Biasi ActivA Plus: I can't get my boiler working...

msb5262

We had to have a new boiler last March at enormous expense. The boiler was programmed by the plumber who installed it. Unfortunately he set it so the heating comes on at 7.30am...by which time we have all left the house!

I had the manual so tried to reprogramme it but found it very confusing, so I rang the company who manufactured it. Someone there talked me through the whole process of programming it but even he agreed that the manual was very badly written - it took nearly an hour to get the boiler programmed and working.

Fast forward to this winter...the damn boiler comes on and goes off at random times, and now it's just plain off and we are cold!

I can't find the actual manual but have been reading it online and it is still totally confusing. Have tried everything and can't afford to pay a callout fee for the plumber to come and programme it.

Does anyone know where I could find an idiot's guide to programming it? Please?

Thanks for reading

MsB

southcoastrgi

is it a built in programmer on the boiler or a seperate one ?

Biasi & enormous expense can never be used in the same sentance unless you are talking about repair bills

msb5262

southcoastrgi wrote: »

is it a built in programmer on the boiler or a seperate one ?

Biasi & enormous expense can never be used in the same sentance unless you are talking about repair bills

Built in programmer.
To me a new boiler of whatever make was going to be an enormous expense because I didn't know I was suddenly going to have to get one!

southcoastrgi

do you know which model you have ? what is it showing on the display ?

msb5262

southcoastrgi wrote: »

do you know which model you have ? what is it showing on the display ?

It's a 35c model and at present the display says 2009 and there is a little clock icon above the 2 digit.

southcoastrgi

well OP i don't like to admit defeat but i have looked at every page of the installation & servicing manual for your boiler & i cannot make head nor tail of that programmer no wonder you having probs working it out, i have never seen MI that the commision process takes up 10 pages & require so many presses of the buttons it's not funny, my only suggestion is trying the reset button to take it back the way it was when it left the factory & i'm sorry i can't help further.

espresso

msb5262 wrote: »

Does anyone know where I could find an idiot's guide to programming it? Please?

It really is quite easy to program the boiler and it is fully explained in the manual here

msb5262 wrote: »

It's a 35c model and at present the display says 2009 and there is a little clock icon above the 2 digit.

All of the different icons on the display are described. The 2009 displayed is the time (nine minutes past eight in the evening - 24 hour clock) and the little clock icon above the 2 indicates this.

It's just like programming an old video recorder, stepping though each parameter using the up and down keys to set the required value e.g. Day, Ch, Start time, Stop time.

Canucklehead

[QUOTE=msb5262;56505

Have tried everything and can't afford to pay a callout fee for the plumber to come and programme it. [/QUOTE]



Hi

Did you ask the installer or do you just assume they will charge you?

It does look a lot easier than some other programmers out there.

GSR.

southcoastrgi

how did i guess you would both say that, i was looking at the manual on my phone & admit it is easier to see with the link provided on a pc, however i disagree with both of you that this is at all easy to program, why does it take you to page 18 before you even learn how to set the times for the heating, most customers have enough trouble setting a normal programmer let alone asking them to set different times for two heating zones, to be honest if you wanted or needed this level of control you wouldn't have fitted this boiler in the first place

msb5262

Hello, I'm back!

Thank you to everyone who has posted here.

My daughter worked out how to turn the heating to ON or OFF but it's of limited use to do tha tat 6.30am - by the time the house is warm, we're all out the door.

I have looked at the manual online and also found the copy left here by the guy who installed it...and it's not remotely easy to understand for any lay person!

Today I rang the plumber who installed it and explained the problems I'm having. He said the following:

a. Nobody else has complained that the instructions are hard to understand.
b. I should pay them £60 to install a wall timer which is so simple it doesn't even have any instructions - you just move the little blocks around the clock face.

I replied that having paid large sums for the boiler already, I wasn't keen to pay a further £60 in order to be able to use it.
I asked him to come over and programme it and show me how to programme it.

He then said,
a. It's not easy to programme and that if he showed me how, I would forget within the hour
and
b. He'll probably need to phone the manufacturer from my landline while programming it (mobile reception is dodgy here) because it's tricky to programme!

I arranged for him to come this afternoon and meanwhile, I rang the manufacturer. They agreed that the instruction manual is complicated and they have written a help sheet (two help sheets actually) which they emailed to me.

NOW I have programmed the boiler, using the help sheets.

(The bad news is that the boiler didn't come on at the time I programmed it to come on, but I'm a bit further forward now. )

My question - do you think the plumber would have said what he said if I'd been a man rather than a woman?

Also - any advice on how to make the programming work? I've used the override function to stop us all freezing, but it's not ideal...

Thanks for reading

MsB

southcoastrgi

very poor customer service, if it had been my install i would have taken as long as it took to explain things to you, thats how you get recommendations & further work, neither of which i guess they are now going to get from you.