Baxi Solo 3 pfl50 ongoing problems

[Renovator Deb]

Hi I’ve just moved into a house with one of these boilers. It broke down after 3 weeks and I had a plumber out who replaced the fan (after 10 days without heat). That was in Feb…it’s been repaired about 2-3 weeks and it’s gone again today. Obviously I’ll be calling them on Monday but I was hoping I could do something over the weekend because it’s quite cold!

Basically the boiler light is on but the fan and pilot lights are off. Thermostat is up, pump on water tank upstairs is running…just that it doesn’t run the usual starting process and fire up. When it went last time it happened sporadically before going permanently. Then I could either turn it down to reset and it would start or turn it off at the wall then all back on and it was fine.

After the guy fitted the fan it actually didn’t run immediately he poked around in the PCB and it fired up. He then said it might be the pcb ‘but it definitely still needed a fan’….I’d actually read lots of q&a here before he came and I suggested it could be the pcb when he arrived but he said fan because no fan light on.

My question is, is there anything I can do short term? I’m happy to replace the pcb but that won’t arrive til early next week when I hope the plumber will return.

There’s loads of other issues with the CH but I’ve gone on enough for now!

 

[CBW]

Have a look at the motorised valve, you should have one or 2 depending on the setup.

 

[Renovator Deb]

Ok, so there’s two of them. One I’ve pushed across to manual…that one leaks when the boiler isn’t working. It’s obviously been leaking a while as there’s a tub to catch the drips already here! It drips quite a bit from the base of the pipe underneath. The arm moves freely from ‘open’ to the other side.
The second one has A and B on the arm. That one doesn’t move freely, it’s currently on B but it does change.
I have no idea what to look for though!

 

[ianmcd]

what lights are on the boiler control cover when you switch the CH/HW on ?

 

[Renovator Deb]

Just the boiler on light

 

[Renovator Deb]

 

[Renovator Deb]

 

[ianmcd]

can you post a pic of your controller as well please

 

[Renovator Deb]

 

[Renovator Deb]

Sorry not sure if you mean this? Thermostat? This is the only control. I’m only used to a combi boiler with a programmer/timer as well as the thermostat with on/off etc! This literally has nothing but this dial on the wall

 

[Renovator Deb]

I’m renovating the whole house so will be replacing the boiler and rads in about 4-6 months.
The whole system is strange to me…the pump on the tank is on permanently and it always sounds as if there’s someone in the shower! The radiators are clunky when the heatings on and even now it’s broken you can hear a constant hum through the house/pipes/rads as if it’s on.
I’m willing to ignore all that if we can just get some heat for the next few weeks though!

 

[Renovator Deb]

It was so noisy I’d turned the pump down to 1 (was on 2) and the temp on the tank down to 60 and that made the noise more manageable at night time. Not sure if that’s a good idea or not though

 

[ianmcd]

No that is just the room thermostat, there should be a programmer/controller somewhere

 

[CBW]

Ok, so there’s two of them.

You have an S plan (hence the 2 valves), so as per @ianmcd, you should have a programmer somewhere. How would you get the hot water to come on?

 

[Renovator Deb]

No that is just the room thermostat, there should be a programmer/controller somewhere

There’s nothing else! It’s either turned to zero on thermostat or turn it up to turn on