New gas boiler / old one burnt out

Hello everyone,

In 2009 I had a new heating system of the brand Rapido Econpact 18 kW installed. It was somewhat maintenance-intensive from the start (including 2x circuit board replacements), recently it had problems with the fan, ignition, etc. (errors F15, A01). The chimney sweep also detected this from the flue gas values. The heating technician then serviced the system again and after more and more failures between 12/20 and 12/31/16, restarted the system several times after failure.

Yesterday it happened again: the heating technician had to come again and start the system (error messages: ionization electrode defective, fan malfunction, A01, F15). After replacing some parts (ignition device, boiler gasket), the result was that the system caught fire, see attached picture for the result.

What do you think about it? Is a boiler fire still to be considered “normal” for problems with the system? How dangerous is that? How can that actually happen? Shouldn’t the systems have corresponding safety devices?

In any case, the system is now broken. The heating technician can help quickly with a new Rapido Econpact 25 kW, also at a very favorable price (really significantly below comparison offers like Vaillant etc., among other things the previous connections / peripheral devices like the boiler can also be used). Now I know that the company Rapido/Ferroli is insolvent and there is a certain risk regarding warranty / spare parts / maintenance. But for me it is more about the technical reliability of the system. Seeing a gas boiler catch fire does not exactly let you sleep peacefully. I would prefer not to have such an experience again.

What do you think? What could the error have been? Was it just bad luck? Or self-inflicted? Or is it inherent to the design of the device?

Thanks for your assessment!

Best regards

da KaiserFranz

Why and how your heating system wanted to heat the house particularly well, I cannot say anything about that.

As you write, the manufacturer is bankrupt. Then I wouldn't have any device from this manufacturer installed anymore, even if it is still so cheap. Unless I got it for free. Keep in mind that you might face the problem in a few years that you simply won't get any spare parts anymore, and then you will need a heating system from another manufacturer. Thus, a heating system from a bankrupt company would be wasted money for me. Better to spend a little more now than to have to spend a lot of money again in a few years.

hmm so my gas boiler from a well-known manufacturer has been running since the end of 2011 and until now had neither errors nor any failures... if I were you, I wouldn't let the same crap be installed a second time

Never heard of this company. But if it is 1. bankrupt, your heating engineer just wants to clear out his stock.

In recent years, there really hasn't been a crisis in the construction industry.

That's why something like that wouldn't come into my house.

You must be very resilient if your current boiler is constantly broken, even catching fire (wtf?!?!), the manufacturer is now bankrupt, and you are still considering buying another product from them.

This is not a bargain, but a case of "greed eats brains." Your heating technician can therefore keep his dead capital for himself.

especially since 25 KW is already quite intense... you could already heat 3 houses with that... our heating load (140 sqm) is 4.8 KW according to the calculation...