Date: 201702
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.ARTCC, US
Flight conditions: Mixed
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: A320
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Climb
Airspace: Class A ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Center ZZZ
Aircraft component: Engine Air Anti-Ice
Component problem: Failed
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Weather
Primary problem: Aircraft

Narrative: Our dispatcher and the Maintenance Coordinator were very soon on line; and after describing our situation maintenance directed me to cycle the engine anti-ice pushbutton several times and to apply pressure to the edges of the switch (assuming possibility that the actual switch was the culprit). The fault remained and the Maintenance Coordinator requested we hold on the line for a moment while he sought further consultation. In the meantime the Dispatcher and I discussed the aforementioned options. ZZZ1 came up briefly as a mid-flight divert for a repair; but with maintenance back on the line we all came to the same conclusion that returning to ZZZ was the safest and best option. Sometime during this discussion I realized that we would be facing an overweight landing in ZZZ. We estimated we would be over our maximum landing weight by approximately 6;000 pounds. With favorable weather conditions and a returned and satisfactory landing distance report; we were all comfortable with continuing without burning fuel down to below maximum landing weight. That decision made; I signed off from ZZZ Radio and together with the First Officer we started the plan to return to ZZZ. We again notified the flight attendants of our plan and I made a very descriptive PA to the passengers of our unpopular; but necessary decision to return.We informed ATC of our intentions to return to ZZZ with the added bonus and challenge of avoiding potential icing conditions. With a front stretching from lower Mississippi to northern Alabama and Tennessee; this presented a bit of a puzzle: do we continue back towards the east and pick up an east-side arrival to ZZZ or do we attempt to find an adequate path through the front and pick our way through? We decided that we could turn towards the south and start to look for a path from the west to join an arrival. We had plenty of fuel and time; but we were looking for a solution that would provide the safest route that would also have the least time impact on our passengers.ATC worked very well with our particular requests and eventually vectored us for an arrival. We notified them that we would need to stay at FL310; where we were above the cloud layer; until we could safely make basically a VFR descent and avoiding the necessity of using our engine anti-ice. In the meantime; the First Officer read the overweight landing procedures and considerations from the QRH to prepare us for landing in ZZZ. Once clear of the potential threat of icing in the clouds; we continued the arrival to an uneventful landing.Maintenance and several customer service personnel were awaiting us at the gate. After a quick repair of locking open the engine anti-ice valve and a maintenance sign-off; thorough discussions with the duty pilot and dispatcher addressing the situation and potential conflicts with flight duty periods; block time limitations and flight attendant duty periods; we were refueled; issued new paperwork and dispatched to continue the flight to [destination].




Synopsis: An A320 Captain reported experiencing a failed engine anti-ice valve and returned to the departure airport for an overweight landing.