Baxi Bahama 100 vs. British Gas Home Care

[Clurburuk]

Hi All
Please could you all give me some advice.
I have a 5 year old Baxi Bahama 100 in the house I've just purchased.
fortunately when I moved in I took up the British Gas Home Care agreement - (Not sure whether the British Gas agreement was my best choice of care for my boiler.)

Two weeks ago I called British Gas out because the boiler was switching on and off but wasn't responding to the thermostat or the timer functions. I had hot water & heating however the boiler would overheat and cut out, then start the process again until it overheated and drained the system.

After several issues with BG & the engineer trying to convince me it was a frost thermostat (there isn't one fitted!) they finally agreed it was my control panel, which was replaced after 3 days of no heating or hot water.

Whilst waiting for the first set of parts the pressure valve continually blew draining the system and then the pressure gauge started to leak water over the kitchen worktops.

2nd recall (a week later) meant a new pressure gauge - new gauge fitted but I queried why the pump was over running, the hw/ch valve was clicking and was told this was normal

3rd recall made this evening - Been away overnight and came back to a very cold house.
Thermostat clicked but no boiler fire up & timer override but still no fire up.
Switched system off and back on boiler fires up and switches off after 5 secs.
Hit reset - nothing happens - changed boiler from ch/hw to hw only and
Boiler fired up hot water tap running HUGE BANG, large gushing of water noise and some very loud noises until I switch the hot water off.
Tried it a second time and thought the boiler was about to blow.

BG are apparently coming out tomorrow, now this means that parts will need to be ordered, blah blah blah and I won't have heating or hot water again for three days, but I'm wondering whether I should push for a replacement under my cover.

Has anyone any ideas what is wrong with my boiler?
Should I push for a replacement knowing this is the 3rd recall in 2/3 weeks?
Do BG engineers know how to diagnose causes? It seems they are fixing problems but not the cause which is a pain when for the 7 day out of 12 I have no hot water or central heating.

Would appreciate everyones advice on possible causes, fixes and BG home care knowledge.

Cheers

 

[breezer]

From the umpteen engineers we have had from bg i have come to the conclusion its luck of the draw as to if the engineer you get can find the cause, they are all good at changing parts, but not all good at finding the cause.

as for parts i have found they will come back the next day if they dont have (which is fair for a "specialised part") the right part

also as they are a business to make money, yey only allow engineers 40 mins / call (HP do the same)

 

[Clurburuk]

I'll phone BG again first thing and try to get the engineer out early, that way if parts are needed they have sufficent time to order and replace before the weekend, otherwise I'm going to have to move out it so flamin cold!
Any ideas on what might have gone this time?

 

[breezer]

as i understand it "you have to take your place in the que" so the only thing phoning will achieve is to make sure they are coming.

The parts are ordered when he finishes the job, have you never noticed they type into their laptop what is required (give the engineer a cup of tea) and ask him they are usually most obliging (but dont take too long he really does only have 40 mins)

I used to drive past our local P.O. sorting office everyday, and there were always a bunch of bg engineers there, so i asked why, he siad that how they get their parts, they are sent to the local P.O. sorting office over night.

as for your problem, no idea what so ever, thats why i too have B. G

 

[ollski]

Its usually the flow switch, but sounds like you now have subsequent problems with pressure relief valve and expansion vessel. Your boiler does have a frost stat fitted by the way, unless you got a special prototype board without one I'm afraid you lost that discussion. Boiler is a nightmare by the way....best to try to get on with all the BG engineers who visit, expect to see a lot of them

 

[DP]

While this means nothing, I have attended boiler repairs (had BG stickers on the casing), that had safety components bypassed. Recently went to a Vokera Flowmatic which had the pilot interupter short circuited.

I wonder if it might be a good idea to get a GOOD RELIABLE engineer to look at your boiler to see if safety components are still in circuit.

 

[ollski]

While this means nothing, I have attended boiler repairs (had BG stickers on the casing), that had safety components bypassed. Recently went to a Vokera Flowmatic which had the pilot interupter short circuited.

I wonder if it might be a good idea to get a GOOD RELIABLE engineer to look at your boiler to see if safety components are still in circuit.

I would be astounded if that were the case Danny, Bg engineers have a very good chance of a follow up quality assessment or a return visit by a different engineer, so leaving yourself open to creating a safety defect which would involve a disciplinary hearing would be madness. I would imagine the sticker was put on either during installation or when the boiler had been on a contract in the past.

 

[Clurburuk]

My original boiler set up came with no frost thermostat as standard
(Says so in the original instruction docs - I don't know why it wasn't a standard feature)

The new board was fitted and the BG engineer added additional parts, I have no idea what these parts were for.

Thanks for the warning about the boiler being a nightmare - I've had many boilers in the last 10 years and to be fair this is only as bad as the others and its my first combi so I don't want to mess with it.

This one is going for the BG engineer visits of the year award - 4 visits since the 12th Dec! I'm going to give the engineer his own special mug, he's almost family!

 

[chrishutt]

4 visits since the 12th Dec!

That's nothing. Looks at this or this .

 

[ollski]

My original boiler set up came with no frost thermostat as standard
(Says so in the original instruction docs - I don't know why it wasn't a standard feature)

The new board was fitted and the BG engineer added additional parts, I have no idea what these parts were for.

Thanks for the warning about the boiler being a nightmare - I've had many boilers in the last 10 years and to be fair this is only as bad as the others and its my first combi so I don't want to mess with it.

This one is going for the BG engineer visits of the year award - 4 visits since the 12th Dec! I'm going to give the engineer his own special mug, he's almost family!

Frost stat is built onto the board and temp. is measured by primary thermistor, it is standard I was being sarcastic....sorry. You seem to be having a run of bad luck with unrelated (in the main) problems, but the thermistor and flow switch are your main targets.

 

[Agile]

Since BG have 5500 highly trained engineers I am sure one of them can understand your boiler.

You will just have to persevere until they send that particular one!

To be honest they are difficult boilers for most engineers to work on. There are regular problems with the two flow switches and the PCBs are prone to minor faults causing intermittent or unusual faults which are difficult to identify.

As they are so sensitive to magnetic debris its the ideal candidate to fit a magnetic filter on the return from the rads.

You are lucky you have the BG cover! Someone I went to had spent £550 with a well known posh firm before calling me. I fixed it for £125 !

Tony

Tony

 

[scatmanjohn]

Agile wrote:

Since BG have 5500 highly trained engineers I am sure one of them can understand your boiler.

You will just have to persevere until they send that particular one!

Agile is right, it is pott luck. Some really good ones + some not so good ones (same in any company i suppose)

Its my understanding that if you have to get them to come back within 21 days you will almost certainly get the same engineer back.
So if yours is a numpty or has got a bit of BO ask him when his next day off is and then ring up and insist on a engineer on that day