Boilermate III - Working ok until thermostat kicks in and top leds start pulsing ?

Hello,

I have a Boilermate III connected to a Potterton Suprima 30.

The room stat is a Sunvic Digital tlx7501 which uses internal batteries.

The system works as expected for hot water and when you call for water the Boliermate will light the required led and then when required will call for heat from the suprima which fires and runs as expected to top up the water heat.

Issue.
When the room stat kicks in for the desired temp and then calls for heat, the suprima fires as expected but the flame goes out after approx 10 seconds, which then leaves the suprima power light flashing.

The Boilermate top status lights start pulsing on and off

If I unplug the Sunvic faceplate from the backplate which disconnects the face plate terminals from the cable feed, the lights on the Boliermate come back on.

This appears like the stat may have a short circuit maybe, but using another room stat you get exactly the same problem.

Is this a known issue/symptom to a fault on the board,etc or do you think it could be a cable short ?

I am yet to test the stat direct at the ACP / meter the cable for shorts.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Mart

I would check the pump and the 3 port valve.
You can get back feeds with Y plan systems etc.
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

Mike,

Thank you for your reply/feedback.

So what you are saying is that when the stat sends the request for heat, the signal is also then sent to the 3 port valve to open and either the valve does not respond/open or the pump is not working hence the pulsing lights from a back flow or valve issue ?

I have actually been having issues with the 3 way valve for some time where the boilier fires for hot water top up and the rads will also get warm/hot, the valve appears to open and can only be closed again by turning off the boilermate, if you listen you then hear the valve actually close.

As I am writing this I just heard the stat click calling for heat, so I went to the boilermate expecting to see the lights pulsing but this time they look to be doing as expected. Radiator and store lights both flashing along with the light 1 alternating.

The radiators heated up and the boiler remained fired.

The stat clicked again after a short while to indicate reached room temp, the bolier has remained fired as it looks like the store is topping up still, just changed from number 1 flashing to solid green and the store is still flashing.

After a while the store was satisfied and the lights 1 to 4 and store are now solid green.

I am thinking the valve or pump was jammed maybe, which caused the pulsing lights ?

Seems strange why the suprima would only fire for approx 10 seconds though, but this must have been related to pulsing at the boiler mate.

Looking around the pipe work/pumps, I have also discovered what looks like a long time slow leaking pipe below the heating flow pump..covered in lime scale build up, this will need to be fixed.

UPDATE: 16:00

Seemed to be working again as expected or so I thought.!

The room stat has called for heat off an on today as required since my earlier post and the boliermate has responded as expected.

Until just now when it did the same old trick again.

I can only put this down to either a faulty valve/pump or a board glitch.

You can hear the pulse as well as see it (Lights and i think the 3 way)

If this fault is 100% related to the boliermat only the I need to get my support people out fix the issue.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Well I would check through the whole unit etc.
As per the commissioning set out in the installation manual.
This will lead you through checking the operation in stages.
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

Mike,

I have gone through all checks and now believe that the midpoint 3 way is at fault.

I just wanted to confirm that the actual valve spindle should be able to turn left and right from centre to open the required flow or allow both way flows ?

It appears that with the actuator removed, I can turn the spindle from center to the right no problem, but not from center to the left which seems to indicate the valve is jammed.

Does this make sense and does this look like the valve needs replacing ?

I also think that the pump is faulty and this is what is making the pulse as it is jamming.

Turning off the boilermate and on again you can hear the pump pulsing and sometimes it starts to go and then pulses again.

Fit a complete new 3 way valve.
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

Mike,

Thanks again for your feedback.

What is the going rate that you would pay for a new three way ? (Without getting ripped off)

The current one i have is a Drayton Midpoint MA1

The pump is a Gundfos UPS15-50

http://shop.segel.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=19_62_73&sort=20a&page=2
Or Google up for what you are looking for.
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

Mike,

Just letting you know what a shitty situation I am now in.

A heating engineer came out last night to look at the issue and confirmed that the Drayton midpoint was faulty.

As he did not have another 3 way on board, he would have to come back on Monday to fit the part as his company do not fit parts on weekends ???

As an agreed option it was decided by the engineer to put the actuator into the mid position mode locked so heat would circulate the rads and hot water would be available this seemed to be ok at first and the engineer left, however over night it became clear that the boiler had not fired and that there was no hot water and no heating.

The system that was working prior to the engineer visit as per my original details was now in a worse state than before and i now have nothing at all.

I have tried to get the system back as it was, but I am unable to.

No matter what position the midpoint is in the lights on the boiler mate will not come back on, power off/on will see the external lights on the board flash for a second and then nothing.

The internal lights on the bottom board are all green, the top internal board light is a slow flashing red, which i think is normal.

It seems that the actuator may have shorted or something as it no longer tells the boilermate what to do, unless something else has now happened to boards as well.

So I am now stuck without water and heating until Monday afternoon.

Unless it is possible to bypass the midpoint somehow and get the boliermate back up with at least hot water ?

Well this is very hard to sort out. With out being in front of the unit.
How was the valve left, in what position? The lever?
While the store sensor was calling ok.
While the heating was on ok.
But if the supply was switched off by either. Then the valve goes back to normal.
Until it is manually switched over.
Down load the instructions for your 3 way valve and that should confirm it.
With ref to call outs on week ends and evenings etc.
What ever do you expect? Bearing in mind all the time spent by yourself before calling someone out.
I will point out to everyone who reads this post.
It is far better to find someone to work on service your boilers and Gledhill units before they go wrong.
Time can be spent prior to finding the best people for the job.
This month will be lots of new customers wanting things put right.
Some will struggle to find anyone and if they do it is pot luck.
You may be able to re instate your heating and hot water. But follow what I have told you.
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

Mike,

Thanks for your reply and feedback.

I decided to leave this alone and let the engineer sort it out on Monday as I was unable to get it back up and running again.

Additional to the above I now also have a slow leak below the front pump due to the cooling of the system/pipe which also needs attention. :o(

I will try my hand at most things usually to save time and money, source parts, make arrangements, etc and most times this is fine, but on this occasion it is out of my skill levels so I will now leave it to the experts.

Candles around the house have saved the day for heating along with electric fires for top up heat....Boiling water for washing, etc.

It's the wife that I can't take giving it large all the time about the whole situation that's worse than not having no heating and hot water :o)

Mike....thanks for your input and time with this post.

I will update this post on progress when I am back in business and hopefully my adventures will help others who may have/get the same problems.

All the best

Mart

Update,

Well I am back in business again.

After the 2nd engineers visit on Monday it was established that the actual problem was with the GT151 SAC Board. (Back to basics, logic and a test meter)

As my actual main home support company have recently advised me that they do not support thermal stores and it's internals, I was then advised by the 3rd party company who were contracted to carry out the visit that there cost to source and replace the board would be around £260+.

Well I did not go down that route and decided to source and replace the GT151 SAC board myself.

After searching the net I sourced a board...Brand new but out of the 1yr warranty...So I brought the last two that they had on the shelf for £72 including next day delivery. (One x spare for the next future board failure) Same version, build, etc as my faulty one.

After fitting the new board, starting up the system, commissioning, etc, all is now back up and working as expected.

The 3 way changes position as required, But I will be keeping an eye on this as in the past I have had occasions of heated rads when they should not be on. (A quick search of ebay will source a Drayton MA1 for around £50) and again the swap is straight forward.

So that is the conclusion to the issue.

Thanks to you Mike for your help and advice.

Cheers

Mart

Well done!
Life is never easy !
Mike