Merry xMas to everyone here, need help with Boilermate 2000

Hello eveyone.
This is my first post here and don't know much about Boilermate 2000, so bear with me please. I will try to give as much information as I can but please ask me if I have missed anything.

I have a Boilermate 2000 and an Ideal boiler. A while ago the heating stopped working and the boilermate smelt funny. Inspecting the boilermate's ACB I noticed a chip next to one of the green LEDs has blown and made a big hole on the ACB. I began using the emergency hot water and heating, both of which worked pefectly fine. I recently bought an ACB from Ebay (please don't say what an idiot because I know!). The seller claimed that the ACB is a used one and has been taken out of a working boilermate and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I fitted the ACB and following the instructions that came with it, programmed it using the onboard jumer. It went through all the motions and eventually setteled. It all looks normal to me, the LCD reads "on" with two dashes on the left, and I have two green LEDs lit below that.

Now the problem:
I set the boilermate to "normal Operation", the room stat to the max, the timer clock to "always on" but the boiler does't fire up. Using a multimeter, I get no current coming in or going out of the spur box next to the boiler hence no current to the boiler. On the boilermate, there is no current to the terminals marked "boiler" below the ACB. Am I right in assuming that the boilermate provides the power for the boiler to fire up? If yes, why doesn't it? A plumber friend of mine who also doesn't know much about the boilermate 2000 sugessted to disconnect the power input to the boiler and using a piece of cable power up the boiler directly from a mains socket a temporary solution until the problem is resolved, is this safe and a good idea?

My good old boilermate experts, please let me know what think about this mystery. let me know if you want me to carry out more tests, and above all, let me know if you have any solutions for me!! any suggestions is greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.
Masoud

Hi Masoud

You are correct in your assumption that the Boilermate does supply power to the boiler.
The fact that you have the bottom two green lights showing on the Boilermate ACB indicates that the Boilermate is supplying power to the boiler and the boiler pump (or so it thinks).

Firstly, check that you have set the jumpers correctly on the ACB. They should be on 1, 3 & 4.
If they are set correctly, test for 240v (or there abouts) between terminals 5 & 6 on the bottom terminal block of the ACB (these are the power terminals to the boiler).

If you have no power there, the jumpers are set correctly, and the bottom two green lights are on.........................then I'm afraid that the replacement used ACB that you have purchased is at fault and you will need to go back to the seller. Needles to say, you should always seriously consider your options when purchasing a printed circuit control for any appliance. We only used new genuine Gledhill spares on our jobs.
If you have power at these terminals but not at the boiler, then the problem lies between the Boilermate and your boiler.

Wiring up the boiler to a separate power supply may be done FOR TEST PURPOSES ONLY to ensure that the boiler is capable of working, however, this will not power the pump supplies or the temperature controls on the ACB, and should only be done by a GasSafe Registered engineer.

Hope this helps.

Hello David
Thank you so much for taking the time and replying to my post.

I have followed what you suggested and here is the results:
The jumpers are correctly connected to pins 1, 3 &4. I have two bottom green lights lit. I get reading from terminals 5 and 6 on the terminal block located at the bottom of the ACB, but here is the thing:

Terminals 5 and 6 marked as N and L respevtively, are connected (by a blue and a brown wire) to another terminal block attached to the boilermate chassie. The lead taking the power to the boiler is attached to this terminal block. The blue wire (N) of this lead is connected to the blue wire coming from terminal 5 of the ACB's terminal block, but the brown wire (L) of this lead is connected to a terminal that is connected to terminal 7 (marked SL) of the ACB's terminal block. On the other hand the terminal 6 (L) on the ACB's terminal block is not connected to anything.

When testing the ACB's terminal blocks I did get readings from terminal 5&6 (N&L) but I didn't get any readings from 5 & 7 (N&SL). Is the ACB suppose to pass the current from L to SL (terminal 6 to 7) during normal operation? If the answer is yes then I will need a new ACB.

Does my findings confirm that I need a new ACB? If yes, where is the best place to get a BRAND NEW ACB from and how much are they?

Thank you very much again David for your time and effort to help me.

Masoud

Hi Masoud

Sorry to have to tell you this, but yes, the ACB is supposed to put 240v between terminals 5 & 7 when the boiler is supposed to fire up.
If your ACB doesn't send voltage to these terminals then the ACB is at fault.

I would suggest you contact Segel (South Eastern Green Energies Ltd) on 01959 571856 or visit their website at www.segel.co.uk

Thank you very much for your expert advice David. I shall get my piggy bank out and buy a new ACB.
Masoud