Weil McLain Ultra Series 2 Gas Fired Water Boiler
By The Ultra Series 2 Gas Fired Boiler is equipped with the patented PhD technology from Weil McLain. The PhD stands for Precision Hydronic Data technology; this technology has a smart system that brings the PhD heating and hot water requirements, while bringing the most efficiency by determining the data parameters of your home heating system.
The Ultra Series 2 Gas Fired Water Boiler has a cast aluminum heat exchanger, a burner that is made with a high quality stainless steel construction, and the burner uses a factory mixed air and gas, which offers a wider assortment of firing rates. This will save money as you won’t need to fire up the boiler as much as you would on any other boiler system. It also has an Ultra Control Mode; this means that the control module answers to the signals from the thermostat, water supply, return water sensors, and the flue gas sensor. Almost all of the sensors in the Ultra 2 Series answer and respond to the Ultra Control Mode. Everything is kept neatly in this package.The boiler transformer installed in the Ultra Series 2 is designed to decrease the amount of electrical voltage used in the line. It has a range of 120 vac to 24 vac.
The 24 vac controls the gas valve and the blower signal. The front door of the boiler is designed to be sealed to the boiler assembly around the whole boiler. Some other boilers are designed partially around the boiler. The Ultra 2 Series Boiler has a P/T temperature sensor that is installed on the pressure temperature gauge, and can be installed into the outlet water pipe. Some other standard features on the Ultra Series 2 are the Boiler Drain Valve, the Data Port, the Air Intake Adapter, and the Venturi, which is designed to act as a vacuum when the air comes through the venturi. This device is used to help with the quality of the airflow.
When you are working with the operation of the boiler, there are just some things that you should know. You should not block the flow of combustion or, any ventilation to the boiler. The heat exchanger is constructed with aluminum and needs the pH system, which should always read between 7.0 and 8.5. The water chemistry should always be checked when the boiler is serviced. There are easy to read electronic display buttons on the Ultra 2 Series Boiler.
The display has a 4 number display where you can access the heating temperature setting, you can see the outlet water temp, and all other operating conditions. You can also see the boiler status, shutdown, and any lock out codes, which makes troubleshooting problems easy. When you have someone install these boilers, you will need to know that the clearance for hot water pipes is 1/2″ from all combustible materials. For the vent pipe the clearance has to be at least 0.20″. You should have 12″ of maximum ceiling enclosure and a 12″ maximum above the floor enclosure. By ensuring the proper clearances you can look forward to a stress free installation.
We have a Weil McLain Ultra and never know when it will fail which it does. We are afraid to leave the house for fear the boiler will shut down and cause our water lines to freeze and flood the house. I would not recommend this boiler due to the operation we have and are experiencing. In my opinion the product may be so sophisticated that it becomes un-reliable. We are reviewing the possibilty of installing an alarm that will go off alerting us when the furnace has failed to start.
I have not had productive responses from Weil McLain when I contacted them regarding our problem with their product. I was told that a field representative would be in touch with us and that never happened. I was given a phone number so I could contact their representative myself, I tried many times and was only able to leave a message. With all that said and done I never got a call back or met this mystery representative.
The product looks wonderful and when it is working is does a great job, but it does require far too much attention by the owner.
I thank you for your time and space to vent some of my frustration.
William Ulbrich
I have a three year old Ultra 105 that just failed due to a cracked heat exchanger. The part to repair is does not exist and I am going on day four with no heat and no hot water in the middle of a Minnesota winter while I wait for the factory to make the part needed to repair my boiler and then expedite it to me at my expense. If all goes according to their stated plan, the part will be here in six days. In the mean time I’ll continue to wonder how a “reputable” manufacturer of high end heating equipment who touts their product as the best thing out there can believe it’s acceptable not to have parts available….anywhere.
The service I’ve received from Weil-Mclain has been horrendous. Numerous phone calls have gone unreturned or returned days later, and the general attitude when finally I do get someone on the phone has been passing the buck, denial, accepting no responsibility, and outright lies. They have done absolutely nothing to resolve this in a more timely manner, despite the fact that there are two of the same model boiler at their distributer one hour from my house.
I’m extremely disappointed that this product failed after such a short time in service. I’m absolutely disgusted and angry at the lack of service and support from Weil-McLain.
We are very unhappy with our Ultra 80 Weil-McLain boiler/hot water heater. We moved into our new home 7 months ago and have spent about $900 in maintenence bills. This morning I work up for the 3 rd time( in just 7 months)with no hot water. My sole source of head is radiant in floor water and we too feel that we can never leave our home unattended for fear of boiler failure and line freeze. I am really upset about this. What can I do!!!!!!!I cannot/will not go on spending this kind of money on this POS!
We have a Weil McClain Ultra (maybe four years old). We also never know when the thing will shut off and not automatically restart. Right now I’m in a house that is gradually becoming the temperature of the outside while I wait to see if I will get a satisfactory response from our plumber. The unit is sophisticated all right, but unreliable. I don’t think the manufacturer did enough testing of the design. Maybe they should go into manufacturing and selling matches – I, too, am not impressed with Weil McClain. The boiler of our last Weil McClain cracked but we were told Weil McClain would reimburse us at least something; yeah, right. That was when we bought the present joke – which cost more than our first car. Hell, It cost more than Dad’s 356 Porsche! From what I have read in the above responses, I am REALLY not looking forward to dealing with Weil McClain. I have to end this comment and continue searching for more useful information so I may be able to correct the “hard lockout.” (My hands are getting cold). Good luck to the rest of you!
RJ, When your boiler faults what is the error code showing in the display.
Unfortunately I have spent too much time figuring out
and understanding what makes these boilers operate (or not operate). Maybe I can be of help.
Can I run a radiant loop, hot water baseboard loop and sidearm water heater off of a weil mclain ultra boiler. Is there any fancy wiring i need to do?
Re: Kirk Cheney Says
I have an Ultra 105 which just recently started to act up. I do not get the E code but flashing codes alternating between the number 9 and 6 with what I assume is the water temperature after this numbers.
Reset is necessary to get it back operating.
I can’t find anything in the manual under hard or soft lockout describing this condition.
Any ideas?
Thanks
There should be a number that flashes in between the 9 and the 6, which is actually a b, and then a number flashing after the b. The number after the b is the boiler temp. and the number after the b is the two digit error code. Look in your Control supplement to see what the error code corresponds to. Is your boiler a series 2 or series 3? In the series 2 Control supplement the information is on page 17. If you let me know what the error code is maybe I can give you some ideas.
Sorry. the number after the 9 is the boiler temp.
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So what I thought was a 6 was a “b”. I had looked at page 17 several times and missed the 9 alternating with b written vertically. The next time it “acts up” I’ll be more observant. Thank you very much.
I wish I would have seen some of the comments above before purchasing the unit in Jan 2006. However, until just recently I have been pleased with its’ performance and my natural gas bill.
Thanks again
Back again. Code 25. Now I’ve got to figure out whether it’s the , flow rate, air, or pump. Had the unit serviced 2 weeks ago and the tech turned down the pressure regulartor because I was blowing water out of the relief valve. I’m going to give him a call tomorrow. In the mean time I’m keeping the space heaters handy as temps tonight are going to be 0-10.
Sounds like it is probably a flow problem. The flow rate through these boilers is critical and if not piped correctly or not a large enough pump then the boiler will heat up to quickly and go into lockout. I am wondering what has changed? If the boiler has operated ok since ’06 then what might have changed to create this problem? The water was probably blowing out of the relief valve because the unit was over-heating before being shut-down in lockout. Also, don’t rely on the pressure gauge on the front of the boiler. I have found that they are wrong more often than they are right. I would suggest checking pressure by putting a gauge on a boiler drain somewhere and checking the system at rest (not operating).
Good Luck
It was a flow problem. When the tech was here for an routine inspection he thought the pressure was too high and turned it down. He rectified the situation and haven’t had a problem since. There still is a question, according to him, about the size of the circulating pump and even perhaps the outside sensor. I think I will have to reposition the outside sensor as it continues to read about 10 degrees above what the actual outside temp is. I’ve put a “shade” on it but that didn’t help. I think becasue it is just above the sill plate the inside heat is radiating out to there. This is an issue because, as I understand it, the temp outside regulates the target temp of the unit. The higher the temp outside, the lower the target temp and as a result efficieny may be lost if not reading accurately. My old boiler was 30 years old when replaced and when the thermostat said heat,it heated, but it was not very efficient. Again, I have been very pleased with the unit so far. My gas and electric bill for an approx 2000 sg. ft. tri level averages $142 a month. New windows and more insulation helped but I think the Ultra did too.
KIRK
It sounds like I just ran into somewhat of the same issue with my 230. It came up with a b19 and b25 code came up after reset. I noticed the pressure building up to 30psi. If it is a flow problem besides the circulator pump what else can it be? How do you turn down the pressure? When in stand by the pressure is at 15psi which is normal. My system is 2 years old I was thinking expansion tank, but that has not much to do with flow rate. After reset before it came up with the second code b25 it reached the operating temp but started banging like it was overheating. I have an external pressure gauge, nothing changed in 2 years, any ideas?
Thanks!
Larry,
Sorry for the delay. I hope you have corrected your problem by now. I am sure you have (or had) a pump problem, or at least a flow problem. The error codes you identified correlate with flow. The banging noise you heard is because the boiler was heating to fast (and overheating) and your pressure was increasing because of this. The boiler probably has either a Taco 0011 or 0014 pump on it. We have run across many of these pumps that for some reason or another their life is not what it should be. The pump should still be under warranty from Taco (3 yrs. I think). If the pump is not faulty then make sure it is getting a power signal from the control board when the system is in operation. Although not common, I have ran into this with the control board.
Good Luck,
Kirk