PulsaCoil PCR Common Faults
PulsaCoil PCR no hot water
If you are experiencing a lack of hot water or an erratic supply of hot water, it will usually be for one of four reasons:
- Lack of water in the thermal store. This is generally the result of evaporation or a leak in either the internal thermal cylinder or immersion heater. If the thermostat has locked open, this can lead to steaming or ‘kettling’ of the system, causing water to evaporate internally in the cylinder, and resulting in a lack of hot water at the tap outlets. You can check your hot water levels yourself using our DIY video as a guide (link).
- Failure of the immersion heater element or thermostat. Failure in either of these components will prevent the system from heating up, resulting in a lack of hot water.
- Delivery system failure. An issue with the sensor, pump, printed circuit board, or plate heat exchanger can affect the delivery system. Even if the internal thermal store heats up successfully, if any of these components fail, the delivery system will not send hot water to your tap outlets.
- Failure of the external economy-seven time clock. This can prevent the ‘off peak’ immersion from heating overnight, leaving the internal cylinder cold.
My thermal store is cold
If your thermal store is cold, it will likely be for one of four reasons:
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- Immersion heater thermostat tripped – this can be reset manually by an electrically competent person
- External economy seven time clock failure – this can prevent the off peak immersion from heating and would need testing by a qualified engineer
- Immersion heater thermostat or element* failure – both will need to be tested by a qualified engineer
*PulsaCoil PCR uses a 3kw, 14inch Incoloy Immersion heater element, operating through an 11inch rod thermostat which has a separate safety overheat manual reset cut-out.
The red fault light is illuminated or the green light has disappeared
Your PulsaCoil PCR is equipped with a Printed Circuit Board which automatically monitors the system to ensure that it operates most efficiently. When the red fault light is illuminated, or the green light disappears (link below), it means the system has overheated and a resetting by a service engineer will be required.
There are two options for dealing with a red light fault:
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- Reset the ‘manual safety overheat reset button’ yourself by removing the front cover. This will only work for a short period of time, as it causes the PulsaCoil PCR to continually overheat, tripping the ‘manual safety overheat reset switch’ and killing all power to the unit.
- Call an engineer. We can come out and remove the ‘manual safety overheat reset button’ and the ‘On & Off Peak’ immersion thermostats. Both can be replaced with the new retrofit immersion heater thermostats, incorporating separate overheat safety cut-out switches.
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If you find that the green light on your PulsaCoil PCR has disappeared, but you still have hot water, it may be that the green light has simply failed. You can remove the front cover and check the Printed Circuit Board. The small red led should be flashing twice per second. If this is not the case, or if the red fault light has been illuminated, call a service engineer.
Your Gledhill PulsaCoil PCR is leaking
If your PulsaCoil PCR is leaking or continually losing water from the header tank, this could be for one of three reasons:
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- The immersion is leaking. This is a replaceable part which would involve
draining down the internal cylinder - Leaking pipework. Generally, if the leak is external to the cylinder then this is repairable, either by tightening or replacing damaged pipework or fittings.
- Leaking Cylinder. Unfortunately, this would mean your PulsaCoil PCR is beyond economical repair and you require a replacement boiler.
- The immersion is leaking. This is a replaceable part which would involve
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Your time clock is not set up correctly
The PulsaCoil PCR can either be installed on a traditional off-peak system controlled via the electricity meter or via an external time clock. Time Clocks installed on PulsaCoil PCRs are all installed aftermarket and are not warranted or included in Gledhill PulsaCoil PCR policies.
Know how to set your time clock correctly:
Economy seven timings are generally set around 12:00 through until 7:00 am
Economy ten timings are generally set around 12:00 through until 7:00 am as per Economy-seven and then an additional top-up between 15.00 and 18:00 pm
Need to order a new time clock? Take a look at the ones we recommend on our Spare Parts and Replacements page.