E133 Baxi Megaflo System - But works fine in High Rate Mode!!

[PM1961]

As per the title. We have a property where the boiler has worked fine in the 10 months since it’s last service.

Now throws up this error code randomly, and doesn’t reset. Our man has checked all the usual culprits. Condensate is fine, not backing up.

He can put the boiler in High Rate mode and it works fine. So, all the constituent parts seem ok?

He has replaced the pcb, (more in hope than having real reason tbh) and that seemed to work….. but no, relief was temporary.

He’s now suggesting replacing the gas valve, on the basis that there’s not a lot else in the chain?

I was hoping to pick your collective brains to see if there’s any other avenue to check before we throw more money at it.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Maybe get a different engineer, or Baxi for a fixed price repair? Could be a number of things: sticking regulator, rectification issue, WP issue, flueing issue, et al.

 

[PM1961]

Maybe get a different engineer, or Baxi for a fixed price repair? Could be a number of things: sticking regulator, rectification issue, WP issue, flueing issue, et al.

Thanks for the reply Chris,

Yep looking at the fixed price Baxi call out. They ominously say from £370 so we’ll have to speak to them to find out what it depends on.

When you say “sticking regulator” do you mean the internals of the gas valve regulating the supply of gas? “Rectification” as in the electrical supply for the ignition? WP = water pressure? If so, I forgot to say it’s a system boiler. The flue is just a straight vertical flue through a pitched roof, barely two feet long.

 

[Deleted member 120897]

WP is appliance working pressure (gas), the regulator refers to the one inside the gas meter, and yes rectification is part of the ignition system.

 

[PM1961]

Thanks Chris,

I did wonder, because of the random nature of the error and the fact it works ok at high rate, whether a transient drop in the mains gas pressure would trigger such a fault? It’s transient nature meaning that you wouldn’t be able to measure it unless you were there at the time.
I guess the only way to detect that might be some type of data logging of the meter would be required, but I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing?

Would the gas people respond to me if I requested them to check a suspect meter/regulator or would a GRE need to make that call?

 

[Deleted member 120897]

It might depend on your gas transporter, but they may do it, they may not. I‘ve requested in the past, but I’m gas safe registered. It might not be transient, and putting the boiler into high fire sucks the gas, so could just be forcing it open. This is why I suggested Baxi/alternative engineer.

 

[king of pipes]

I'd be checking the electrodes for misalignment and correct gap first give em a good clean up , gas supply pressure should be checked as part of a service and when work is completed . Kop

 

[PM1961]

I'd be checking the electrodes for misalignment and correct gap first give em a good clean up , gas supply pressure should be checked as part of a service and when work is completed . Kop

Thanks KoP,

That was checked and they were in good fettle. As a follow up on the post further up, I put on my best "sad eyes" voice and told SGN the story so far and asked very nicely if an engineer would come and check the supply/regulator. Bless them, they were there within two hours and a lovely guy changed the reg straight off and then checked the supply............. all was good.

He even hung around whilst I tried a reset on the E133 fault and he monitored the supply pressure at the meter as the boiler went through it's cycle until it locked out again. He could see at his meter when the gas valve was opening and closing.

So, we're no further on except we now know the supply is ok.

Out of curiosity, what happens if a boiler has more than one fault? Do the codes show, or do they get "hidden" behind whatever triggers it first?

Baxi next it seems!

 

[king of pipes]

How does the condense pipe terminate ? Internally into say a sink waste maybe ? or outside into a drain ? If its internally then there could possibly be a blockage in the pipework I've had that the condense backs up and switches the boiler off this gives the same symptoms as a frozen condensate pipe? .
A quick test would be remove the condense pipe place a container under there temporarily and try it worth a shot if it is how it's connected? . Kop

 

[PM1961]

Many thanks to all who contributed and we now have a final (hopefully) resolution!

Basically, the time between getting E133 lockouts got shorter and shorter until about 2 weeks ago it failed to restart at all.

So, I took the advice given about getting Baxi in to do a "guaranteed repair".

The engineer repeated much that had gone before and started scratching his head as, "everything seems to be working" but it's not firing.

As always, the Devil is in the detail. The ignitor looked like new. (it is, relatively speaking) It was aligned, gapped correctly and undamaged. He had commented that the spark looked "a little weaker" than he thought it should have, and that's when the phone calls started.

Long story short and a lot of chat between the engineer and "mission control" ended up with the ignitor being replaced and it's worked fine since. Go figure?

That simple dit doesn't even begin to tell the tale of getting involved with Baxi though...... I'll post that on a seperate thread..... It might be controversial!

Thanks all.

Paul

 

[PM1961]

Well, I tried to start a new topic about the Baxi call out and what happened, but I appear to have been censored?

When I pressed the submit button, I got this;

Your content can not be submitted. This is likely because your content is spam-like or contains inappropriate elements. Please change your content or try again later. If you still have problems, please contact an administrator.

I've read the post through several times and it contains no profanities or suchlike.

Any ideas please?

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Any links to external sites?

 

[PM1961]

Any links to external sites?

No, nothing at all??

I found a moderator and have messaged them, so I'll wait for a response.