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Thread: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

  1. #1
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    Default Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    Hi all,

    I have not long moved into a house with a Potterton Kingfisher CF50 CAT 1N boiler, which has been given an 'at-a-glance' age of between 20-25 years by a British Gas rep and a council energy conservation officer.

    The unit has been performing fine - until that is I bled one of the radiators. At that point the boiler would only ignite for a few minutes before shutting itself off.

    I have no idea whether these two incidents are connected at all but the timing is too close to ignore!

    With the boiler control panel set to the off position but with the Danfoss 102 timer unit set to on, there is a distinct regular thrumming noise, especially evident near to the hot water tank.

    Strangely, when bleeding the radiator, although a lot of air came hissing out, it never got to the stage (despite a fair wait) whereby water came out.

    With my very, very limited understanding of these things, I guess I may have unbalanced my radiator system, or air trapped elsewhere in the system has now shifted and caused a blockage with the part-bleeding of the one radiator I have tackled.

    Can anyone help to troubleshoot where the problem might lie?

    Cheers all!

  2. #2
    Moderator sunbeam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    the air that is coming out of the rsd is not being replenished with water,

    check the header tank in the loft for water, the ball valve could be stuck

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    Default Re: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    Sunbeam - cheers for the tip. Went into the roof and checked the header tank - ball valve working fine, no problems there with the water level or refilling - any other ideas?

  4. #4
    Moderator sunbeam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    can you tell if the pump is running?

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    Default Re: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    This is lame I know, but how do I do that? Where is the pump likely to be situated, and what might it look like - are these things generic in appearance or do they differ a lot? Apologies for the total noobness!

  6. #6
    Moderator sunbeam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    right,

    what i would do now is go back into the loft, go back to the header tank,

    there will be a pipe that bends over the top of the tank,

    if you can get your mouth round it, give it a good blow, and i mean a good blow.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Potterton Kingfisher giving out?

    OK, things seem to be on the boil again - many thanks indeed, sunbeam!

    I went back into the loft and discovered a second smaller header tank, which was indeed almost empty. The ball valve on this one was stuck/stiff, so I pressed it down to allow more water into the tank, before allowing the valve to cut off the refilling naturally.

    I then identified the bent pipe into the main header tank and blew hard into that (getting a bit of a baptism and a collapsed eye-ball in the process....nearly ;-)


    Went back to the two main radiators that were not bleeding properly. Bled both successfully.

    Restarted the boiler - and lo, much gurgling of cireculating water, no 'thrum' and in shortish time hot radiators. Boiler's been going a good hour now.

    There was a faint smell of gas when I started the boiler again, but it's been off for two days, and the Kingfisher manual indicates that this may happen when you first sart it anyway - the smell has now gone.

    The family is now talking to me again!


  8. #8
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    Default Thank you Sunbeam and Orfanum!

    Thank you Thank you Thank you! I stumbled upon your posts on my "No-Hot-Water Day Four" and as a single mum who has just been made redundant, was desperate for any advice I could find, for my Potterton Kingfisher which was cutting out after about 5 minutes, just like Orfanum's.
    Armed with nothing more useful than a reluctant and monosyllabic 16 year old, I ventured into the loft (unknown territory) and located the main water tank and about 300 spiders. It was full of water and all seemed ok in there, so I came back to the forum to get my next instruction.
    Back to the loft and located the smaller feeder tank (and a lot more spiders) Found that there was no water in it! and instructed teen to fiddle with the ball valve thing which instantly provoked a lot of water gushing into the tank. I must admit, I did panic a bit at this stage, thinking that there was probably water pouring out on to the floor or through the ceiling somewhere but all was well.
    Back down to fire up the boiler, waited with bated breath for a few minutes till... it cut out again. Back to the forum for more advice.
    Up to the loft again to locate the bendy pipe into the main water tank. Ughhh. This looked like apple-bobbing from hell. Even if I wanted to put my head into the tank, the rusty old pipe festooned with cobwebs was a definite health hazard. The monosyllabic teen came up trumps at this point and suggested we went to B & Q to buy some kind of bendy plastic tube thing to fit around the pipe.
    Into the car and bought some kind of washing machine plastic concertina-ish thing for about £3.
    Back home and into the loft. It wasn't a perfect fit, but pretty damn close, and I wrapped a cloth around the join to prevent air escaping. The teen gave several hard blows into it and back we went, down to the boiler, fired it up and it stayed on!
    The boiler stayed on! Heated up the water and everything's been hunkydory since last Friday! Must have saved a fortune not having to call a plumber. Even the teen was pleased, and he doesn't even use hot water. Thanks again, very very much appreciated. Now, where's my loofah?

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