Alpha Intec recurring E96 error

Hi
I have an Alpha Intec (25XE) boiler and getting an E96 error message every now and then. According to the manual, the error refers to "Blocked or restricted flue". I had a gas safe engineer service the boiler a few days ago and he also cleaned some limescale deposit and condensate in the boiler. The air circuit was also fine when he checked. However, the error keeps coming back every few hours which could be 1-12 hours.

Anyone with any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

 

Hi there ,

many progress with this ? As I have the same issue, the error is now being experienced more frequently . I had a gas engineer check it out a few weeks ago, he straightened the flue and serviced the boiler and was ok for a few weeks .

E96 displays and the hot water goes and the only way to get rid of it is to reset . It’s then fine till the next time .

 

You need to start your own post yours is a different fault, it is against site rules to Hi-jack posts for this very reason, it just gets too confusing

 

Sorry i made a typo - I do have the same error code . Edited post to correct .

 

You still need to start your own post, you might have an Alpha boiler, but the chances of having the exact same set up are nil unless you live next door to each other

 

Hi. Thanks for your post/comment. I struggled to find anyone else with a similar problem. Unfortunately haven't found a solution yet. I called a father son duo gas engineers with a total experience of 42 years. They said that unless the error is very persistent it is very difficult to diagnose it. No proper solution without diagnosis. He also said if everything is working fine otherwise for when the boiler does work, it could just be a fault with the flue sensor. I trying to find a pattern in the error before i call someone to replace the sensor itself. Can you try getting your flue sensor checked?

 

Hi there - hopefully mine has been fixed by replacing the burner plate. My plumber phoned Alpha and they said the error is normally that . The replaced part didn’t look to clever, so hopefully it’s now rectified!

many progress with yours ?

 

Interesting. Many thanks for this info. I haven't been able to call an engineer home yet. The error on the other hand is extremely sporadic. Some days it's just not there and other days it keeps coming back. How expensive is the burner plate to replace? If not much i'll just gamble replacing it. And would you please be kind and leave an update here some days later if it really solved the problem for you? Thanks.

 

The part was £180 from Alpha - did come the next day though . Will post back in a few days to let you know how it’s going .

 

Okay, that's a bit on the higher side unlike a sensor which would've been under 50 quid. Please do post back if it made the error go away. Many thanks.

 

Hi @Matthall03 how is it running now? Is the error fully resolved? I may have found what is causing the error in my case.

 

Yep been no issues since the repair. Hope I’m not tempting fate by posting this.

oh yeah - what do you think the issue is in your case ?

 

That's good to know, thanks. So I will have some way ahead if my idea doesn't work.
In my case, I believe the error is being caused by a temporary blockage in the condensate pipe, the pipe that connects condensate drainage of boiler to waste water pipe outside the property. The insulation of this pipe came off & fell a few weeks ago but I ignored it as I had no knowledge of how boilers function. I have been reading and observing and see that when the temperature in London gets closer to zero, the error becomes more frequent and then when it is now negative, I tend to run boiler at higher temperature which in turn sends warmer condensate causing the error frequency to actually reduce.
Perhaps you can check boiler's condensate pipe in your property as well, just in case. It would a simple plastic pipe coming out of the wall just below the boiler and would be connected to a waste water pipe. This pipe is usually covered in foam insulation.

 

I had this fault and rang alpha. They said to clean the burner, electrode and condensate trap. He then said, if it keeps throwing up an E96 fault, it will be a sticking gas valve.I did all of that. I am not convinced yet! The electrode was pretty clean, the condensate trap clear and the burner?? Who’s to know, I googled an image of a new burner and it looks the same as my burner. I fitted this boiler 5 years ago, wish I had fitted a Baxi or Worcester. Alpha use a complicated set up. To verify that the burner was ok, I carried outa full C0 set up and the max,medium and minimum readings are all good. It’s been 24 hours and no recurrence yet. Would you replace the gas valve,if it gives an E96 again. Comments would be appreciated. I am gas safe with over 30 years experience but know very little about Alpha

 

Thanks for your comments. I am not a gas safe or heating engineer. But I am an engineer and understand that diagnosing the problem is more difficult than the solution itself. In this case, one can't identify the problem because it is so sporadic. I have been observing the pattern a lot and two things I noticed: 1) flue disturbance or backlash because of weather which was bad during the past few weeks and 2) pressure, the pressure was in green zone but on the higher side. The weather has improved now and i managed to reduce the pressure. I hardly see the error now (fingers crossed). If I see an error again i will buy alpha's service plan and make them send an engineer every time i see the error for the next one yr.