Ariston Microgenus II 31 MFFI Ignition Problem

[paul864]

Hi,

I have two Ariston boilers which both seem to suffer with the same problem. This problem is intermittent and has been going on for some time. Basically, when there is demand for either hot water or central heating the boiler intermittently fails and displays an A01 error. The boiler then generally has to be reset multiple times before it ignites. This started after about 18 months and has now been going on for a long time. I have had three visits under warranty from MTS (Ariston maintenance people) recommended engineers, each time the problem went away for a bit but then re-occurred. It has got so bad now that one of the boilers won't restart until it gets to a certain temperature (the other one needs a reset once a day). Tried the MTS recommended engineers again and he recommended a new PCB, but as this costs over £200 (and it is now out of warranty) want to be certain it will fix the issue. I am not confident this is the right fix, as each time engineers come round they recommend something else.

Can anyone help, I have seen other posts with similar faults but not sure what the fix was?[/b]

 

[gas4you]

Don't know the answer, but why isn't this still covered under the warranty as if they have been out 3 times and not fixed it, it should still be looked at as an ongoing problem.

It is their fault it hasn't been fixed during the warranty period, not yours. IMHO.

 

[paul864]

I have written to MTS complaining, they offered a token £150 towards the repair (as a good will gesture), but said it was not their responsibility. Going to pursue this to find out what my rights are, but would still like to find out if anyone knows how to fix it .

 

[Rob]

A01 on the micro genus HE indicates flame fault and is usually down to the PCB which will need replacing.

 

[babyboo23]

my microgenus has got this problem but it is so bad that the boiler will only stay on for about 2 mins before A01 comes up. Pressing the R button only makes it come back on for another 2 mins before it does the same. Hot water is impossible. Boiler less than 2 years old, surely a fault with the model or something. The previous owners of my house bought it and never registered the warranty. Ariston said we would be covered with the stamp from plumber showing when it was fitted but this document has been lost by our solicitors who dealt with our house purchase. Anyideas of the cost to fix this? were any Ariston models ever recalled?

 

[paul864]

Hi,

I still have this issue and now contemplating having these two boilers replaced with new ones at significant cost (galling, since they are only 4 years old). The issue has now been going on for 3 years (intermittently), now one will not start at all, the other takes excessive restarts of removal of the front cover.

On boiler 1 the flame doesn't ignite at all (it dances around briefly for the A01 error arrives). Boiler 2 almost lights, but the left hand burners don't light, hence A01 error then appears. Successive restarts of boiler 2 can mean it will start (after 15mins of resets) but generally have to remove front cover to get it to start up. Once the boiler is going is doesn't have an issue.

I have had 5 visits from Aristons engineers now, a PCB swap, and a general clean and still no luck................I am at the end of my tether! Does anyone out there know what is wrong as the Ariston engineers I have had don't seem to know what it is?

 

[twgas]

On boiler 1 the flame doesn't ignite at all (it dances around briefly for the A01 error arrives

if it doesnt ignite at all what dances around?

You may have a problem with the flue(s) which would be RGI territory.

 

[paul864]

The ignition lights a small flame (which you can see blowing/dancing around in the small window), the flame just doesn't appear to be strong enough for the flame sensor detection. On boiler 2 the flame is really weak and on boiler 1 only lights the right hand side of the burner. The guys from Ariston tried putting sonething across the burners so that it lit the left hand side (worked for 6 hours and then back to the old problem).

So I don't really know too much about boilers, but the balance of air, carbon monoxide and gas inside doesn't look right to ignite the flame properly.

These boilers worked ok for about 1 year before they steadily got worse (more and more resets).

 

[Gasguru]

Are these two boilers on the same gas supply? Are they feeding a hotel?

From what you say the problem appears to be a failure of the flame to jump across the burner ribbons. It initially ignites on one ribbon but does not flash across to the other burner ribbons or the burner lights but the flame is very low. Correct?

Has the working pressure at the boiler been checked for each boiler when they working individually and simultaneously?

Have the correct flue restrictor rings been fitted if necessary?

Has the soft light gas pressure been checked?

Are the electrodes in the correct position?

Has the power supply polarity and earting been checked?

AFAIR the flame sense electrode sits just left of the ignition electrodes so the flame only has to jump one burner ribbon.

Ariston have had lots of problems on the Microsystem boilers with failure of the flame to flash across the burner and a new flame speader plate was fitted to the front of the burner (that still did not solve the problem fully) but I am not aware of these problems on the Microgenus. However on the system boilers the flame sense and ignition electrodes were some distance apart.

 

[paul864]

The two boilers are on the same supply (an LPG tank) and feed my house. The installer at the time decided two combi's were appropriate to serve an underfloor heating system on one floor and radiators on the other, plus a decent flow rate to the taps/showers/bath etc.

The ignition seems to light one burner ribbon and fails to light the others (one boiler flame looking very much weaker than the other).

Not exactly sure what the engineers, that have been up here have checked, but believe they checked the individual pressures (maybe not the two working simultaneously though ).

There are flue restrictors installed in both boiler flues (will need to verify the correct size) and the soft light has been changed a few times. As for the electrodes being in the right position, I assume they are since noone has suggested they are incorrect (had 4 different Ariston certified engineers).

The earthing and polarity has not been verified since installation.

Not sure whether there is something specific with these boilers (their serial numbers are sequencial), but will be writing to Ariston again to try and get some explanation. Also planning on getting another independent engineer in to check this again.

Any advice is welcomed as this has baffled me and several engineers. I really would love to get this fixed as getting them replaced is going to be expensive and a bit of a waste since they are only 4 years old! This problem has been going on for over 2 years now and has progressively got worse (judged by the number of resets required to start it, infact cannot get one started at all now).

 

[Deleted member 105431]

I would clean all the injectors with compressed air as lpg can be dirty and resctrict gas flow thru them. Ariston are shyte boilers though!