replacing the PCB in a gas boiler (ATAG E32C)

[rmlaws54]

The numerical display on my ATAG E32C combi boiler is failing; half the segments don't work any more. This display is on the PCB so I'm guessing the whole PCB has to be replaced. It's about 10 years old.

I can buy a repalcement board for about £200.

Am I right in thinking that replacing the board would not be simply a case swapping them over, but that the new board will need to be set up before the boiler can be used?

It's very hard to find anyone near Cambridge to work on an ATAG boiler. So hard, in fact, that I am considering replacing the boiler and gettign something more standard.

Thanks for any guidance.

Robert

[Vir Campestris]

Geoff at CET Ltd is a good source of bits. (Or used to be - I no longer have gas)

Andy

[Brian Reay]

I?m not sure the boards need ?setting up?. I replaced a boiler PCB some years back and it was just a simple swap. A friend in the trade sourced one for me. I then looked over the duff one, found the fault, and replaced the components. I kept it as a spare for years.

[Tim+]

Any ID on the display components? With the replacement coating that much I?d be tempted to try just replacing the display elements.

Tim

[tabbypurr]

Sometimes small LCDs just need the edges pressing down a bit. A card spacer can do that.

Ebay is often cheap for spare parts. If it's not a combi, you can even get whole boilers for parts. Atag isn't the most common though.

NT

[tony sayer]

Yes still around and a good source of advice and help:)

[Pamela]

[rmlaws54]

Thanks for the suggestion, but his (very) long list of PCBs does not include any for ATAG. Oh why was I persaded to fit such an unusual make. It's a great boiler, but that's no use if nobody is available to service it!

R

[rmlaws54]

That's interesting. Was this on ATAG or a different make?

Robert

[Andy Bennet]

If you are handy with a soldering iron you could replace the display for about 50p.

[Andy Burns]

If lucky, it might be one of the common Hitachi HD44780 style e.g 2x16 or 4x20 alphanumeric displays ...

[Davidm]

I would have thought that any setting up needed, if any at all, would be something like coding plugs or links rather than any electronic coding or potentiometers, so just check against the existing board and copy that.

[Theo]

If you can post a picture of the display, that would help us ID it.

Assuming it's this board:

doesn't show any display. Is it on a separate plugin module? Is the module plugged in directly or via a cable? What kind of display is it? (Dot matrix, 7 segment with custom symbols, graphical?) Is it a calculator-type LCD (with backlight) or do the segments light up (LED, OLED or VFD)?

The classic dot matrix 16x2 character displays look like this:

it sounds more like it's a custom segmented display, which would make it more difficult to find a match.

Ah, scratch that. The above picture shows a bank of four 7 segment LEDs next to the buttons - they're so overexposed that I missed them first time around. Those would be relatively straightforward to replace with a soldering iron.

Next question, can you describe a pattern of which segments are failed? For example, it might be the top segment on each digit. Such a pattern points to the driver chip. That appears to be the chip on the picture to the left of where it's printed 'OK' upside down at the bottom of this image:

you read what's written on that chip?

Theo (in Cambridge...)

[Tim+]

I think it's on the back. Check the other images on that listing...

Tim

[rmlaws54]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. A new board is £480 I now discover!

because I can't read the existing display I'm not able to note down what everythign is set for at the moment. IN addition, I now find that the boiler has anther fault (overheat tripping and, the latest: triping the RCD in the ring main).

So I've decided it's now time to replace the whole boiler!

Robert

[Brian Reay]

I don't recall the make- it was in our previous house. However, I don't think it was an ATAG.

That aside, the boilers are intended to be repaired by simply swapping parts. If thing get more complicated, the 'average' service type is often stumped and needs to call in someone else. Therefore, I doubt boards need more than swapping.

[tabbypurr]

Unlikely to be a problem setting the new one up.

most often that's down to inadequate flow, which is usually not the fault of the boiler. If you put your hand on the output pipe you'll find out if it gets burning hot before tripping or not. If not, the boiler is probably the issue. If it does get burning hot, time to look at the filter, pump, muck in the rads or valves.

could be due to any part of the boiler, pump or valves. Best way to test them is to temporarily disconnect each & do a hi-pot insulation test from L+N to case. If you lack the equipment, a multimeter usually picks up the problem.

As they say, you can repent at your leisure :) I would not renew a boiler until I at least knew it was faulty.

NT

[ARW]

It does not mean that he cannot recon your PCB. Call the firm and ask.

He's a helpful bloke most of the time. Although when I moved his aerial for him a few weeks ago his unhelpful comment was "don't fall off the roof because it will cost a fortune to re-glaze the conservatory"

[rmlaws54]

It does this only on Domestic Hot Water (not the CH). I suspect it means the DHW heat exchanger is clogged. On DHW this boiler runs a little circular loop of water between the gas heatex and the domestic water heatex. When CH is running it just goes through the gas heatex.

All these things that have been going wrong cost money (or time or both) to fix and when you add them up it makes a new boiler a viabale alternative.

[rmlaws54]

My dad used to employ a man from time t otime to fix loose slates. He just walked about on the roof with no safety gear. My dad pointed out how dangerous this was. "Nah, I've been doing this all my life and I've never fallen off" he said. A short time afterwards he fell off a roof.

R