Been offline, but still seriously cheesed off!

[vaillantmark]

Hello Bunnyman, Agile..
Not been on the site for ages, but still fed up with poorly built boilers and the back up service to boot!
Can't we all throw a few grand in the pot, and build a proper boiler?
Triple BBB (British Built Boilers)..
Head in hands, on the edge of London Bridge!!

 

[Agile]

For mass produced boilers designed down to a price I am always surprised that most boilers are surprisingly good.

I often wonder how much more it would add to a boiler price to use good quality components in the PCB though.

For an example look at the contact size in a Finder relay compared with a cheap Good Sky Chinese relay for example.

 

[Monkeh]

For mass produced boilers designed down to a price I am always surprised that most boilers are surprisingly good.

I often wonder how much more it would add to a boiler price to use good quality components in the PCB though.

For an example look at the contact size in a Finder relay compared with a cheap Good Sky Chinese relay for example.

Quite a bit more, surprisingly. Most of the components on PCBs these days are up to the assembly house to source, which they do in-market at really, really low prices. Specifying components and acquiring them can be quite a lot more expensive.

On the other hand, spending £20 more on a boiler so the electronics will actually survive six months would be worth it.

 

[Agile]

I recently had a PCB on a better boiler fail after just a few days. They were very good and posted out a replacement to arrive before 0930 the next day.

Whilst its more difficult for me to quickly check what the fault is because of the lack of information on PCBs but I suspect it is a faulty relay.

When I used to do a lot of warrantee repairs on new boilers the most common faults were relays and resistors going open circuit probably due to higher voltages being applied than the component was rated for.

Tony

 

[vaillantmark]

Hi guys,
Tried the Viessmann, fitted about 9 in the last 12 months. Four of which have gone down within 28 days.. (PCB's were changed, all ok).
I think that works out at 44% breakdown rate in first month!
Although I do think they're a great little boiler, especially the new 100 with the combined PRV and condensate. Dream to install.
I'd just like a boiler that will work ok for at least a couple of years, and that's easy to repair and work on from a service engineers perspective!

 

[Agile]

Do you know what the fault was on the four PCBs?

Or still have the old ones?

Tony

 

[vaillantmark]

Hi Tony,
Clueless, I wasn't present when they came to repair.
The common fault is the F1. Happens two or three times, then new board and sorted!
The last one was over the Easter bank hols, the call centre told my customer they don't send out engineers under warranty, and they had to contact the local engineer direct!
My ears were fried for the rest of the weekend... not a happy bunny... pardon the pun Bunnyman...
If Viessmann get their act together, they could rule the world!

 

[mysteryman]

An F1 fault is an overheated flue gas temperature sensor, often caused by dry-firing a brand new boiler. The filling and venting procedure as laid down in the instructions must be followed.

 

[Bunnyman]

I agree mystery man, but marks very experienced don't think he would have done it wrong 4 times Unless he didn't install em I suppose

 

[vaillantmark]

A bit coincidental that the problem vanished after the PCB's were changed, and also usually 3-4 weeks after commissioning.
Thing is, I love the Viessmann.. Anyone else fit them? and what do you reckon if you do?