Do you have a problematic ATAG boiler?
We have been having problems with our hot water ever since we moved into our new Berkeley home six years ago. We were provided with a brand new ATAG Combi Q51C boiler, but hot water runs out very quickly within minutes every time we turn on the hot tap. This makes taking baths and showering very difficult in the winter. We have had ATAG round on numerous occasions, but they just could not fix it! And we have been persevering for six years!
To rub salt into the wound, a pressure problem emerged six months ago and it continues to deteriorate!
The boiler has been losing pressure, and eventually it needs topping up every day. Of course, the ATAG engineers have been called out on many occasions, and they could not resolve this problem either! After several visits, one of the engineers clearly pointed out that he could not pinpoint which part(s) of the boiler is/are faulty on site, the only means of doing that is to take the boiler away to ATAG’s workshop to be tested. He suggested we should have a replacement boiler in place while ours is getting repaired.
Then there was a conflict of opinion from ATAG’s technical department, who dismissed the engineer’s observation and suggested we get an independent plumber to investigate whether or not there is a leak in the system. Upon further negotiation, he was willing to isolate the boiler to see if it was the source of the problem. During the period the boiler was isolated, the boiler pressure dropped 0.3 bar after 24 hours. This, in accordance to their initial observations, was indicative of a faulty boiler rather than problems elsewhere.
While we were expecting them to honour their promise to take the boiler away for testing and repairs, we were surprised by another twist in the tale - ATAG suddenly wanted to replace the external expansion vessel for some unknown reason. They installed a replacement expansion vessel and set a higher pressure of 1.9 bar, before returning to reset it at 1.7(optimum pressure) two days later. Since then, we have been having great fluctuations of boiler pressure, greater or near 1 bar, which had never happened before.
We rang up ATAG again, and they simply stated ‘there is air in the system and we need to top up the boiler’. As we still hold them responsible for the new problem, great changes of water pressure, they became agitated and insisted that the expansion vessel is not their problem as they only maintain the boiler! We were told again to get a plumber to look at it!
To sum up, ATAG did not resolve the issue of the boiler they diagnosed by isolating it, instead they introduced a new problem of ‘great fluctuations of pressure’ and then walking away leaving us high and dry, with no end in sight?!
On a slightly different note, but no less important, we believe that ATAG Combi Q51C needs the external expansion vessel to function as states in its installation manual. As such, should it be considered as an integral part of the boiler? And more importantly, should it be maintained by ATAG at the same time? If not, any user of this ATAG model would need an annual plumber maintenance of the external expansion vessel as well as another visit for boiler maintenance? Is it cost effective to use ATAG which needs an external expansion vessel but to not maintain it? Do these concerns make sense?
ATAG seems to not be seriously committed to resolving the problems despite our on-going complaints. We believe, from our bitter experience, that ATAG has fundamentally failed to discharge their contractual obligations and moral duties!
Did you have similar experience? And how did you resolve it?
August 23, 2020
Unprompted review
