Troubleshooting Nightmare Wall Hung Combi: No Heat or Hot Water

I fk'in love your videos. I have a Lochinvar Noble 150. I'm by no means an HVAC, and these units are gettign more complicated as the regulations require. As a matter of fact, these units will no longer meet the stretch energy code and everyhtihgn in Massachusetts is going electric for domestic heat/HW. My unit is 5 yrs and 2 months old. Nothing but problems since it was installed. I'm going to watch mroe of your videos to learn more about my system, because I was (well my wife technically) given a quote of $18k for a replacement combi unit. I mean, the units are under $5k and maybe a full day of labor, but $18k, come on. I was born at night but not last night.
I'm just glad to have a secondary heating system keepin my house warm, if I need to I'll head to my cabin in the woods where I instaled my own heating system (forced hot air), separate tankless hot water, and back up heat (wood stove). OF course my wife might divorce me. She's ready to sign the $18k contract if I can't get it running in 24 hrs. Lots of calcium/mineral deposits on the internal fittings and water dripping onto the sensors. I shoudl start there, but current error code is Low voltage and flow sw/LWCO. I think it could have to do with the internal circulator. The molex feeding it got wet.

Did this ever get resolved?

So the customer can’t take a shower - no hot water and is freezing because no heat. Man, I think these combi boilers are unreliable.

Did you test the gas valve pre install? Is it possible that something else is burning up your coils ?

I’m not going to be a pig about it but I am going to charge 4x what the cost of the product is. Seriously, there are people out there that think they are doing others a huge service by fixing things and the peasants should pay any cost. Be professional and charge a good markup but do not be a pig. Karma will come for you.

Step 1) install cast iron boiler step 2) install outside combustion air intake and build utility closet to avoid heating the entire basement (unless that's your thing). Step 3) deal with 10% higher gas bills and a boiler that will last 50 years.

Mike saw one of your videos on nest wiring. I have a Nest E that I was using for my older system and when we change out everything over to heat pump I can’t get the cool setting to blow cold air. I think it’s the wiring but couldn’t figure it out. The new existing thermostat works fine but I wanted to switch it out with this Nest E. Any suggestions? Thanks for all the educational videos. Solid work out there!!

I have a FreeStyle combi. I gave me lot of pain. I shuts down while on DHW call with error code 06. Finally I had to put a separate hot water heater to solve the problem.

I would have said gas/air adjustment or Venturi

Sounds like Lochinvar has some serious quality control issues. When a tech is unable to replace ANY part with a new, supposedly good replacement part, this company has an issue that will put them out of business in short order. Management needs to begin an immediate investigation of their entire operation.

Oh yeah I bought that lochinvar box once $1800 has every single part needed

I was on the ground floor when condensing boilers came out, I was in my twenties and just ate it all up. This was long before the extended technical support or standardized overnight parts. I not only got reps to come out to my jobs, but they also referred me to other problem jobs. The frustration with the "latest and greatest" becoming junk along with my phone ringing from Friday evening until Sunday evening, knowing it was probably a call I would be on my own became too much. I even had a 18-month install that was by the rep's evaluation perfect totally melted down. I got the call during the coldest of winter days, on a Saturday I was volunteering. Dropped everything went over and part of the pressure gauge capillary had blown apart on an Ultra totally soaking it. Sunday I spent the day replacing it, WM said because I did not contact them (on a Saturday night or Sunday AM they were closed), they would not honor the warranty. The supply house was great, they did not bill me for the boiler and took on the fight to WM, the local rep said my installation was perfect and I had no choice but to do what I did. Took over a year to get the boiler credit, I ate all my time, material, and permit fees. That was it. All I will do is service Cast Iron. I have a list of customers with WHJ that HVAC companies keep repairing and swapping out costing them thousands if not tens of thousands constantly. What you save in energy you spend on service, repairs, and future replacements. I cannot even get into the long list of "ya we know we fixed the issue here is what to do" I had on new installs I had to eat.

Was the Wallace Ennace Rep able to figure out the problem? What was the issue?

Man I know how much this sucks.
I have been in the same situation spending hours while I have more calls waiting and my whole day is just fucked after. So much stress and frustration.
Is it worth it?? Sometimes I just want to bail. 😡

We are waiting for the end result Mike!

Mike, what was the remedy to this?

I would assume you was checking the gas valve pins opposite of how they should have been tested. any time things don't seem to add up, flip over and test the opposite way.
now I've played in electronics since a kid, so I know not to get jump to conclusions and get stumped, years of bad diagrams, schematics, pinouts and charts full of errors.

Lockinvar NKC199L Mikey did you
get to the bottom of the issue?

That support guy was a numbnuts. When describing the pins to you, he should have described it in reference to the group of three and the one lone pin. In other words, the lone pin should have been the point of reference.

Something that is as complicated as the space shuttle what the hell do you expect plus all the shits made in China what do you expect the biggest scam perpetrated on the American public are these Wall hung boiler/water heaters. Still nothing better than a 50 gallon gas conventional water heater. Lol Mikey, I like the way you’re quoting prices nothing to hide I like that.

Did you adjust the throttle on the GV at all? Feels like a grounding issue but I know the pipe doctor tests everything! Nothing has frustrated me like flame failure ignitions. Simple until it stops making sense.

I think it's bull crap is there a condensate pipe is it Frozen.

I work on a lot of Nobles, check the condensate. Had that happen already, blocked condensate, no ignition.

Wow you gatta be kidding

Great vid nonetheless 👍🏼

I was on hold with Navien for almost 3 hours. That’s why I prefer the old reliable cast iron boilers.

It's been that kind of week

Maybe the other outfit that came to fix the problem knew about all the problems with existing parts already in the system and replacement parts that also do not work as expected.

It is a dam shame when you purchase a part and expect it to work and it does not work enough to really piss you off. Maybe that was built by Navien with another name stamped on it.

Go OUT 2 Buffalo.................S N O W !!!!!!!

The G-Wagon's are fugly IMO, and I'm an 'America First' kind of person - I've never owned a foreign vehicle and the only way I would is if an American manufacturer didn't offer what I wanted. My wife had a Jetta until it was bought back due to the dieselgate nonsense, but had the Diesel Cruze been available when she needed a new vehicle, that would have been what she would have been driving, but it wasn't available. Other than the Jetta, all American vehicles here. But hey, to each their own. 🙂

Definitely curious to find out what the deal is with this one. Seems highly unlikely to me that two control boards and two gas valves are bad (one of each being BNIB)... seems like something obscure is going on here...

This is what happens when you install crap you can’t work on without a tech give me a system 2000 oil boiler with a much higher efficiency rating

Another Excellent video M P
Glad to see the master “ you” diagnosing live action! Just like a Regular technician 🤙
P I A !

When your smarter than tech support 😅

Love that hat on your dash 😎

I dealt with the same BS with a State natural gas 80 gallon WH. Back in the early 1990’s, they State, got made about my bill, said I should have been sending a bill every time I went to work on it. My supply company finally gave me the credit at the beginning of the year a few months later.

Check that the screws that hole the burner to the mounting plate are tight, otherwise you lose your flame signal ground. Happened on my son's nine-month-old Knight WHB.

Tech on phone should have sent pic of pins with ohm readings. How stupid 😮😮😮 He's reading from a factory repair manual.

40 yrs. as a repair plumber in St. Louis. These tankless water heaters are one of the MANY
reasons I retired. They’re bullshit. A regular tank storage water heater is the ONLY way
to go. None of this electronic diagnosis bullshit. After seeing this I’m glad I retired.

I'm not surprised with you and your customers dilemma..manufacturers parts kit faulty...yep I've had that before ! Field back up is a disgrace, I end up with a pissed but understanding customer but your life is in the hands of the supplier who generally doesn't give a toss.

Cast iron.

Always check the flaps on the air intake venturi. I’ve ran into those getting stuck closed over and over again.

I had this same issue on an ao smith cyclone and it ended up being the rectifier plug going to the gas valve

Holy fuk, over $1’000 for a $350 board 😂 hey, supply and demand fam!

A guy that works at supply place put a bad return back in stock..u won that prize today😂

Lochinvar makes some decent products and some that are not as decent, they are as good or better than others in the Commercial Market. I agree, support after the unit is sold makes all the difference between a poor company and a great company. I would most likely guess that quality control from their vendors is the main problem, because I have gotten new parts bad out of the box or last a short time and fail, when the originals were old. Good luck to you and the customer. I have been looking at a Noble for my house, or a Newer Version of the GV-4 Weil McLain I already have. Thanks for the honest videos, Mike.

When I was working as an electrician nothing screwed me up more than bad replacement parts. I had a motor control system that was mis-wired from the factory. I figured it out and a wire was landed on the set of contacts on a relay. I feel your pain, Mike.

All i have to say is if your able to stay away from hi-tech products, you would be doing yourself a favor!

anothr wall ps of biden shit

Mike I had a similar problem with a different model Lochinvar a few years ago. It ended up being the the connection at the high limit sensor. It was burnt. Had to replace sensor and part of the wiring harness. It was doing exactly the same thing that you got. I did get it to work by moving around wiring going to sensor. That’s when I saw the burnt plug at high limit sensor. I know you like to embrace the technology but they have turned what used to be a simple process into a complicated nightmare!!

Service after the sale is most important. Florida is tough in the summer working in 100 degree plus heat index. No income tax here makes it a little more tolerable.