geoff, BW,

Thanks for this info....another reason to consider a replacement
rather than patch it up. It also seems that the seals are asbestos
according to other posts.

This could also explain that when I tested the boiler briefly with the
cover off to see if the fan was working there was a fair bit of flame
emitted around the bottom of the fire box when it lit.

geoff wrote in message ...
In message , BigWallop
writes

"Dave Ramage" wrote in message
. com...
Hello...hopefully someone may be able to diagnose this boiler problem:

I have a Potterton Netaheat 16/22- probably about 15 years old. Its
been running fine for hot water over the summer, and for the last 2
weeks of central heating as well, but a few days ago it developed this
problem:
-Turn heating and/or hot water on at the timer
-Valves (S-type layout?- 2* 2-way valves) and pump appear to work OK
-Pilot, then main flame lights and everything runs OK for 2-5 minutes
-Flame goes out and there is a continuous loud clicking sound coming
from the boiler. The pilot re-lights after the first click, but fades
and eventualy goes out as the clicking continues. The main flame never
comes back.
-The clicking carries on until I switch off the heating or water timer
control (after about 30 seconds as I don't want anything to blow up!)
-Waiting a few minutes and then switching the heating or water on
again results in a repeat of the same process.

Is this likely to be a repair I could do myself, or should I just get
a new boiler?

Many thanks,
Dave

Watch out for line wrap:

http://www.fmb.org.uk/publications/m...nuary01/4c.asp


But wouldn't this cause the boiler to blow the flame out immediately