It could only happen to us Boiler has shut down E110 I think

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Central heating stopped working again - boiler does not fire up.
Engineer booked for the 15th April 2024 - I looked at the motorised valve indicator that was not aligned with the H position so using a lump of metal I tapped the main body of the 3 way valve.
The valve position slowly moved to H so the heat is working for now.
The external valve motor unit was replaced a couple of years ago by the Baxi engineer.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Great start to the day, boiler has stopped working error code E110 condensate system - again.

[Orcade-Ian]

Ted,
Is it icy where you are?  Kettle of boiling water poured over the outlet where the condensate comes out might do the trick. Then reset the lockout on the boiler.

Ian

[Sesman]

Ted, it’s possible the condensate outlet pipe diameter is too small causing icing/ blocking as mentioned by Ian. Or maybe it’s another failed actuator/motor?

We lost all power to the neighbourhood yesterday….failed primary switchgear. Back on this morning fortunately.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Ted,
Is it icy where you are?  Kettle of boiling water poured over the outlet where the condensate comes out might do the trick. Then reset the lockout on the boiler.

Ian

The outlet is into our kitchen waste water pipe system, it's a fancy purpose made union that can't freeze. The exit pipes  do not block as apparently it's a very corrosive condensate, the pipe is a quite rigid transulcent one that is supplied for this purpose.

I believe the design of the pump system was flawed in terms of longevity. We had four years of faultless service until we had the house fire. It's failed almost every winter since 2018, I've lost count of the number of pumps and level switches that have been replaced. Last year they replaced even more of the associated parts including the condensate tank itself as well as having a new heat exchanger. No surprise the insurance premium went up from £17.00 to £27.03 pcm.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Precis from earlier post.

Ted. I'm pretty sure all back boilers were finally phased out in 2020 (Hurrah).The pumps on those things are a nightmare, if you have wooden floors you can replace the pump with a decent one. There's not room in a BBU for a better pump so we put them under the floor next to the chimney breast and pipe/wire to there. Obviously the pump needs to be lower than the heat exchanger so that wont work on a concrete floor.

I've re-read this thread and the above reply from Roy, it's at times like this I wish we had wooden floors like our previous house. The Baxi BBU HE unit was chosen as we had such good service (25 plus years) from our previous Baxi Bermuda Back Boiler with a nice modernish  front  gas fire unit.

I hoped that this current unit fitted in 2014 would outlive us, I would like to wring another couple of years out of her if possible. Next one will most likely end up in our loft or spare rear bedroom. I'm definitely not going for a heat pump. Probably not worth looking at having a sump dug out of our solid floor even if there was space.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Baxi engineer did a temporary fix today, new sump pump, so heating is back on.
Returning next Tuesday to replace both levels switches.

[K2-K6]

Couldn't the boiler be installed in raised position  ..... leaving space under to facilitate a auxiliary pump installation  ?

That's rather than a sump or underfloor void.

[royhall]

That would raise the attached gas fire by the same amount. Not to mention the fire surround would no longer fit.

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[K2-K6]

Yes, it was slightly speculative of me to suggest Roy.

Bit of background though, saw a dishwasher installed once about 18" raised from floor, enquiry found that it was for both a wheelchair user and partner with back health problems, with such a simple adaption solving a fundamental problem for both.

Just a shift in interpretation from established normal to produce such result.

I know it's not likely to be moved, or practical to do so, but would give that leeway needed now if original spec had encompassed that.

[royhall]

If only Baxi had fitted a decent condensate pump this problem wouldn't exist. I fitted an external Grundfos pump under the timber floor next to the chimney on one about 15 years ago and never touched it since. Lost count how many of those Baxi pumps I have thrown away over the years. I haven't touched one of those horrible boilers in a long time, when I was fixing Baxi's I was always unfortunately unavailable.

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[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Couldn't the boiler be installed in raised position  ..... leaving space under to facilitate a auxiliary pump installation  ?

That's rather than a sump or underfloor void.

The boiler is fitted into a fireplace made of bricks with an original circular acid resistant pipe flu. The house was built in 1968 having sold floors and solid ground floor internal walls, upstairs there is only a part internal wall in the bathroom that is not solid bricks or blocks. The outer upstairs walls are formed by the roof design as its a giant Dorma style bungalow that looks like a house. When new there was a gas point fitted to a Red Quarry fire place hearth,no Copex type chimney liners or gas flu blocks back then. The original Baxi Bermuda boiler gas fire combination was actually partially bricked into the recess to  reduce the opening to give the right amount of natural draft for the chimney.

When a BBU HE boiler is installed the special heat reistant double walled concentric plastic pipe flu was inserted inside the original  lined chimney flu from the top of the roof down. This double skinned arrangement allows air for the boiler to be drawn from top of the chimney via the inner pipe to the burner, the exhaust gases are expelled throught the outer layer I think. This allows the boiler to be fitted to an inside wall of the house, as it's a condensing boiler that left the issue of what to do with the condensate. Baxis solution was to fit a small tank into the base of the boiler, level switches and a pump periodically pump this water out. In my case the condensate pipe goes throught the rear wall into the kitchen where it is connected to the waste water pipe system. This is quite a short distance, about 2 ft in total. The washing machine sits directly behind the exit point on the other side of the wall from the boiler.

To raise the boiler is theoritically possible as the front electric fire is fitted to the front hearth , it would not be an easy job as the chimney liner would need to be shortened, the three water pipes to the boiler as well. I think this would have been a good idea when the boiler was fitted but the retro cost would be expensive if I could get anyone to carry out the work.

[royhall]

Your lucky. Some of the fires are attached to the boiler. The flue gases usually go up the centre tube with air drawn in around it via the outer pipe. It's safer that way , if the flue pipe leaks it goes into the incoming air instead of possibly into the room. It can also be detected by flue gas analysis. Some have two separate pipes. They were a horrible thing to fit

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[K2-K6]

I fully understand the difficulty and why it's not possible post installation etc.

However, I like the thought process that examine things in considering solutions, whether possible of not.

From working installations (factory chemical handling) and having multiple pumps & machine arrangement, it always served to be convenient if a pump had decent access to contain lifing and environment durability needs.

Pumping from a sump, the one (inside Ted's boiler) installed in this case, we operated external pumps mounted above emergency sumps in our installation, simply with the draw side of pump piped to lowest point of that sump. It being fitted with a drop ball one way valve, then with the pump head having it's exit above it, this to effectively always keep the pump head "immersed" such that it would pull on demand to evacuate the remote sump reliably and when called by level switch.

Another, chemical automated mix machine used thus type https://www.clarksol.com/oscillating-piston-pumps/ to draw from open ended pipe in barrels of chemical concentrate, then to provide a mixed solution based on programming. 
I viewed these as "lock gate type" in which they have little Reed type rubber one way valve in flow line and located at the pump head. Self bleeding, vacuum up from barrels sitting  elbow them, ultra reliable. These little pumps used to run more or less 24hr hours at busy production period. Really easy to swap out if need to.

[K2-K6]

Thinking further about it, the oil pumps on our bikes also sit above the fluid level generally, and rely on pump head staying full to immediately pump on demand too.

The pickup going down into the liquid, with pump head effectively remote and above natural liquid level.