e. Suprima 30-80) When problem Happened / Power Outage occurred (i.e. 16th April) When Repaired (i.e. Date) Who Repaired (i.e. Britich Gas, IC Rumbold, other etc. although I have telephoned and written long and detailed letters to both Potterton and 24/7 explaining the situation (and awaiting formal replies) I am only 1 person, if we can show as a collective that many other houses we effected then we may have a case to get something from either or both parties for the hardship and inconvenience caused and to ensure it doesn't happen again. If you don't wish to be contacted again, then e-mail to me and request you wish to be removed from future mailings. Cheers Clayton Willow Lane, Gt Cambourne. 1st June 2003 From the outcome I must state that I have no connection with British Gas other than being a very satisfied customer. Like many in Cambourne , I was affected by a boiler failure as a result of the recent power cut. I contacted Potterton direct and was initially put off them by the call out charge they required just to take a look at the boiler , the resultant repair was to have cost around £370 I later established. When we lived in Bishop Stortford we covered the breakdown to our boiler with British Gas Homecare but alas we cancelled this when we relocated as we didn't get our gas from them anymore. and also we were covered initially when we bought our house by the builder. My wife contacted British Gas after this power failure issue , explained our problem , and they agreed to let us join the homecare cover scheme and came out the same day and repaired the boiler after obtaining the part , all very quick and relatively painless at a cost for the homecare policy of £20 per month for the 3 star scheme. Whilst this doesn't resolve the cause it provides a solution relatively cheaply with peace of mind if it happens again , as judging the recent correspondence on this issue it almost certainly will , leaving us all inconvenienced and those responsible dodging the blame. I hope this is of some help Hello Roger I've been meaning to send you an email for a couple of weeks, regarding the article in The Cambourne Crier about boiler failures. I'm not sure if this is linked, but we've had to have the heating sensor on our Gledhill replaced twice, and it's only just over a year old. We will be writing to Bovis to voice our concerns, as once the two year's is up, we'll be faced with some hefty bills, but thought it was worth letting you know so you can add it to the list. Roger, 27th May 2003 I was reading with interest the saga of the failed boilers out at Cambourne. I used to live on a new 'edge of town' estate. Many of the houses there were installed with Potterton boilers. On my street (10 houses) at least 6 residents had similar problems with their boilers. Some had repeated visits from plumbers, which usually resulted in replacement of damaged controller circuit boards. Although not a solution to the electrical failures being experienced in Cambourne, a tip for Cambourne residents is that the most cost effective way we found of dealing with this problem was to take out a British Gas Home Care policy on the boiler. When the British Gas Home Care engineer came to carry out a pre-contract inspection & service on our boiler he told us that the problem we were experiencing was commonplace on our estate and that (in his opinion) most of the Potterton boilers had been installed incorrectly by the builders. The boilers had been set too high and this meant that a 3-year old boiler which had been working harder than it should (due to the incorrect installation) would show the signs of wear that should be expected of a 9-year old boiler. The Home Care package costs a few pounds a month, but covered the boiler for failures, as well as providing other benefits such as an annual service. I should stress that I am not usually a great fan of extended warranties or insurance policies, but this contract paid for itself when we had our controller circuit board replaced within the first few months of the contract. I don't know if this information might be of any use to your readers and is presented as a personal comment, rather than advice or guidance from South Cambridgeshire District Council. 13/5/03 I was interested to read your article entitled ' Boiler Failures' as I recently paid out £170 for a five minute job to have the circuit board replaced after the last power failure and was advised by the engineer that it seems to be an ever increasing problem within the Cambourne area. Surely this must mean something! Katherine
Who did your plumbing repair ? I have read the latest issue of the Cambourne Crier and found your article about boiler failures in Cambourne. You asked if people could let you know or any other boiler failures. My boiler too failed after power interuptions. It is a Potterton Suprima 40 and is 3 years old. It happened on 8th March around midday. The lights in my house (Douglas way) went dim and the boiler started making a funny clicking noise (I assume relays switching on and off??). I turned the boiler off at the wall, but when I turned it back on again, the boiler would not work and had the lockout lights on. Due to the dim lights coinciding with the boiler making a funny noise and then not working I concluded that it was a fault in the electricity supply that caused the boiler failure. I phoned up 24/7 about this and all they did was measure the voltage to the house. At the time they did this it was fine of cause at 138V. When the lights went dim it definately was not fine! I phoned up Potterton who were totally unhelpful after keeping me on hold for 20 minutes said I would have to get an engineer out to look at it. I still have not had my boiler repaired, partly as I was then away on holiday and also because I am wondering who will pay for it as I am convinced the electricity supply was to blame. I am also worried that it will fail again if the electricity supply to the house is not stable at the correct operating voltage. I am not sure how many other boilers are affected or their symptoms, but if it is a lot then I think it more than coincidental that young boilers only a few years old are breaking down and something must be causing this. I would not like to loose another boiler circuit board and wonder if we can get any compensation from 24/7 for not maintaining the supply voltage and hence damaging our boilers? I do not know if the Potterton boiler should have a safety device in case of power fluctuations (high or low voltage) and if that is defective too? 6/5/03 Roger, I have just read your comments on the Potterton boiler failures following power cuts. I had a similar problem 3 months ago and was advised the circuit board needed changing, i found it difficult to beleive that these boards fail so easily so i systematically replaced several cheap items and found that the real problem was twofold: 1. The Ignighter cable. (£10) 2. A termostat on the boiler (£10) It is not easy if you are not elecrtically / mechanically minded but i would advise caution before jumping staright to changing the circuit board. Via my work contacts i know of a company who provide all replacement parts for Potterton. If there is enough interest i suggest we set up a Cambourne account and maybe purchase 1 circuit board and several other common items on a sale or return basis. This way we can do one for one swaps and only pay for what we really need. 30th April 2003 I have written quite detailed letters to both 24/7 and Potterton based on the facts as I know and my experience as a electronic engineer. I hope to get some clear answers from both companies. As for other residents I have contacted them directly and hope to form a group to fight this more collectively. clayton.hudson@ntlworld.com 4/5/03 We live at Crow Hill Lane and experienced a boiler failure at a cost of £268.23! We have written twice to 24Seven in an attempt to get a refund as we believed the blame laid with them in view of the fact the boiler failed after a powercut. We have not been successful and would appreciate your help - maybe we will have more success collectively. Failure was on Sunday 2 March about 12.30pm. PCB board was replaced by a Corgi engineer number 12586 on 6/3/03 and he believed it to be the fault of the power supplier. We still have the PCB Board he removed as he thought said was visible evidence on the board. 4/5/03 I was interested to see your article in the Cambourne Crier this month about Potterton boilers. We were amongst the people who had this problem a few months ago. We were lucky enough to have had the repairs done under guarantee, so I don't seem to have a bill to confirm the date, but I may be able to do a little further research and get more details if you need them. Following a power cut the circuit board on our boiler failed; this manifested itself by the inability of the boiler to relight and stay lit. The engineer said this type of fault 'just happens' and replaced the circuit board immediately which cured the problem. The problem seemed to have no other cause than the power cut. No other electrical equipment in the house was damaged in this or in any other power outage that we have had. I suspect the problem lies with the circuit boards themselves; either they are inherently badly protected against power cuts/surges or Cambourne was unlucky enough to have been supplied with a faulty batch. Lets hope you don't hear of anyone who has had to have theirs replaced more than once. fyi: after reading this months edition of the cambourne crier, i find out that i was not the only casualty during the power cut. my potterton boiler failed and a replacement pcb cost around 250 quid, fitted (remarkable value indeed). however i am now concerned that further power cuts will result in the same problem since effectively nothing has been done to rectify the problem. I live in kemmann lane and was wondering if the boiler failures were localised or spread throughout cambourne? What happens if one phase is lost is that some volts feeds from the other 2 phases via connected loads resulting in an small voltage between the phase that has been disconnected and neutral. This is what possibally will have happened in this case. The voltage on the disconnected phase will depend on the balancing and how the loads were connected. Delta connected loads would make the problem worse.
There was definately some volts on our phase because. Regards Paul. 27th April Hi Roger: The boiler saga continues. I attach a letter from 24/7 which would appear to be a standard letter as they refer to my phone rather than my boiler and specify a date, whereas I gave a window of five days during which the power cut/voltage reduction might have occurred. They are clearly not accepting any liability and suggest I claim under my house insurance. Do you know whether anyone else has been successful in this? Ann
Thank you for your enquiry concerning the failure of the circuit board of your
central heating boiler. 21 April Our boiler made the same noise as yours. It cost us £270.00 to fix. M & S 22 April 2003 24/7 reported the Power was off in Cambourne on 16th April, they promise to send more details in letter. Although they believe there could have been an over-voltage of up to 280V in the first few seconds after the power was restored. British Gas came and repaired my boiler today, the engineer had already replaced 2 other circuit boards in Cambourne today and has a further 1 to do. This is a common problem with Potterton Bolier circuit boards in the event of Power Cuts and Over-voltage on power being restored. Potterton's board doesn't have overvolatge protection. The Poterton board concerned is PCB E65683 I intend to take this further with both Potterton's and 24/7. Cl H Hi Roger, 27 April I don't know if you heard anything further, although I have a letter from 24/7 that says they were unable to identify any faults in there network on Wed/Thur 16/7th April 2003. I know the power went off because all my appliance with clock had reset and my UPS on my PC had cut in, although I am unsure of the time. Anyway any light you or others can shed on this would be appreciated. I am also writing a strong letter to Potterton's about they poor surge protection circuitry on there bolier circuit boards. The British Gas engineer said these boards fail regularly after Power Outages, Potterton's are supposedly working on a new design!!!! 18 March 2003
Reply from 24 seven:- The interruption on the 2nd March apparently due to
swans flying into cables and stated that the supply was reconnected in
accordance with their regulation. Mr Connolly in cusutomer solutions told me
that he had had no other complaints from cambourne. Please do write and tell
him if you too had to replace a PCB in your potterton boiler. He said that
there must be an inherant fault in the boiler.
The electrical engineer who e-mailed this site who knows the ins and outs
about the voltage problem during the said power cut, could he give me some
details that i can forward to 24 seven please. LETTER TO POTTERTON FROM A RESIDENT
Potterton Hi Roger I am an electrical engineer and I was at home on one of the recent power cuts. This was not a straight forward cut as there was a small voltage present. This was identified by the fact that lights would glow slightly and some motors turned slowly. This low voltage will cause some electrical devices to fail. The suppliers have regulations which determine limits that supplies should stay within which they were clearly in breach of therefore I suggest there may be valid reason for people to claim against the supplier. I understand how such events can happen though I will not bore you with technicalities here. I certainly do not expect any boiler manufacturer to replace any parts under warranty under these circumstances. Hi Roger: Thanks for all the input at the Cambourne enhanced meeting on Friday. I found it very informative. On the way back I was chatting to a neighbour about the fact that my boiler had failed - he said his had too. The electrical circuits in both of our boilers went with the power cut last Sunday, necessitating the replacement of an expensive circuit board. Do you have a feel for how many people were affected? Mine is a Potterton boiler and the repair man says he replaces this circuit board quite frequently. Seems strange that it doesn't withstand a power cut - and potentially quite expensive with the number we have round here. Would be interested in any feedback you get. Spooky, our Potterton boiler was also making very strange noises during the power cut. So we had to switch it off completely. It seems to be working fine now. Our boiler failed following a power cut and surge a few weeks back. But it wasn't the date you mentioned, It was on Wed 12th Following a call to Bovis, someone from the IC Rumbold came out on the Thursday to inspect the problem and called for a second guy to come out and replace a circuit board in the boiler. He said a few houses in Cambourne had been affected. I know another house in our road was affected, as he was going there after me. Since power cuts seem fairly common in these parts, I hope this isn't a regular occurence... We had a boiler failure this weekend after several days of it playing up. The circuit board had failed, probably due to a power surge, so the engineer said. We haven't had a final invoice yet but I know it will be over £250 . I rang a local electrical supplier to check the price of the PCB that we had just had installed and he asked if i was in Cambourne because he had sold 10 circuit boards for the Cambourne area in the last week. My neighbour Brian at NO.6 has also had boiler failure last week with the same circuit board being replaced. I have given all the details of our fault and repair, and the date of the last major power cut which i was told by my neighbour was on 2nd March, to the complaints and compensation dept. at 24/7 the power suppliers and they are investigationg to see if we are due compensation. We should hear within 10 days. I did also tell them that we get numerous powercuts so it's hard to remember exactly when they occur. I will keep you posted of the outcome. Hi there Roger, how goes everything your end of the world? In response to the link on your community web site entitled 'Power Cut'; would just like to agree with the entry about the power cut in early Feb. I am pretty sure that this was on Weds 5th and this caused the board in our Potterton boiler to fail. I spent days chasing to get this fixed as the temp was at -5 at that time and it was a tad chilly! To their credit, George Wimpey (!!) managed to get someone out on the Friday who also stated that there was alot of issues with old version boards (apparantly the ones with the 'grey' reset button) and they had to be replaced. On speaking to Potterton at around 7 pm on the Weds, they were only interested if I had their boiler insurance; especially as the property and subsequent unit are only 18 months old! I think it might be now worth getting some sort of insurance for the future as I was told by an independent sparky that it would cost approx GBP300 to replace! And, call me an old sceptic, but I really feel that this may happen again in the future.take care.. Our boiler was doing the funny noise thing - luckily we switched it off at the wall and it was fine. However, I was looking after **** & *** cats and noticed the power cut caused the trip switch to fail - only the downstairs sockets (which included the boiler). **** reset it and we managed to get the boiler back. We don't have any cover at the moment but I did notice in the paper today Directline do one for £7 a month - £6 cheaper than British Gas. I'll have a look at Which to see if they have done any surveys on this type of cover. Hi Roger I'm writing after finding out that other people had suffered the same problem as me. Our boiler stopped working and cost £268 to repair. The plumber had diagnosed that the printed circuit board was not working and had probably been affected by a power surge. After contacting 24/7 they wrote to me explaining that the power cut had been caused by a swan flying into a cable. I am concerened as we experience numerous power cuts in the village and there seems no way of protecting the boiler from this happening again. A friend who is an electrician reckons that if there had just been a power cut then there would not have been a surge in the electricity and that the power would have just gone off. I would be grateful for any ideas or plans anyone has to get this sorted out as it could become quite expensive. |
