Our Wood Pellet Boiler decisions.........

nemocharley

DaveWSmith wrote: »

Has anyone had a issue with Condensation ! we are getting around 1/2 ltr of water on cold days from the bottom of the connecting flue. the Chimney extends about 2.5 Mtr from the roof, and is a twin We have a clay lined chimney,and have fitted rain/bird cowles but still get the water. we had it repointed and re-leaded last summer but still have this issue. I think we may need liner fitted with a insulation wrap on the top 2/3. anyone have a similar issue ?

insulate the chimney and make sure the temperature of the fluegas? (the smoke) is high enough - I would argue that old chimneys must have above 80 degrees celsius in the chimney - meassured roughly 1-2 meters from the boiler.

nemocharley

Robsmith88 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm hoping a few people on here can help me as I took the plunge and had a wood pellet boiler installed last year and it's been nothing but trouble since.

In May 2013 I had a company install an MCZ RED365 Compact 18 wood pellet boiler and it has been a nightmare with LOADS of issues. since installation I have had the installers back out about 20 times to fix all manner of issues.

The main issue is that it keeps tripping the electrics (MCB) in the boiler room but am guessing that is caused as a knock on effect from some of the other issues.

- 3 x faulty igniters
- 1 x faulty turbulator
- 3 x faulty motherboards
- leaks due to the boiler not having the right UK connections
- many blown fuses
- overheating issues
- constantly tripping the electrics

At the beginning of January 2014, after being without heating and hot water for over 2 months I had them rip it out and replace it for a new one (the same model) and last week (4 weeks later) it tripped the electrics (MCB), blew the fused spur between the MCB and the boiler and blew the fuses in the boiler - I've now been without heating and hot water for another week...

has anyone else had similar experiences? I just have no idea what to do now other than to instruct the installers to take it out and refund me in full.

has anyone else got a RED 365 Compact 18 or Compact 24 boiler with issues?

i'd love to hear from you to share your experience :-)

thanks

get a refund - sue if necessary. Your situation should not be accepted.

If you still want a boiler after such a bad experience get a simpler and sturdier one.

Robwiz

Robsmith88 wrote: »

Hi,
The main issue is that it keeps tripping the electrics (MCB) in the boiler room but am guessing that is caused as a knock on effect from some of the other issues.

- 3 x faulty igniters
- 1 x faulty turbulator
- 3 x faulty motherboards
- leaks due to the boiler not having the right UK connections
- many blown fuses
- overheating issues
- constantly tripping the electrics

At the beginning of January 2014, after being without heating and hot water for over 2 months I had them rip it out and replace it for a new one (the same model) and last week (4 weeks later) it tripped the electrics (MCB), blew the fused spur between the MCB and the boiler and blew the fuses in the boiler - I've now been without heating and hot water for another week...

has anyone else had similar experiences? I just have no idea what to do now other than to instruct the installers to take it out and refund me in full.

has anyone else got a RED 365 Compact 18 or Compact 24 boiler with issues?

i'd love to hear from you to share your experience :-)

thanks

From having done loads of online research, I suspect that the installer is not competent and doesn't know how to make the boiler perform to spec. You have been more than patient and it's clear that the supplier has failed to deliver on their contract to supply you with goods of merchantable quality. In your shoes, I would be seeking re-instatement – they take their product away and give you your money back. Worth talking to a Citizen's Advice, Which? Legal or a solicitor in my view.

Robsmith88

The UK distributors for RED365 Compact boilers sent an electrician to my house a week ago to check out my electrics.. he eventually found that the biomass installers had wired up a 230v live from the timer/programmer in the house to a low voltage live on the motherboard.

the boiler is now running again so hopefully that has resolved the short term issues of the electrics tripping. although having setup a few forum threads on this subject on various forums I am starting to get a bigger picture of the general issues with these boilers. In the fullness of time I imagine they will be good boilers but at the moment I get the impression the customers are being used as a live test bed for the product with no retrospective fixes being offered.

that said, from my point of view, it is the installers responsibility to recommend a good product that is fit for purpose so although the manufacturer and product may have issues, it is still the installers job to research the products they are going to recommend, install and support and therefore the buck stops with them from a consumers point of view.

dejonge3

"The UK distributors for RED365 Compact boilers sent an electrician to my house a week ago to check out my electrics.. he eventually found that the biomass installers had wired up a 230v live from the timer/programmer in the house to a low voltage live on the motherboard"

Hi RobSmith

I have had Three faulty ignitors now... basically MCZ say it is due to fluctuations in the UK voltages, I think they are making excuses!
Our boiler is still having faulty ignitor starts at least once a week (often more that this). Please could you say who the 'UK distributors' were and if you bought your boiler from them?

Thanks
Toby

Silent_Dancer

DaveWSmith wrote: »

Has anyone had a issue with Condensation ! we are getting around 1/2 ltr of water on cold days from the bottom of the connecting flue. the Chimney extends about 2.5 Mtr from the roof, and is a twin We have a clay lined chimney,and have fitted rain/bird cowles but still get the water. we had it repointed and re-leaded last summer but still have this issue. I think we may need liner fitted with a insulation wrap on the top 2/3. anyone have a similar issue ?

If the boiler is a condensing one then the chimney must be lined with either a plastic or stainless steel flue liner. The condensate will dissolve the clay and could eventually leak exposing you to the risk of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

DaveWSmith

Silent_Dancer wrote: »

If the boiler is a condensing one then the chimney must be lined with either a plastic or stainless steel flue liner. The condensate will dissolve the clay and could eventually leak exposing you to the risk of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

Thanks for the reply , its not a Condensing boiler, but but having researched the issue it looks as if its the combination of height of the Chimney, the lack of wasted heat not evaporating any moisture in the air. Anyway have opted for a Liner to be fitted and insulation added.

[Deleted User]

We had a Compact red 14 installed in December 2013 and all has gone well so far.

Good to see a number of others on here with a MCZ compact/

It was installed along with a Fabdec 305l indirect solar twin coiledd tank rather than buffer store.

Replaced LPG.

One small issue, still unresolved is that ash contains some partially burn pellets. Waiting for Specflue to send someone round to do a firmware update.

Our property is a 4 bed semi with Heat loss calcs of 10.8kw. with a plan to extend a single storey extension this year and maybe soller thermal if I have any money left.

Just tried to apply for RHI and have discovered a glitch on the domestic RHI application for as it says that the air quality for our boiler is not compliant with RHI requirements/

Cheers

Paul

laceybones

Hi

Im just wondering if anybody knows of any stockists of parts for the MCZ Compact 24 pellet boiler?

We had one put in in July last year, and similar to a previous poster, we've had nothing but problems with it. Currently the ignitor has gone; went about a week ago. We have three small children and need hot water/heating so the company we bought the boiler off said light it with a fire lighter!!!!! Unfortunately, that's what we are having to do coz we need to keep the house warm. Apparently, a new ignitor is on order but it is coming from Italy and can take up to two weeks to get here, then we have to wait for somebody to come and install. Thank fully my husband is quite handy and he says that if he can get hold of one, he can install it so I was just wondering if anyone knows of a UK stockist that we can purchase the part off.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Hi Laceybones,

Sorry to here you have had lots of problems with your MCZ. Specflue are the main agent over here as far as I am aware - They are in Sudbury in Suffolk. My installer got my Compact Red 14 from Specflue.

I can't state that is most important that you find a good installer for Biomass boilers, there are a few cowboys out there.

I am in need of a firmware update on my boiler and have been waiting for a while. The installer can't do the update for some reason, so I have to wait till Specflue make their mind up to contact me.

Another approach you could take is contact MCZ in italy. They prefer to direct you to the local agent, but i did get some support out of them. Try emailing this person who is on support at MCZ - ketti.tacerbi@mcz.it

Whereabouts are you in the country? Uf you are near the Herts/Essex/Cambridge area I can highly recommend dragon contracts over at Saffron Walden (sorry being a newbie not allowed to post links)

Good luck and keep us informed how you get on.

Cheers

Paul