Vaillant 242 E Combi Expansion Vessel

[rwalters]

Hello guys,

Our Vaillant 242 E Combi boiler has been looked at by British Gas yesterday and we have been told that it needs a new expansion vessel, which is fine. However, BG say that the expansion vessel that goes inside the boiler is not available anymore, so they want to install and external one above the boiler.

My question is, do any of you know whether or not the expansion vessel (10 litre) for a Vaillant 242 E is still available or not.

I suspect, as I am always a bit cynical that BG cannot be bothered to take the boiler apart to replace the internal one as it is a fairly big job, so simply want to install the easier option of an external one.

I don't want to take BG word for it and have a great big red tank on the wall if I don't need to.

All help greatfully received guys, thank you.

 

[gasgeezer]

I fitted one to a 18 year old vaillant the other month so they are probably telling porkies.Try vaillant direct or do a search on the net.Normally they say you need a new boiler and try to flog you one with a service ageement.

 

[HarrogateGas]

It is still availabale but do you really want your boiler ripped to pieces,risking damage to other parts,mess, time of work etc when an expansion above the boiler takes very little time, is more reliable and is more serviceable..............i know what I would choose.

 

[Fluffster]

I dissagree it is a relatively easy job.
Disconnect the pipes/ wiring below.
lift off the jig
expansion vessel is located at the back of the unit easily removed and replaced.
Lifting is a two person job.
Either way the faulty unit has to be decommisioned.
Pete

 

[HarrogateGas]

Decommisioned? Why? if its not leaking its fine right where it is.

 

[Fluffster]

Apparently it is not working so would you leave it connected ?
Pete

 

[kier]

these are very good boilers.what reason was given for expansion vessel exchange.

 

[Gasguru]

It is perfectly normal for an initial small amount of water to be expelled when re-charging the expansion vessels on these boilers. I hope the engineer didn't assume the vessel is shot due to that.

If you can find another place to plumb in an addition vessel (within the kitchen units, understairs cupboard, basement, on top of the units, under the units - use a rectangular vessel etc) this is preferable.

Just leave the existing vessel connected (unless it leaks water on the seam.)

Its very rare to fail a vessel on this model (they are top quality W+P unlike the current rubbish vessels)

 

[rwalters]

I am not sure what the BG engineers checked, all I know is that he pulled off a pipe off something and hot water came out, which he said should not happen and that the vessel was broken.

The reason for the call to BG was that we were losing boiler pressure.

 

[Bamber gaspipe]

British Gas service engineers are now salesmen also. They are instructed to flog a new boiler ( from themselves ) wherever humanly possible. I know because I used to slave for them & try to rip off public before finding a much more honorable profession: Loan sharking in the British Legion Social Club...

 

[rwalters]

To be honest, I will give credit to the BG engineer, he did not try and sell us a new boiler. He said simply that they could not get the internal pressure vessel anymore and that we would need an external one mounted on the wall. We didn't like the idea, and he said it was either an external vessel or a new boiler, which wasn't required as our boiler was good apart from this failed vessel. Although, he did say that a new boiler would be about £3,500 which I thought was a bit steep.

 

[Agile]

I do have to say that you seem to have had a very honest and sensible BG engineer.

I expect the parts are available but the question becomes should your contract include fitting a part which in the open market would be uneconomic because of the labour content.

It seems a very good solution to keep the boiler going for another few years.

Tony

 

[rwalters]

Cheers Tony, I agree as I run my own business, BG would look at the labour cost of 2 men to lift the boiler off the wall to replace the internal pressure vessel when they could send 1 man to install and external one.

Unfortunately, there is nowhere to hide the thing, so I will have to build a cupboard and box it in out of sign. They are not the nicest things to look at are they.

Hopefully this will cure the pressure loss without having to start pulling up floors, which the BG engineer didn't like the sound of.

 

[chrishutt]

Hopefully this will cure the pressure loss without having to start pulling up floors, which the BG engineer didn't like the sound of.

Eh? Did the BG guy actually work out why you were losing pressure?

If it's due to water release from the PRV due to failure of the expansion vessel to absorb expansion/pressure, that's one thing. If it's due to leakage from the system pipework that's another. No connection between them. Totally different issues.

From what you have said I would suspect that you don't need a new expansion vessel at all. Perhaps the existing one needs to have it's precharge pressure reset. diagnostic incompetence by BG is by no means uncommon, as you will know if you follow this forum.

 

[rwalters]

I can only go by what the BG engineer tells at this stage, all I know is that he said water is coming out of the vessel when it should be air. The PRV valve is not leaking at all.