Ferroli 102 "lock out"

[cossy479]

Hi, I am after some advise on my Ferroli 102 boiler, basically its going into "lock out" but only in the morning after a night of rest. I will have to reset the switch maybe 20 times before it runs. This is for CH or DHW. I have drained down and cleaned the flow switch out, then decided to replace, I have also replaced the pcb (as I had a spare). The flu is intact and leak free. What happens is, you turn it on for heating or demand HW and the flame lights, then after 4-5secs it lock out. As I said, once running after endless resets, its fine all day. One thing I have noticed, is that, rather than turning the heating off on the boiler front panel manually at night before bed to prevent it running at night, If I was to turn the temp control to 0, but leave the boiler "on" so to speak, then in the morning if I wanted to turn the heating on I just turn the dial to turn temp up it often works, could this be the gas valve? if so how do they fail?

Mark

 

[kevindgas]

depends on the 102 you have, the modena 102 suffers from issues with the thermistors, over heat sensor and the venturi thermistors can be swapped round to check overheat can be taken off pipe to check and the venturi is simplest to just change BUT last 2 ARE IN COMBUSTION CHAMBER SO RGI NEEDED.

 

[cossy479]

Hi, thanks for your reply, yes it is a Modena 102, so the overheat sensor and venturi thermistor? can you elaborate more as to what to do with these two to start with.
mark

 

[kevindgas]

sorry my bad typing!!
thermistors x 2 are located in the lower section behind the control panel/pcb they are wet pocket type, so to do anything other than swap the wires over, will mean the water will need to be turned off at the inlet (blue tap on 4th pipe from left) and the heating depressurised these are known to get sludge on them affecting their resistance once removed just clean them with a nylon scourer from your kitchen.

Fan Venturi these go brittle and fall to pieces also suffer from white spot but as this is in the combustion chamber an RGI would need to change and test for you
similar the overheat stat is also in the CC, if this is unclipped and the boiler then works correctly then i would be looking at a scaled up heat exchanger

 

[BigRon100]

I replaced the 2 thermistors on mine, and it solved a very similar sounding problem. I did also reflow the circuit board, and swap the NO and NC relays over subsequently to solve the "looks like it's firing, but nothing happens unless you belt it" problem.

 

[kevindgas]

I "looks like it's firing, but nothing happens unless you belt it" problem.

kick start version!!

 

[libby lou lou]

I "looks like it's firing, but nothing happens unless you belt it" problem.

kick start version!!

nice one.

 

[cossy479]

Thanks for all your replies, much appreciated.

Just an update, to cover and to confirm what I have already said about the turning the boiler off via temp control and not the switch, its fine that way, you get up, turn the temp dial, fires up and fine all day.

Its only when its turned off via control switch in the evening, then left overight to cool, try to use HW or Heating after that (next morning)and Lock Out...

 

[BigRon100]

I found the thermistors dead easy to swap (and only a few quid on ebay), make sure to lock the CH & cold water feed circuits off if you're going to do it yourself & power off the boiler.

Tips: Couple of terry nappies or an old towel or two over the back of the circuit box to keep it dry. I used a funnel to drain the CH water down the LHS, and remembered to release the pressure in the DHW by opening the tap after closing the feed valve.

Mine's an 80, but I understand the 102 is very similar.

It's now developed a very occasional lockout on startup (one every few weeks), and am going to get a friend who's an RGI to change the venturi out, given they're also less than a fiver each, and apparently made of peanut brittle.

 

[Boilerman2]

Gosh!! Having a FERROLI in the House is never dull is it!!
thank god mine's a Remeha!!

 

[BigRon100]

well indeed. The damned thing was here when I bought the house, and to be fair I'm trying to wring as much life out of it as possible. It's only cost me 20 quid in parts, and a few hours of my time sofar, which is a pretty good deal compared with fixing it properly with a large hammer, repiping all the sh*tty microbore around the place, replacing all the aged rads and doing it properly.

Since I reflowed the board, it's actually started modulating, which can't be bad. I consider there's a number of design flaws on the board to do with heat dissipation from certain parts of the circuit, causing the formation of dry joints in the warm parts. The relay contacts being knackered are due to inadequate original specification, and some of the soldering, especially around the pin-connectors was shocking.

I might get shouted at, but were the combustion chamber cover taken off, and put back on wrong, wouldn't the pressure switch lock the boiler out anyway? (not that I'd consider doing that in any case. Fsck up water, you get wet. Fsck up gas, and you end up dead. It's certainly not worth the risk in my eyes).