Rip off ? does this boiler failiure (Baxi solo 2)make sense

[Tekky]

Recently I went away on my hol's - come back and found my Baxi Solo 2 boiler not working properly - everything looked ok but there was no CH or HW (no heat) (pilot light was fine tho.)

Just had a plumber (family recommended) look at it and give me the bad news - damage is quite extensive and expensive 1) main gas valve 2) circuit board 3) fan (well actually this is ok, but is on it's way out) - boiler is 11 years old and was serviced 2 years ago (yes i know now i should have had this done more recently)

the plumber noted that an incorrect fuse was found - 13amp instead of 3amp - allowing an electrical surge to screw the system (i guess this is way the PCB is screwed which somehow has ******ed the main gas valve ?)


Can anyone advise whether this sounds OK ? or is it distinctly suspicious ?
because i've been quoted £500 for new parts (incl fitting) or £950 for a brand new boiler (incl labour) - i have no reason to doubt the plumber but would appreciate any feedback.

Rgds - Tekky (thank god it's summer and i can still use the immersion heater)

 

[ChrisR]

Get a 2nd opinion.

 

[djbunny]

To replace gas valve and pcb will cost you £210 plus vat tops you getting robbed mate, very unusual both go, he don't know whats wrong and just guessing, hard to say whats wrong without testing. but you ain't got a pcb on a solo with a permanent pilot

 

[oilman]

....the plumber noted that an incorrect fuse was found - 13amp instead of 3amp - allowing an electrical surge to screw the system (i guess this is way the PCB is screwed ...

Fuses are fitted to protect the cable from overload, and are very unlikely to have any effect on damage caused by surges. A 3 amp fuse will pass 6 amps for 30mins., and something has to draw this amount of current.

As ChrisR says, get a second opinion (but don't mention that you have had a first opinion).

 

[corgiman]

Oilman ANd Chrisr are right

it sounds to me like your fitter aint got the first idea whats wrong with the boiler are is replacing everything as one of them MUST be the problem

 

[Tekky]

Oilman ANd Chrisr are right

it sounds to me like your fitter aint got the first idea whats wrong with the boiler are is replacing everything as one of them MUST be the problem

thanks for the advice - yup, I think there's more than enough doubt to at least get a 2nd opinon.

i'm not even sure if the circuit board is really faulty because the boiler functions exactly the same as normal (all status lights are green, pilot light ignites, boiler does EVERYTHING (at least to the users eye) except heat the water ! [what are the symptoms of a circuit board failure on a baxi solo 2 ? ] i would have imagined if the circuit board failed it would have a more fatal effect

plus the guy made several calls to Baxi's technical help line, hmm - beginning to wish my regular plumber hadn't moved to France !

Argh - any more help much apprec.

 

[djbunny]

if it is a solo2 then tell me what exacly whats happening ie fan will run then aps will be made then power to gas valve, followed by sparking at pilot, once pilot has established main burner will light. is this happening for a short about 1 min then boiler goes off? and what lights are lit?

 

[ollski]

plus the guy made several calls to Baxi's technical help line, hmm - beginning to wish my regular plumber hadn't moved to France !

That's a good thing, if there is a problem on baxi boiler baxi's tech help line will know the solution (well they should and have always been very good in my experience)

 

[Tekky]

if it is a solo2 then tell me what exacly whats happening ie fan will run then aps will be made then power to gas valve, followed by sparking at pilot, once pilot has established main burner will light. is this happening for a short about 1 min then boiler goes off? and what lights are lit?

sorry djbunny - i'm not techincial (despite name) on plumbing - just Pc's ! but hope this helps !

these lights are all lit green (when the system starts up from powering down)

boiler on
fan on
pilot on
burner on

the overheat is not lit (which sounds right !) - thermostat was orginally set at 2, after the plumber yesterday i notice it's now set to 6 (max)

what i can say is the boiler does exactly what it always did do (with the exception of actualling making HW / CW work) , pilot light comes on, main burner fires up and the whole system stays on until i switch it off (the water never heats up or CH hit the thermo so it just keeps going) -

Thanks for any info ! Tekky

 

[djbunny]

sounds like your pump is not working, so the boiler fires up heats itselt and shuts off on stat, as its a cast iron heat exchanger it wont always go to overheat unless sesor fails. just listen to hear if pump is running when switched on, it may also be boiler temp sensor not allowing boiler to get any where near temp.

 

[Tekky]

sounds like your pump is not working, so the boiler fires up heats itselt and shuts off on stat, as its a cast iron heat exchanger it wont always go to overheat unless sesor fails. just listen to hear if pump is running when switched on, it may also be boiler temp sensor not allowing boiler to get any where near temp.

thanks for the tip

 

[thegr00ver]

Your prob with this boiler is very likely to be faulty gas valve , I got exact same prob with my one at home, changed gas valve and all ok ,, not likely that all 3 components failed at the same time , GET ANOTHER PLUMBER

Recently I went away on my hol's - come back and found my Baxi Solo 2 boiler not working properly - everything looked ok but there was no CH or HW (no heat) (pilot light was fine tho.)

Just had a plumber (family recommended) look at it and give me the bad news - damage is quite extensive and expensive 1) main gas valve 2) circuit board 3) fan (well actually this is ok, but is on it's way out) - boiler is 11 years old and was serviced 2 years ago (yes i know now i should have had this done more recently)

the plumber noted that an incorrect fuse was found - 13amp instead of 3amp - allowing an electrical surge to screw the system (i guess this is way the PCB is screwed which somehow has **** the main gas valve ?)


Can anyone advise whether this sounds OK ? or is it distinctly suspicious ?
because i've been quoted £500 for new parts (incl fitting) or £950 for a brand new boiler (incl labour) - i have no reason to doubt the plumber but would appreciate any feedback.

Rgds - Tekky (thank god it's summer and i can still use the immersion heater)

 

[Axel]

£ 950 to supply and fit a new boiler? Rather cheap - maybe that's the only thing he thinks he knows how to do, or he's got a knock off one in the back of the van...

 

[Gasman77]

Wasn't a bad price 7 years ago when he posted.

 

[Agile]

Your prob with this boiler is very likely to be faulty gas valve , I got exact same prob with my one at home, changed gas valve and all ok ,, not likely that all 3 components failed at the same time , GET ANOTHER PLUMBER

Well you replied to a a post six years old.

Regardless, perhaps the fault on your boiler was the gas valve but you should NOT suggest that the gas valve is a fault on someone else's boiler. In fact its most unlikely!

I have never replaced a gas valve on a Solo but plenty of fans and a few PCBs and several gas related safety parts.

Every boiler needs to have the fault diagnosed by a competent person. The original posted even had a recommended plumber ( not a boiler engineer? ) and all he could do was to call Baxi for advice and then to list replacing all the major components. It sounded like a faulty pump anyway!

But perhaps the OP expected him to come and diagnose the fault for free so that he could fix it himself. We always charge to diagnose faults!

Tony