interesting tale in the life of a boiler and the assorted plumbers involved

[tryitandsee]

BAXI Combi boiler 4 years old, worked well for 2 years, then the pressure DHW fell.
Heat Team said "the flue is too long"
Independent fitter checked the cold water filter - bent spring found, big improvement!
Then DHW pressure fell.
Heat Team said " it's the air trigger"
and replaced that - slight improvement.
Then the DHW fell.
Heat team said " the flue is too long, you should get an expert"
Independent fitter came.
He said "the switch wiring is wrong, and the diverter valve is faulty"
Then he went away to get a new valve, and the DHW fell to a cold trickle, the central heating failed, the low pressure neon came on, and he has neither been back nor answered calls.
Some questions for the wise men/ women:
can a flue affect the DHW flow?
could a boiler have functioned for 4 years with the sensor wiring to the switches transposed?
Has the "corrected" wiring caused complete failure( gas and electric still on)?
Was the diverter faulty, or has it been helped on its way?
How do you deal with a fitter who has rendered the boiler 100X worse than it was??

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

what baxi is it?

 

[tryitandsee]

Baxi Combi 105 HE; 22mm gas line; good mains pressure; medium size house

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

flue can only run 3 meters horizontal or vertical how longs the flue on your boiler?

 

[tryitandsee]

3m vertical plus bends x 2, so it is probably too long but can this cause that fault after 2 years of good running? How??

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

it cant,but will cause lockout and the flue over heat to trip, unlikely wiring wrong,air trigger as you call it probably air pressure switch they tend to fail at the 2-4 year mark,diverter valve probably not faulty just the diaprahm as for the low pressure neon,have you put water back in?

 

[Toddyplumb]

The flue will not affect the actual water flow.
If the flue is too long it may affect the air pressure switch sooner than normal. Change the flue to the twin pipe system good for up to 12metres as a start

 

[tryitandsee]

yes twin flue will be done
boiler is fully charged - before the fitter "tested" it for the impaired DHW flow, it was working at 100% for CH and say 60% for DHW.
When he left it, the low pressure/pump neon was flashing, the preheat has failed, the DHW now has about 10% flow and heats slowly, the CH is not triggering or circulating to demand, the gas and power and cold feed are on.... he was away down the road by the time I saw all this!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

ah problems changing now you do not have a 105 he you have a 105he instant has your fitter changed the diverter yet?

 

[tryitandsee]

no he left yesterday afternoon and has not been heard from since, leaving the house at the mercy of the cold weather

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

to the best of your knowledge have there been any leaks inside the boiler?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

and he has gone,for those of you still viewing this thread,sounds like the op has had a differential pressure assembly (DHW)fail ,not his diverter valve and if he has had a internal leak(o rings main heat exchanger prone to failing on the instant)water has gone into his pcb causeing all sorts of weird faults inc not working at all and saying pump failed/low water pressure

 

[tryitandsee]

yes, the condensate trap leaked once

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

see my last post and finally have you tried putting water back in? what does the gauge show?

 

[tryitandsee]

and just to be clear, the boiler was more or less ok until the fitter did his stuff yesterday - whatever he did, disabled the pump and caused all the faults listed above - until he fiddled about, the only problem was low DHW flow - not pathetic DHW flow as it is now; interesting note however that he commented there was a missing cover on the PCB and asked if I had it... I wonder what prompted this......

the boiler was never drained - and the pressure is about 2 bar

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

water has gone into your pcb,ruining it,and low DHW flow is a blocked DHW filter or if its not getting hot a DHW differential assembly which is prone to failure on your boiler,very dangerous for someone to leave the pcb cover off

 

[Toddyplumb]

To add to what gas man has said on the instant the seal under the divertor valve head on the spindle fails again leaking water up into divertor head and onto board etc !!
Instants are a pain !!

 

[tryitandsee]

thanks so much - I can see the sense of that explanation
i have to say, reading between the lines, it looks very much as if the fitter yesterday got water onto the PCB; not only did he leave pretty sharpish, he also asked the odd question about the PCB cover after he had messed with the diverter assembly, AND there was slight water drip under the boiler after he had finished AND there were so many problems following his visit that were not there an hour earlier... I am trying to be charitable and assume he was cack handed, but if it means a full boiler replacement he will have to persuade the insurer to cover it.... maybe that was his plan, or maybe he will fix everything if he ever comes back; if I dont hear from him, I guess it's a third opinion and the court ahead

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

it wont mean boiler replacement it is repairable on this forum i am the biggest advocate of the BAXI 105 he,but BAXI messed with a good design and launched your boiler the instant it is a nightmare your fitter may not have been fully aware how easy it is to get water into a pcb on a BAXI,if he was and if he did he would have wipped the pcb out and dried it you have 5 minutes to save a wet Siemens or Honeywell pcb your boiler may have either one after the 5 mins pcb is ruined,find another fitter the missing pcb cover is very dubious

 

[tryitandsee]

thanks v much - I will see what happens tomorrow, if he doesnt get back to me or appear with various parts I will have to get another independent and hope that Domestic and General will cover this or its off to the blood sucking lawyer or small claims under sale of goods via gas safe regulator; I will report back on any progress
I did think it odd that he suddenly asked about the cover after about 40 minutes of work - I have no idea what happened to it, maybe Heat Team collect them like scalps; more tomorrow,
cheers

 

[oldplumber]

devils advocate here. if the pcb cover is missing it would be quite hard to pursuade me to believe it is the last technicians fault if water gets onto your pcb causing a problem. It may well be the case that in opening up the boiler the pcb has finally turned its toes up purely due to movement of the case as it opens. I say this from experience of working on 105s and the dreaded ferrolis where you just have to look at them and they break down totally. Its comparable to sending your car to a garage and saying the engine doesnt sound right, and they start it up and dsue to a lack of oil it siezes completely. Whos fault is it? yours for failing tro keep the oil topped up or theirs for starting it up to listen to it running. It is likely however that the techie has sen your boiler, not been able to diagnose a fault, seen it fail completely and thought sh*t and bunked off, not good customer relations policy but not really his fault. Best bet, get someone in who knows their stuff, quote what youve learnt on here and listen to their advice on a way ahead. omho good luck

Another thought, small claims court is one route for recourse, but you have to prove its his fault beyond reasonable doubt, youll have to pay around £80 upfront to bring a case if your claiming for £1000 and youll have to prove your case. Then you get a judgement agaist him which then means you have to get the money, which could be awarded at £5 a month if he pleads poverty and if he even coughs at all. Add in all the stress and your better off licking your wounds and moving on.

 

[tryitandsee]

fair enough OP, will see if he comes back at all and let you all know

 

[oldplumber]

keep life stress free and save your heartbeats after all once you used up all your nominated heart beats you die, remember that all you adrenaline junkies and exercise maniacs out there, sloths live a very long time lol.

 

[Avatar]

Old or poorly installed components fail all the time when you do maintenance on them, I usually warn the customer before I work in these areas that these things can happen.

Sounds to me that the incorrectly installed flue is the biggest issue, which you have already been advised of and as of yet have done nothing about . . .

 

[tryitandsee]

No, the biggest issue is failure of a working boiler after a registered fitter has messed it about, then disappeared, then been tracked down after a dozen attempts, and to all intents and purposes lied about contacting the insurer ( they keep very good computer logs where money is concerned ) and made no comment about the total boiler failure coinciding with his visit, or offered to fix it or explained or apologised - all of that is a big issue for any trade or profession