Baxi Barcelona .. unreliable

When I built my place, I installed Under floor Heating throughout (brilliant - would highly recc) ....... it was up to me to supply own boiler, though they recommended Baxi Barcelona - fully modulating burner worked well with their control system.

The boiler just blew it's 3rd logic board (at £130 a pop)... first when in warranty, the other 2 outside warranty. Some suppliers won't even sell you the part unless Corgi regtd.

This time board has been changed, and a new wiring harness came with it, so fair bit of rewiring of boiler.

I contacted Baxi ... asked if there are any know problems on Baxi Barcelona ... response was no problems.

I then asked if 3 logic boards in 5 years is acceptable, and what is their MTBF for these boards ... to be told that information is not available.

Apart from board failures, everything else runs a treat it's very fast to heat up, fairly quiet and compact.

Anybody else any issues with this model boiler. ?

Reply to
Rick Hughes
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dont own that type of boiler so cant help... but if it was me, i'd send one of the blown boards to someone who can diagnose what exactly has blown on it, and why it blew, that may point to something else in the system that is blowing the board all the time,

Gotta be someone who can do this, i collect old fruit machines and there are plenty of people who can take a blown MPU board from one, find out exactly what has blown on it, the way it blew and give you reasons why it blew so you can check the rest of the machine out, so it dosent blow the repaired board again.

Reply to
gazz

you might care to try

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Geoff, whose Company it is, has been a regular inhabitant here for years.

Reply to
Peter Parry

That's typical of pretty well all manufacturers. They lie through their teeth about known problems.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yep. I think Maxie does recon the Barcelona pcb too. He may know the prime fault with these.

The Barcelona was a dog and all mechanical problems are basically put right. It was rebadged the Potterton Promax.

Read is an article at

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mentions the Potterton Promax which is based upon the Barcelona and the problems.

Some references out to the teething problems the Barcelona has faced and a response by Alec Scott the marketing manager of Baxi.

Looks like Baxi has had supplier problems with the manufacture of their pcbs's and would expla Hugh's right; Promax retains the core technology pioneered in the Barcelona. For the very good reason that it's still cutting edge. But we did take our PCB supplier to task over quality; with the result, as he states, that the problems have (long since) been totally eradicated.

Every Promax is subjected to full electrical, gas and hydraulic testing. Checking flow switch continuity precisely per the fault finding section would have revealed the loose connection at the PCB; not evidence of 'wet testing only' but rather of some post test disturbance. Provided the ACV's controls do not interrupt the switched live to the boiler, removing jumper 2 from the PCB, per instructions covering compatibility with thermal stores, would enable Promax to deliver its full 32.6kW potential. Finally, a quick check with our supplier (Altecnic!) brought confirmation that our choice of expansion vessel is sufficient for the boiler's maximum output. Over to Hugh?" - Alec Scott, Market Manager"

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

Yep. I think Maxie does recon the Barcelona pcb too. He may know the prime fault with these.

The Barcelona was a dog and all mechanical problems are basically put right. It was rebadged the Potterton Promax.

Read is an article at

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in Oct 2003, which mentions the Potterton Promax which is based upon the Barcelona and the problems.

Some references out to the teething problems the Barcelona has faced and a response by Alec Scott the marketing manager of Baxi.

Looks like Baxi has had supplier problems with the manufacture of their pcbs's and would expla Hugh's right; Promax retains the core technology pioneered in the Barcelona. For the very good reason that it's still cutting edge. But we did take our PCB supplier to task over quality; with the result, as he states, that the problems have (long since) been totally eradicated.

Every Promax is subjected to full electrical, gas and hydraulic testing. Checking flow switch continuity precisely per the fault finding section would have revealed the loose connection at the PCB; not evidence of 'wet testing only' but rather of some post test disturbance. Provided the ACV's controls do not interrupt the switched live to the boiler, removing jumper 2 from the PCB, per instructions covering compatibility with thermal stores, would enable Promax to deliver its full 32.6kW potential. Finally, a quick check with our supplier (Altecnic!) brought confirmation that our choice of expansion vessel is sufficient for the boiler's maximum output. Over to Hugh?" - Alec Scott, Market Manager"

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

See my other post. They admitted the had problems by the marketing manager. The boiler is a dog. The design was OK but rushed out too quick. It was the first one size modulating condensing boiler a good price. They like full water flow through them and pcbs not hot.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

When I worked for Karcher years ago the favourite phrase from the factory was "ve do not haff dis problem here in Germany". They would even lie to their UK branch.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

A little goggling will show you how much I appreciate these boilers. I think my quote was something like "they would win a competition for the poorest boiler ever made in both the design and reliability categories".

Reply to
Ed Sirett

Isn't it possible for a third party to engineer a replacement controller using open source software development? - or is there a Gas law against such an idea?

(sorry if its been bought up before)

Reply to
Adrian C

In message , Peter Parry writes

Yup, I used to get a lot of these coming in. Not so many now, they've prolly mostly ended up on the scrap heap

ISTR that one winter they actually ran out of pcbs - there were none in the country

but, sadly to say, not the worst around

Reply to
geoff

Often thought about it, but the (e.g. insurance) implications, if there were a problem are significant. Where there's a processor involved, you can have secondary functions which might not be obvious without having access to the software You would also prolly have to put up with a court case brought about by Baxi,

Reply to
geoff

Many boilers are just kits, using generic parts. Vaillant, Glow Worm, Broag, Raventheat, Heatline, BIASI, Baxi, etc, etc, use the Giannoni heat exchanger. Many use Grundfos or Wilo pumps, Dung Gas valves, Honeywell

3-way valves, Honeywell hydro assembly, etc. Parts are interchangeable. Go to HRPC and the makers state the Honeywell type and part No, so they just take one off the shelf.

Anyone can make one of these kits up (Ravenheat started making kit boilers), except in one crucial part, the pcb. Yet I see no reason why a generic pcb can't be made, Maxie may put us right in knowing some differing makers using the same pcbs.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

I read years ago, when they were talking about the OpenTherm protocol and what functionality it should contain, about a generic pcb, with the same sockets and plugs on the pcbs and colour coded etc. It was just wishful thinking at the time. I don't think anything came of it. It would have meant the user could just slide in a new pcb if one burnt out - a true DIY job. The pcb was to have diagnostics and would indicate when parts of it were kaput and needed changing. Then third party companies could make them and keep prices down.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

On biogas models, I assume...

Reply to
Rod

Yup. My brother's one broke down at least twice a year - and he certainly got his money's worth out of his gas board service contract. Final straw was the heat exchanger started leaking - on a boiler only four years old or so. Even although repairs were 'free' the system was down for several days each time while they tried to repair it - waiting for parts etc - so he finally replaced it.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

In article , Dave Plowman (News) writes

Poxy Batterton lied to me about the PCB in my Suprima - "no known problems". A few weeks later Watchdog got hold of the story and a couple of letters later, PB reimbursed me for the new PCB and wiring loom I'd had fitted.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

Maxie, was forever slagging Poxy Batterton for their poor pcbs with known problems that could be eradicated. I think he said they don't care as they make so much money from needlessly replacing them.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

Whoops... err... I did in Feb 2007 after the Potterton lockout problems reported back then on BBC's Watchdog programme.

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Reply to
Adrian C

There are off the shelf controllers for more basic boilers and fires. Pactrol is a typical 3rd party "sequencers" used by a number of smaller manufactruers.

However building your own boiler is such a non-starter so I won't even start on that.

Reply to
Ed Sirett

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