Baxi Barcelona – A GUIDE TO PERMANENT REPAIR
Repost from 2005 as Barcelona can be upgraded to work well….
THE UNIT HAS BEEN WORKING FOR 3 YEARS SINCE THE REPAIRS WITHOUT A PROBLEM.
BACKGROUND
In 2004 there was some Cowboy's (including Corgi registered) out there who offered help with the repair of my Baxi Barcelona. A few has been to my house and charged £160 a time to mess about with a unit they did not understand. The issue then was that 30 – 40 years in the business with the traditional units did not mean you were competent to handle the new condensing types which use electronics more extensively in its design.
The Main issue is that this early model has so many faults with its Electronics and other parts a thorough overhaul is required to bring it up to the latest Baxi 100HE specification. Nothing else will work!
My first step was to analyse what has been changed between the very old unit of mine and the latest version where all electronics and wire harnesses carry new part numbers. The Mechanics including the Heat Exchanger is still the same. I found the parts for the update rather expensive £250 to £300 pounds + labour (again who has the knowledge?) and a new unit sounded the better alternative.
An e-mail to Baxi Technical assistance put me in contact with their Fixed Price Repair service which looked the better proposition. In order to repair the Unit, Baxi visited about 5 times and I must agree with others that their service was initially abysmal. Thankfully, the Flow Control switch had them lost and everything was updated in the end to find the fault.
Baxi used OLD PARTS initially for the repair so you are not guaranteed the latest version electronics unless you know what to ask for and how argue your case. So you need to be armed with information and the below may help you to get ALL PARTS CHANGED for it to work well!
Also, consider whether or not to call them out in the summer as you may not be able to test the function of the boiler properly within the warranty period.
Another aspect of their “service” is that they had my installation details on their database which clearly showed the unit as installed in 1999. My mistake was to say 1997 which cost an additional £50. Once again, a display of their abysmal service. This was later refunded.
After 4-5 call-outs during the Warranty Period, they completed the work on mine and told me its FULLY 100HE compliant (latest model). It has since worked like a doddle and I am fully satisfied with the unit I had delivered when released.
Explosive Start:
Baxi Engineer initially blamed Gas Pressure. After Emergency visit from Transco this was not the issue.
Solved by another Baxi Engineer by changing the PCB to latest version. This restricts the Initial Gas Flow until the Boiler has fired and then it goes to full flow. Strapping Plug on the PCB controls this function and if not set will operate to old logic.
Baxi will tell you this is only needed for horizontal flues mine is vertical and extremely short and they never explained that one to me!
See Manual, available from Baxi Site, if you know what you are doing and want to check or set this function.
Some installers put tthis problem dpwn to the requirement to have a 22mm pipe to boiler, mine is connected by a 15mm pipe the last 1.5 M and it has been working well since the PCB modification were made, so I am not so sure.
Lock-Out
1st Required Modification
Baxi has uprated the High Voltage Cable between the PCB and Electrodes as it sparked to the Chassis leaving low/no capacity for the electrode to spark. This may contributing to explosive start if the gas is not cleared from the heating chamber.
2nd Required Modification
Early control PCB has too sensitive logic and goes to Lock-out far too easy (red light on). THIS IS THE MAIN CAUSE TO TROUBLE and latest PCB will solve this issue. You know you have the correct version when you have:
* 4 Strapping Plugs on the Control PCB
* a function which will select 2 output levels using a strapping plug. The lower one is OK in my house which is "only" 250 sqm.
* and the critical low gas flow start mentioned above
* change to cycle logic so it test the water temp before igniting the boiler instead of the other way around. Also, cycle between tests has been extended slightly. Should do wonders for the life-length of those electrodes...
* Excessive Fan noise disappeared after the PCb was changed.
If you cannot adjust the variable Heating Output, I could not, the Control PCB is most likely the very old one (mine was a prototype since the unit was repaired when installed and spares not readily available).
3rd Required Modification
Early Flow Control Switch may when checked look OK but has gone High-Ohm for the PCB who interprete the signal as not water / pump-on. THIS IS VERY HARD TO ESTABLISH AND YOU ARE EASILY TRICKED. Boiler stops at the same point as a Condensate Trap failure. You can test as follows:
* Undo wire to Condensate trap and start boiler - if the unit still goes to lock out this is not it. Test time more than 24 hours.
* Ensure pump is working + water in system (God help you otherwise) then take off the connector from the Flow Switch and Short Circuit. Start Boiler and if it works after more than 24 hours, you have most likely found the culprit.
4th Required Modication
The Ignition PCB should be changed as it is not only the cable that causes lack of ignition nd the lock-out issue...
Uprated Door – 5th Required Modification
Connected to the explosive start, Baxi has uprated the door which should now have an edge at each side to give strength.
Uprated Condensating Trap – 6th Required Modification
A new trap should be fitted which has improved throughput to drain.
I believe that with the combination of updates, the Unit is now operating to specification and the trap has stopped blocking up. Will keep you updated as only time will tell on this one.
Finally
Once your Barcelona has been upgraded, you should have it serviced every 2 years officially. However, as for the British Gas Contract, sounds a good insurance to me for the time being as I still do not trust the unit fully.
Also, if it subsequently will not start and you have lock-out trouble ALWAYS open the Yellow Plug and empty the Condensate Trap (ensure you have something to catch the dirty water coming out). You may have to wait or open the unit to dry the trap at the electrode ensuring the unit is not live, of course. This is to ensure you do not pay call-out charges for something easy to correct! I noticed some advise elsewhere, so be careful with the plastic as a hair-dryer can melt it!
AND WHAT A FANTASTIC UNIT IT IS NOW, I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE HOW WELL IT WORKS AND THE COST FOR RUNNING IT!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM PLEASED NOT TO HAVE WASTED MONEY ON A NEW BOILER.
If you do not believe Baxi will do a full modification for you, BUY A NEW BOILER! It is far to expensive to mess about with otherwise.
PCB DESIGN ISSUES ON EARLY MODELS
1. On the early units from 1999 (I was one of the first to buy one as it was dirt cheap - false economy but there you go) the unit would first fire up then check the water temp in the system and then turn off if more heat was not required. That is rubbish design by anyones standard and was subsequently changed by Baxi to first test the water temp and then fire the unit when needed which resulted in a more quite unit. This mod should save on electrode life... + as it had explosive start MY NERVES! Check the very old flow chart - if you can get hold of one - with the new one and you will see what I mean.
2. According to the BAXI Engineer (who fixed the problem permanently in 2005), the later PCBs has been made more fault tolerant and will not react to intermittent "fault conditions" which subsequently clear. I do not know what technique they used but it would something like "double knock" or a longer time interval to ensure the fault condition is really there and did not clear.
A BIG THANK YOU TO THE FEMALE BAXI ENGINEER
A BIG CREDIT
to the female engineer who very quickly and efficiently repaired the unit after both her Baxi male colleagues and other CORGI cowboys failed
All the Best from Swedish Viking
