I have had LOTS of problems with my Powermax 140 which would initially lead you to suspect the product itself was the issue, after much expense and hassle I have found that the real problem is that British Gas engineers dont have a clue about these boilers and make school boy errors when trying to fix/service them.
I have had boiling hot water pumped out over my floor due to incompetence by BG and when they came out to service/fix the issue they condemned the boiler and cancelled my contract saying the boiler needed flushing out etc.
The BG engineer also informed me that the boiler had never been fitted correctly because there was inadequate ventilation, this turned out to be a case of creating a simple vent at the bottom of the cupboard where the boiler is, couldnt he of just said that instead of condemning it and makning me think there was a serious fault !!!!
I have since found out BG installed the wrong pressure valve leaving it at 3 bar instead of 1 allowing the pressure inside the boiler to reach 3 bar causing all sorts of problems including pumping hot ater out the overflow for a year until it scaled up and flooded my flat.
I spent £300 on getting Baxi out to fix/service the boiler which includes a 1 year warranty against any further breakdowns and its run like a dream ever since, no more lock outs, noise etc and both their customer services and engineer could run rings round BG who are useless.
There is a gold/brass coloured valve at the top of the boiler that dumps excess air from the system and this was found to be the problem with my lock outs as pressure was fine. The BG engineer had closed the black cap on the top stopping the air from escaping.
Note also this boiler is almost silent at firing up when working properly so if BG say a screeching noise is normal ignore them, the burners/electrodes need a service/changing and after its as quiet as a mouse.
hope this helps someone else avoid getting messed around by BG , go to Baxi as they are spot on and so professional !!!
