Potterton Envoy Condensing Boiler

It's the end for our envoy. Installed in 1997, it broke down after 6 months needing a new PCB and resistor conversion to fix a 'known' problem. For a few months all was OK until the Hot surface ignitor disintegrated into a pile in the combustion chamber. this was closely followed by the flame sensor failing and another PCB. We had the usual 'O'ring failures resulting in the combustion chamber filling with water causing some worrying rumbling noises but with a little TLC, I have to say for an early example of condensing technology, it hasn't been a complete disaster. I don't know how much longer it would have lasted; I suspect the Ally heat ...

I inherited a 4-year-old Envoy 80 when I moved house. It's now 8 years old and, touch wood, we get along nicely now.
The PCB went fairly quickly, £235 inc VAT, and the tray collected water which the engineer put down to leaky pipe fittings.
On closer inspection it was a perished O-ring seal in the combustion chamber, which I replaced.
I then bought an 80 on E-bay for spares and for the last three years it's just a case of changing seals, flame sensor and igniter, usually once a year.
I could do with some combustion chamber insulation pads though and Potterton aren't too forthcoming on this.
All-in-all, not a bad boiler as long as you're not scared of getting stuck in.

I have had my Potterton Envoy for about 18 months, since being fitted by, and now maintained by British Gas. Until very recently, it has performed flawlessly, delivering the 30% saving in gas as promised. However, just before Christmas, it refused to light. A change of igniter solved the problem for about a week - the cause of the igniter failing wasn't discovered until it failed again the week after - the combustion chamber was full of water. This was put down to heavy rain beating on the side of the house whilst we were away in Canada, drained off, dried out and re-ignited. This lasted a day or so, before failing again. On closer inspection, the main heat ...