Default Ferroli Optimax HE31C - No hot water or heating.

[Circuital]

Hi all,

I tried posting this on UK Plumbers Forums but they didn't allow it because they seem to think i'll be attempting to o the work myself (despite already getting a Gas Safe Engineer out). The purpose of this post is to see if anyone else has experienced this problem, how much it cost to rectify and whether it is worth rectifying it. Hopefully someone can help:


Unfortunately this is yet another Ferroli problem! We've had a few problems in the past with this but thankfully we've always been able to solve them through advice from forums. Previous problems and solutions are listed below:

1. The boiler does nothing but display 'noCa' on the display. Solved by a sharp tap on the bottom left of the display panel plastic.

2. The boiler was providing hot water but no central heating. Solved by opening the casing and giving a few sharp taps on the diverter valve.

After working for a while with no problems, the boiler is now failing to provide hot water or heating. There is no error code and the water pressure is fine. Yesterday, we got a Gas engineer to look at it and he said that the fan and pump both appear to be working but it didn't seem to be igniting, so he would try to replace the ignition equipment. Although to be honest, he seemed a little unsure, so I have have a few questions I was hoping someone could help with:

1. So we know what to expect in terms of price, could someone please confirm that he means by ignition equipment please? Is he referring to a Ignition Spark and Flame sensor Electrode kit (saw one of those on Amazon for around £27). If so, any ideas how much labour he might charge for the job?

2. After doing a bit of research, I found a video on Youtube that shows similar symptoms to the one's our boiler is exhibiting. In the video description, they put it down to a failure of a relay circuit. Does this ring true with anyone? I looked at a price for a new PCB, and at £200+, i've told my parents that they'd be better off getting a new, decent boiler (the engineer recommended Baxi, although I have a Worcestor Greenstar 25si at my flat and have never had any issues with that). The video is shown below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUpBBzU_JgA

3. The fan seems to be whirring whether there is demand or not. Another forum suggested that it may just be a faulty fan. Does anyone agree?

4. A plumber friend of mine (but not gas engineer) suggested that it could be an airlock or a problem with the air pressure switch. I haven't got a clue what he's talking about but i'll pass this onto our gas engineer. Has anyone solved the problem using something along this route?

The reason i'm asking all these questions is that i'm trying to use your guys experience to help narrow down the fault. I'm getting the impression that the engineer is going to try replacing a number of things and it could end up costly (in which case, we'd be better off just installing a decent boiler). Has anyone encountered this particular problem before please and if so, what was the solution please?

Thank you in anticipation.

 

[bazdaman]

Why dont you get a different engineer if he does not know the problem, your paying him to fix it yet your spending your own time trying to get a diagnoses on the net?

 

[Magnatrumper]

Had this fault several times....when the fan is running constantly with no demand it is a faulty fan. Faults with the ignition sequence would result in fault codes being displayed....I think A1 for this boiler. Rather than waste money on a new fan I'd scrap the boiler and get a decent one....(not a baxi)

 

[Circuital]

@bazdama: It took my brother 5-6 attempts to find a Gas Engineer who was:

a) Available
b) Willing to work with a Ferroli condensing boiler!

Like I said, the purpose of the post was try to see if anyone could shed some light on the problem from previous experience. Our engineer said that he'd phone Ferroli but that we shouldn't hold out hope because their customer/technical support was "shocking".

@Magnatrumper: Thank you for the advice; i'll pass this on to the engineer and i've already suggested to my folks that we just forget it and invest in a decent, new boiler.

 

[Circuital]

Well, we went for a replacement fan, the engineer fitted it and still the same problem! He phoned Ferroli and they said the PCB needed changing. We weren't particularly interested in doing this, so i'd been looking at alternatives (such as buying a new boiler, buying a second hand boiler etc).

However, I came across another website:
they give advice on the HE31c, when it is not responding:

Parameters on PCB may need setting/rechecking as follows;

1. Press and hold RESET for up to 10 seconds, t5 displays, press RESET key once to enter parameters, P 01 will flash.

2. Use hot water + to enter parameter, then use hot water +/- to alter value

3. To go to the next parameter, use the heating +/-.

4. After adjusting parameters, hold the RESET button for up to 10 seconds to store the value

Parameters which may drift are;

P 01 is low pressure switch type, 0 is switch, 1 is sensor

P 02 is appliance type, 1 is standard combi, 2 is stored combi, 3 is system boiler

I changed the parameter for P01 to 0 (i.e. told the PCB that it was a 'switch' type low pressure switch). The boiler came up with the fault code: "F37". Changed it back to 1 (i.e. tell the boiler that it is a 'sensor') and it started working again.

Hopefully this will be of use to others and it doesn't give me faith in the Ferroli technical support. Just out of interest, does anyone know why this worked?