Baxi Solo Boiler Problem

[shaywhelan]

I have a problem with my Baxi Solo WM50/4 powered flue wall mounted boiler.

The boiler was not firing properly but it has recently been serviced and cleaned and the gas valve has been replaced.

The boiler now ignites properly and stays alight but it takes a long time (90 minutes!) to heat the radiators even when the valve to the hot water cylinder is closed.

All of the obvious things have ben tried, the radiators have all been bled and there appears to be no air locks in the system. All of the radiators are hot but you can easily hold your hand on them even when the boiler is at the highest setting.

It is a simple system with one loop and there are no room thermostats involved.

My plumber is baffled at this stage.

I would appreciate any help that anyone could give me.

 

[baxpoti]

Did your 'plumber' set the gas valve up correcttly?

 

[shaywhelan]

I have to assume he did. I wasn't there the day he did it but the day he identified the problem he demonstrated to me that very little gas was passing through the valve. I presume he checked that the opposite was the case the day he replaced the valve.

 

[John M]

Is the pump working ?

 

[shaywhelan]

Yes, I think so. I thought it might be the pump so, on his advice, I turned off all of the upstairs radiators and the valve to the hot water tank. The downstairs radiators heated up (but still not very hot) which, I think, proves the pump is working.

 

[John M]

If the boiler is heating the water ..... Its going somewhere....... Once you find out where its goin' then its a case of talking it in to going somewhere else

But theres too many "If's" in this

 

[shaywhelan]

The boiler is heating the water and its going to the radiators but something is limiting the amount of heat that it is outputting even when its set at the highest setting.

 

[gas4you]

Have you a manual bypass valve that has been left open fully?

I would tend to agree with baxpoti that it sounds as though the gas valve burner pressure has not been set correctly if not.

 

[oakland99]

is your boiler actually staying alight for any period of time i.e longer than 5 mins before shutting off on boiler stat?, how hot are the pipes close to the boiler? (be careful in case there hot), if its staying a light for a long time and pipes are luke warm then you need to call engineer back to check incoming gas pressure to boiler, working pressure and burner pressure and gas rate

 

[shaywhelan]

Thanks to both of you for your help. I'll check what I can myself or get the plumber to have another look.

 

[shaywhelan]

Sorry, I didn't see the third reply before I responded.

Boiler is staying alight for a long time and doesn't shut off on boiler stat.

Pipes close to the boiler are not very hot and take a long time to get warm.

Could the boiler stat be the problem or would this have the opposite effect, i.e. boiler overheating?

 

[gas4you]

Even more convinced it is not burning enough gas then

 

[kevindgas]

find gas meter and watch dial, time a full revolution of the meter and post the seconds taken with the boiler on maximum and nothing else on (cooker, fires etc.) we can then check what the boiler is set to (in Btu's, & Kws)

 

[shaywhelan]

Meter reads in cubic meters. In 1 minute the reading went from 340,723 to 340,731. I assume this means that 0.008 cubic meters were used in 1 minute. This equates to 0.48 cubic meters in 1 hr. My gas bill tells me the conversion factor for kWh is 11.3911. Therefore the boiler appears to be running at just under 5.5 kWh if my assumptions are correct.

shaywhelan

 

[Agile]

Thats what we expected.

Thanks for following the instructions and giving the answers we wanted! Many people asking on here are not capable of that!

Clearly the gas valve has not been set up properly. I also dont think that a new gas valve was required anyway.

I dont know what the requirements for gas regulation apply in Eire. Does CORGI have any influence or is there any other regulation that applies?

Tony