baxi combi boiler help & poss advice on replacement plea

[feefeeq]

Hia, we have a baxi bahama 100 (also maybe a sentinel 100x depending on what sticker you look at?) which is playing up.

It's been cutting out for a while now when you run hot water - instead of heating the water it just goes off (the power is still on but no lights anywhere apart from the power light). Turning the boiler off for a few mins then back on again seems to make it work again for a while.

We had an engineer out to have a look at it and he said it maybe a faulty sensor (which has something to do with swapping from heating to water & back) which he is trying to order (it's been 3 weeks now!) and if it's not that then we'll probably need a new boiler but last night things got a bit worse.

Without running water at all & with the boiler set to heating only it kept cutting out about every 15mins and after a while the old off & on again trick seemed to stop working too. We left it off overnight & this morning it's working again but still needs turning on & off again quite often.

The engineer that came out said it was an old system that hasn't been made for at least 5 years is this true (so far I've paid £57 for him to tell me my boiler is old!) and what sort of thing should I be looking at replacing it with if need be - I have no idea which makes are good & what sort of efficiency ratings I should be looking at.

It's a 3 Bedroom semi by the way if that makes much differnece.

Thanks for any help!
Feefee.

 

[mikej2005]

I had a Baxi Bahama fitted in my previous house and it caused me quite a bit of trouble too over the years.

Pressing the reset switch and leaving it for 5 minutes seemed to solve many of the lock-out problems.

My major problem was that not turning the hot-water tap on far enough would cause the water to slow to a trickle and the boiler would shut down.

The flow-switches were notoriously dodgy on the Bahama and replacing the DHW flow switch helped a lot.

I'm not saying that replacing the switch will solve your problem, but it was only a couple of years ago, so I'd be very surprised if you couldn't still get all of the parts for this boiler - check your local boiler spares stockist (mine was certainly very helpful) or some of the online stores.

It should be fixable but whether it's worth fixing is down to you I guess. Needless to say I didn't chose another Baxi for my current house !

 

[gas4you]

These boilers have been very problematic and need someone who knows them inside out to effectively fix them.

Personally I would take it out and fit a Vaillant 831.

 

[bengasman]

search the forum for -- baxi bahama -- and draw your conclusions

 

[feefeeq]

Hi,

Thanks for the replys I'll have a look at the Valiant 831 & will ask the engineer (if he ever calls me back) if the flow switch could be causing our problems.

Is this the Valiant 831 your talking about?

http://www.discountheating.com/wallgascondensingcombi/vaillantecotecplus831.htm

If so does the fact that it's a condensing boiler matter? Is mine too? Just checking as I could do with just replacing the boiler if poss and leave everything else as is.

Thanks,
Fee.

 

[feefeeq]

hi,

right, sorry to keep going on but after doing a few searches round here it looks like a similar problem to what others have had, I'm going to call the engineer tomorrow and ask him if he's sure if it's this sensor and if he can replace the 2 flow switches too.

it's seems to be working OK for heating for ages but every time you turn the hot water on it just seems to shut down (doesn't go into lockout or anything it just sits there.)

Having no hot water apart from boiling a kettle is a right pain with a 7 month old little girl!

How much should it cost to have the 2 flow switches replaced - I know you can't tell me exactly but just roughly so I don't get ripped off.

Thanks for the help,
fee.x.

 

[mikej2005]

Looks like flow switches are still around £20 each : www.keeptheheaton.com/acatalog/Baxi_Flowswitch.html

Select Bahama from the list here for more info / part numbers : www.mjtcontrols.co.uk/Appliance_Type3.aspx?Manufacture_ID=11&Appliance_Type=GAS+BOILER

You'll need the manual to get the exact part number and will often find that certain parts have been superceded and take on different part numbers.

I replaced the DHW flowswitch myself - I'm pretty sure it was just a case of isolating the boiler at the send and return elbows, draining the boiler, isolating the electrics, unclipping the switch and unscrewing it to remove it. Don't quote me on this though, as it was a good few years ago. One of the flowswitches has a spring attached which you might want to keep hold of, just in case the replacement doesn't come with one.

I've mentioned this on here before, but one of the isolating elbows started leaking after doing this (it was probably the first time it had been operated in many years) - this would have cost another £30-40 to replace IIRC, had I not been able to live with it for the remaining short time I stayed in the house !

I'm confident and capable of doing relatively simple jobs like this, but I'm not sure of the legality these days (if legality is the right word) so seek advice if you're not sure.

Bottom line is it's a fairly inexpensive part and shouldn't take a professional that long to change.

 

[feefeeq]

brill, thanks for the info. I'm not going to attempt to do it myself - changing a switch sounded easy until you went into draining & isolating things!

It's good to have a rough idea how much these things cost before they quote me something stupid!

I've just spoken to them again and they have ordered a hot water sensor and not flow control switches so I'm a bit confused now do I let them change the sensor then if it still doesn't work suggest that they look at the flow control switches?

If it's not the sensor or the switches I'll look st replacing the thing I think.

Thanks for all the help guys,
Fee.