Potterton Profile 80e Intermittent Fault

[AndrewReid]

Our Potterton Profile 80e boiler started running without lighting the gas last winter.
A plumber came and pointed to a copper canister in our airing cupboard.
It was about the size of a can of beans with a pipe into each side and a pipe into the top.
He said it needed removing and replacing with pipework instead.
He said it would be a big job as the floor would have to come up but did not quote a price.
Later on, his boiler mechanic turned up and said that the boiler fan was noisy and needed replacing.
It was noisy so we agreed for him to do this at a price of just under £400.
The boiler worked for 2 days then developed slightly different symptoms; it simply would not start at all.
There's more to follow (much more) but I will post this part now in case anybody has any ideas.

 

[AndrewReid]

Back again.
We got through last winter with electric heaters and the immersion heater.
Then a few months ago, around September 2015 I guess, I decided to try using the boiler to just heat the hot water.
This time the boiler ran every day for a fortnight, heating the water perfectly, then it stopped again.
I called a different plumber a few weeks ago.
He took one look at the canister in the airing cupboard, said he fitted these in the 70's, 80's and 90's and now he just removes them as they have been found to cause so much trouble.
He said it did not matter how much I might try to flush the system, this canister would be full of rubbish.
I drained the system, removed the canister and replaced it with pipework as suggested.
I fixed the canister in a vice and cut through it with a hacksaw, only to find that it was completely empty i.e. it had no rubbish in at all.
I tried to use the boiler again.
It worked for a day then stopped.
There's more to follow but I will post this now in case anybody has any ideas.

 

[frodo]

we have a Canadian/ Brit Plumber running around here some where his name is
stevemachine

I think he would be more familiar with your system than this Yank would

in my opinion, its a 1980's boiler, this is 2015, I would not let it nickel and dime me to death
replace it with a new high efficiency, be done with it for another 25 years

nickel and dime,,would that be schilling and pence ?

 

[AndrewReid]

Dear Frodo,
I am in South East England.
Have I joined the wrong forum?
i.e. is this one mainly for the USA and Canada?
The boiler was fitted in 1997 when the house was built.
The plumbers who have seen it so far think that it has several years life left in it yet, which is why I would like to repair it.
I will get some pictures later.
Kind Regards,
Andrew