"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 07:54:36 -0700, steve2 wrote:

Our house has a Baxi Barcelona which heats an underfloor heating system
and a mains pressure hot water system. When installed about 4 years ago
(when we had the house built), it seemed reasonably state-of-the-art.

Sadly, it has been less than reliable. The main current complaint is
that about once a month or so, at random intervals, we wake up to a
shut down boiler, a flashing (or steady) red light, and no hot water.
This drives the wife bonkers as she can not then wash her hair before
going to work (why does she need to wash her hair EVERY day? - don't go
there...). The boiler will usually restart by turning off then on (but
sometimes an electrican is required to shuffle the circuit boards. We
never seem to find an actual FAULT).

My questions:
1. Do we have a lemon or are they "all like that"?
2. Should we replace the boiler with something more reliable and of
newer design? or
3. Should we consider replacing the two circuit boards, in hope of
curing this mysterious problem?

Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations would be gratefully received.
I'm under orders to "fix" this before the next winter.

Steve

I know of at least two other units with undiagnosable problems.
Replacement of the PCBs (done by BG unit contract) doesn't seem to fix
them. It really pays to have a service contract with one of these units
around. Less than £200 year will regularly bring you many hundreds £ of
PCBs and fitting!

My guess would be to try changing one or two of the temperature sensors to
see if they have any effect after you have changed the upgraded PCBs.

It comes down to:

New boiler £750
Fitting say £750 (maybe £500 on the 'grey' market).

Known result. Maybe £5 year guarantee.

OR
£300-£500 on replacement parts.
These or other problems likely to be still with you.

If you can get BG to take it on. Then it's a pretty good deal as they will
be at your house a lot. Otherwise fork out and get a working boiler.

Maxie said a few of the Barcelona boards are beginning to filter through for
recon. He may have an idea of the prime problems are.