The Baxi boiler from Hell
I’m having a sucky day. No, actually, that’s an understatement. I’m having a “Karma’s a bitch” day.
This morning, for no apparent reason, the boiler died. We tried what we could to find out whether some fuse had blown out somewhere, but nope, all looked normal, but the boiler doesn’t fire on as it should. No hot water. No heating.
Great, it’s the fifth time something’s wrong with that damn boiler since it was installed a year and a half ago! Spoke to the Heateam people, and the soonest we can get an engineer is Friday. Well, good thing it’s not mid-winter anymore, unh? So we’ve got a little tiny heater to take the edge off the cold this evening, and I’ll be washing my hair in the sink later.
Talking about calling Baxi’s Heateam (yeah, I think it should be Heatteam too, with two T’s but they’re somewhat illiterate), the only two songs I heard while on hold were “Light my fire” - oh the irony, it hurts - and “Mack the Knife” - good reflection of how I felt.
Hopefully today’s the peak of Karma kicking me in the proverbial nuts and it’ll get better as of tomorrow… I need that luck badly tomorrow.
March 14th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Hey Vero,
Try these guys, if you call them early they normally come out same day. http://www.cambridgeplumbers.co.uk/
They service our boiler every year, and are really good.
Good Luck!
Liz x
March 15th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
We’ve had a helluva time with our boiler this winter and finally discovered what the problem was: the vent is on the wall of the building outside and while it is shielded from things falling into it, it’s not shielded from the wind blowing into it and knocking out the pilot light. So when the wind blows directly at the kitchen window, it knocks out the pilot light and the boiler cuts out. Might want to check which way the wind is blowing. It might save you the 9 visits from the repair technician it took us to diagnose the problem! Stay warm.
March 18th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
La flamme pilot?…hum..bonne idée de vérifier si elle allume?? Ici, O Canada, la plupart des fournaises au gaz naturel ont un allumeur électronique ..pas de flamme toujours allumée..
Bonne chance..Est-ce que ça veut dire pas d’eau chaude pour laver? Hey bring the BBQ inside said the Newfie!
March 19th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
JF - we also have an electronic ignition, so no pilot light. The problem was the circuit board… which had some how melted itself.
Heat team swapped it out and it works fine!
March 21st, 2007 at 11:21 pm
we had an issue on a windy morning where the pilot kept being blown out somehow and i had to relight it about 5 or 6 times throughout the day.
it’s only happened the once out of the entire 2 years of owning the home, so as far as we could figure the wind was blowing at just the right speed in just the right direction to somehow come down the chimney and vent into the basement.
i’ll tell you though that i can sympathize. taking 1 cold shower before work is too many….
March 31st, 2007 at 8:39 am
Our Baxi boiler has conked out 4 times in the past 13 months. Each time it’s the circuit board. Each time Heateam takes at least 4 days to get an engineer out. I thinks it’s now about time Heateam replaced this new boiler with another new boiler - preferably NOT a Baxi.
Hope you’re warm now - I’m still waiting!
April 10th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Our Baxi boiler hasn’t worked properly since installed at Christmas. From leaking pumps to nearly blowing off the wall countless times. Each arranged visit from the “Engineer” has been cancelled because of sickness. No wonder the staff are always sick, because Baxi’s customer service stinks. Our problem ? Baxi refused to fit simple plastic insulating washers on their ignition systems. The result,delayed ignition hence a build up of gas which when ignited, nearly blows the thing off the wall. So one new washer, one changed ignition system ( without the compulsory washer) and one cancelled visit later, STILL LEAVES US IN FEAR OF A MAJOR EXPLOSION !!! Trading standards here I come !!
May 27th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Hi
I have just bought a second hand Baxi Solo 3 pfl 30/80 boiler for 100 pounds, do u thunk I am mad!
BAXI SOLO PFL 30/80 BOILER WITH PUMP! WILL I NEED A ADITIONAL WATER TANK WITH THIS BOILER
June 14th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
best of like with your boiler. had the same problem with my pilot light its ok now,have had the same baxi boiler for 25 years
July 7th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Having fitted Baxi boilers occasionaly for the last 10 years I have just realised what a useless bunch of plebs they realy are. This is the last one I fit, non existent service back-up and when they do come thay can’t make the correct diagnosis. 2 enginners 3 calls and one more cancelled. The last one arriuved to find the appliance working but left when it packed up. The customers baby will be here next week, probably before the engineer
September 24th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Sorry to hear all this negative feedback. I’m a service teck in the hvac idustry. I think this is one of the greatest products in the past century! It’s the stupid, uneducated tech’s that I blame for all your grief. This is an incredibly reliable product if installed right and serviced by a knowledgable person. I personaly help most contractors in my city fix their boiler problems and have to laugh at all the crazy things they tell me are causing the failures. In ALL cases installer neglagence and ignorance has caused the failures. I have yet to see a manufacturers defect be the CAUSE of the complaint. Naturally the teck will blame the product. It’s better than admitting they have no clue as to what they are doing. I recommend taking some time to identify an expert in the installation and repair of your heating equiptment. And by the way, They aren’t experts if they charge less than $150.00 per hour. Yor best technical support is from a knowlagable installer, not the manufacture. Good luck everyone.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
My Heateam Engineer has just left. I have been without hot water for 5 days and without heating for one day. The heating and hot water are back on but not sure for how long. The boiler is still banging and thumping and pressure needle jumping about.
He will be back with another engineer (not sure when) to take the boiler off the wall (big job apparantly)and replace the pressure release valve which no longer works. I had another massive device fitted by a private heating engineer who charged me a kings randsom for it. It looks like a gas bottle with a pipe in it. It is only 7 months since a heateam engineer spent half a day diagnosing problem then waited 3 days to return with no heating and hot water. Spent another half day said he had renewed umpteen parts so practicaly a new boiler now.
I have the same problem again……..
I have tried to find heating engineers locally but they have no idea and still charge a fortune. I have paid for a new boiler three times over and it is still letting me down.
Anyone any suggestions as I am at my wits end.
My life is now taken over with boiler watch………
Julie
December 12th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Argh - Baxi hell. I too am suffering from an awful Baxi boiler - installed, I think, four years ago, and we’ve only ever had a few months at a time when it’s been working properly - most of the time it’s had some fault or another, now for example the hot water supply is totally unpredictable - you never know whether it’s going to be hot, col, or most likely lukewarm!
Was installed by an engineer who is also a mate and has replaced lots of parts for free, and usually not charged for his time, but that also means we don’t have receipts so we’d be stuffed if we wanted to chase Baxi through the courts.
All the best!
Jerry
New thermistors, new pressure valves, new circuit border, new diverter valve …..
Can’t help with any positive suggestions but I totally sympathise with your notion of boiler watch - repressurising the system is a daily occurrence whenever I want to do the washing up!
December 19th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
the best boiler to fit is the one that is installed correctly, gas pressure, fit for property type etc. if you have a combi boiler fitted, make sure that you have an electric shower as back-up. combi’s are ok, but have a limited life expectancy.(7 yrs)ish
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Oh yeah…Baxi from hell….had one installed by no-nothing people; repaired by know-a-bit; finally found good guys. The Baxi went out last night but they were here to repair (weekend rates) within the hour. PUMP went out — again.
Boiler installed (sort-of) in fall 2003, repaired 2004, pump changed in March 2006 and pump again!!!!!
Yeah, I blame the know-nothings, but I blame Marathon even more for not standing behind the installation of the product. If they trained people properly and were responsible, none of this could happen.
Yeah, it saves on gas…but at what cost in repairs and parts? I am all set to start an online, newspaper, write-to everyone stink….I am fed up with people being so busy selling that they don’t care about the consumer!
March 7th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Add us to the listwith Baxi boilers from hell. Our heating/plumbing suppler talked us into not one but two Baxi boilers….so that if one failed the other would cut in. We live in northern Canada where it’s winter 8 months of the year. These two boilers have NEVER operated properly. I’ve paid out 1,500.00 CDN dollars this winter alone for valves, circuit boards, sensors, relief valves, electrodes and God only knows what else cause there’s only part nbrs, no description. I”m so PO’d at the company that installed them! Did I mention that these two boilers cost us $15,000. to have them installed? I must look like the biggest friggin idiot alive to have got sucked into buying these boilers. We’ve frozen our butts off for so many nights now that I’ve lost count. When I get enough money saved up I will be replacing these boilers with something reliable.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:09 am
My old boiler was a Baxi, but unfortunately after eighteen years of constant use it was time to get it replaced and I did. The new Baxi boiler I have is a Solo HE and it works a dream. I had it installed in October 2007 and the heating is on twenty four hours a day and the hot water is on timed, although sometimes I leave it on. I have noticed that my gas and electric bills have decreased in amount, while my water is piping hot as are my radiators. I love both my Baxi boilers and I am sorry to read of the trouble people are having. I believe it is important to have them inspected yearly for gas safety reasons, as with any boiler.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I’ve had the same Baxi boiler for 25 years without problems,
now, unfortunately, as the boiler turns off, the water pump still continues on.
Whether this is a fault with the boiler, or the timer, I have no idea.
If I need a new appliance, it will again be a Baxi.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Can anyone help us because our gas man is now puzzled. Pilot light wont stay on. We have had a new valve and it broke the same night again - the pilot came on then cut out again. Gas man out again, then after a week same problem. Now on our 3rd call out and gas man does not know what the problem is. Not our vent as no wind. No hot water or heating for 3rd week now. Pilot wont ignite at all now. Any ideas or clues to pass on to our gas man?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 am
This is all crazey. Someone said the supply house should have to pay for there boiler first of all they just sell the boilers. It is not there fault the guy that put it in is a hack.
I have installed over 200 Baxi Lunas, I have loged over 200 hours of tranning on there products.
They make a great boiler, WE have had a few problems with them every problem was only a one time problem. It was our fault something we did wrong and we fixed it.
Its your job as homeowner to make sure you are hiring a person that puts in your system that knows what he is doing.
If you are calling 10 people and going with the cheap price good for you, you got what you paid for. if you want to pay $75 hour for service you are getting what you pay for. Like the other person said $150 per hour for a service call thats a pro. You need to pay for my endless hours of class time, that I pay to go to. If you buy a sports car for $150,000 do you want the cheap car garage that cost $40 hr to fix it or do you bring it to a pro that knows your car inside and out but charges $100 hr.
You need to start thinking about boilers the same way and stop blaming other people for your bad choices.
Baxi is as big as a company as it is for a reason.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I HAD MY FIRST BAXI 100HE FITTED AND IT BROKE WITHIN 2 MONTHS THEY TOOK IT AWAY AND REPLACED IT..THE SECOND ONE HAS HAD BEEN NOTHING BUT TROUBLE HAD A PCB TWO PRESSURE RELEIF VALVES.BOTH SENSORS ON THE PIPES REPLACED.THE SYSTEM HAS BEEN FLUSHED NUMEROUS TIMES.I HAD A VOKERA BEFORE THIS ONE AND WAS ADVISED TO FIT THIS ONE.THE ONLY FAULT I EVER HAD WITH THAT WAS A DRY JOINT ON THE PCB IN SEVEN YEARS.I HAVE HAD TWO BAXIS IN THREE WHEN I CAN AFFORD TO REPLACE IT WHAT MAKE MODEL WOULD ANY ONE SUGGEST I REPLACED IT WITH.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I had a baxi solo boiler fitted jsut over four years ago. Since then the water jacket has failed twice in the same place, the core plugs. Heat team are a total waste of space and I have now decided to get rid of the boiler because it is so unreliable.
October 20th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I have installed most makes of boiler. Halstead seem to be one of the best. I have also installed a lot of the new Baxi Duotec combi boilers and the conventional Solo boilers. You can go for weeks years without problems on some boilers then you get a run of problems. Note most boilers are automatic ignition now; each sequence of the boiler leads to next stage. Ie no fan running no ignition. The rubber diaghrams will perforate on some boilers after five years. The thermisters which sense the water temperature by electrical resistance will corrode / split for no apparent reason, perhaps aggressive mains water. The best thing you can fit on your boiler is a magnetic filter which catches all the black dirt which will block up the heat exchanger. Inside most combination boilers are flat plate heat exchangers which cosist of many plates which have the heating water on one side and mains water on the other, heat has to transfer between the plates. Dirt in the system is the enemy and it is essential that you have corrosion inhihibiter and a filter is highly recommended. My advice is find an engineer who knows what he is doing, recommendation is best and who has a policy of :no fix no charge: Bonn chance madame.
November 8th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS ,I HAVE SOLVED ONE PROBLEM I HAVE LIFTED THE THERMOSTAT AND JUST LEFT THE BOILER ON 24/7 IT HAS NOT MURMERED IT MAY NOT HELP GLOBAL WARMING BUT IT HAS HELPED MY RHUMATICS.THE MAGNETIC FILTER IS A GREAT IDEA SHOULD BE COMPULSERY ON EVERY SYSTEM.LONG LIVE BAXI.BY THE WAY RITA FROM CANADA A LOG BURNER SOUNDS A BETTER IDEA.BY THE WAY MY SON AND BEST FRIEND ARE GAS FITTERS ONE FITS BAXI THE OTHER WONT TOUCH THEM EACH TO THEIR OWN,, I KNOW WHAT I WONT BE BUYING NEXT…