Vaillant AquaPlus_No Hot water, Fault Code F.24_Not Diverter

[zippy2007]

Hi there,

Could someone please shed some light on my boiler nightmare.

I have a Vaillant AquaPlus, fitted 2.5 years ago. 4 months ago, hot water was running to luke warm, then eventually turned to cold. Heating then packed up too, leaving F.24 fault code on display. Called the out the guy that originally fitted it, he suspected that the diverter valve had gone, he called Vaillant technical support, who backed up this theory. So a new diverter valve was fitted, the system was up and running shortly after but he advised I have at some point the system power flushed. I had this done 2 weeks ago, since then, I've noticed the rads are hot at top and around edges, but warm/cool in the middle and bottom, normally I've read on this forum denoting that there is possibly sludge in the system. The water has gone again a week after power flushing, and the F.24 code has re-appeared. My plumber has been back on several occasions (for free) to try and sort this problem out for me. He has installed and inhibitor, as hard water is a high level here, he has cleaned heat exchangers, changed the hot water thermostat and checked the pump. I've read that it could be the APS, one person wrote in to say that her APS was faulty and this was (apparently) a common fault on Vaillant boilers - could this be true? I've mentioned to him. He called Vaillant to see if they would support this claim, but they said that the internet forums weren't reliable!

Please, please could somebody shed some light on this for me, as reluctant to call out Vaillant engineer at this stage, as come so far now, there can't be much more to check?

Thanks in advance

Emma

 

[Agile]

"""He called Vaillant to see if they would support this claim, but they said that the internet forums weren't reliable!"""

If you think that advice from internet forums is unreliable then I would be the last person to want to give you any advice!

It surprises me that you even ask!!!

Tony


PS

Of course privately I agree as so many people give nonsense advice when they have absolutely no understanding of boilers or heating systems. The trick is to weed out the professional advice! This site allows anyone to reply.

 

[ChrisR]

F24 doesn't point to a faulty diverter valve directly.
It comes up if a sensor temperature rises too rapidly. That could be due to low flow, due to a poor pump or a blockage, or a faulty sensor. Presumably some of that has been looked at in the several visits? It isn't that hard to tell even without changing components.

 

[zippy2007]

Morning guys, thanks for your replies,

Firstly I think Tony and I have set off on the wrong foot, I don't think internet forums are unreliable, I wouldn't have taken the time to write in, your advice is very much appreciated. It was Vaillant that suggested this, even after one of their own technicians suggested that I have all my radiators changed, when it was mentioned that they were luke warm in the middle and bottom, even after pressure flushing, surely this is rubbish? They are only 2.5 years old!

After my plumber changing all the parts I listed on my first post, Vaillant now seem to think it's the DHW HE or possibly the pump, I have tried to get them to come out, but they have a waiting list of list of 4 weeks! A joke really. Can't get a DHW HE till Wednesday, so it's cold baths and showers till then. Plumber bringing round this part and a new pump, whichever doesn't solve problem, he'll take back, again not charging for his time, as this is getting on his nerves now, still sceptical that either will work. If the pump had gone, should the heating still be working? Can anyone tell me what the APS does out of interest?

Thanks again


Emma

 

[ChrisR]

Domestic Hot Water Heat Exchanger doesn't affect radiators.
You don't mention HW performance..?
Radiators start warming at the top and ends, that's how they'd be with poor circulation even with no sludge at all.

Would be measuring a few temperatures inside the boiler, to check sensor(s) and, especially, the pump.

 

[sloss]

"""He called Vaillant to see if they would support this claim, but they said that the internet forums weren't reliable!"""

If you think that advice from internet forums is unreliable then I would be the last person to want to give you any advice!

It surprises me that you even ask!!!

Tony


.

Zippy2007 didn't say that bit - he quoted it!

Did you mis-read that, not understand it or just having a go?

 

[Agile]

I do have to say that if your installer did not properly clean the system when it was fitted then it could be quite badly blocked by now. It should
have been correctly flushed and inhibitor added at the installation time!

He seems to have no idea about how to diagnose faults hence his repeated calls to the boiler manufacturers. They are mostly just telephone clerks and not heating engineers! They give general advice but are not diagnostic engineers.

Its very difficult to guess at what is going on without being there and doing diagnostic checks. The only person who can correctly diagnose whats going on is someone on site.

If your installer is unable to diagnose the problem then if I was the customer then I would expect him to engage someone ( at his cost ) who can deal with the problem.

Tony Glazier

 

[ELZ4742]

"""He called Vaillant to see if they would support this claim, but they said that the internet forums weren't reliable!"""

If you think that advice from internet forums is unreliable then I would be the last person to want to give you any advice!

It surprises me that you even ask!!!

Tony


.

Zippy2007 didn't say that bit - he quoted it!

Did you mis-read that, not understand it or just having a go?

i sahll quote

zippy2007 is female...

 

[Agile]

Sloss, I dont see how your posting helps the original poster or anyone else.

I quoted exactly what she had said about Vaillant's reply to her installer.

I think that I fully understand everything and I also expect that someone called "Emma" is probably a female although in this day and age one must not make any assumptions!

Tony

 

[sloss]

Tony,

The lady, I stand corrected on that bit, asked for help as she's having a problem.

You chose to say:

If you think that advice from internet forums is unreliable then I would be the last person to want to give you any advice!

It surprises me that you even ask!!!

And then offered no help. That's what I was puzzled about.

I'm probably missing something.....

 

[Agile]

Its difficult to offer any definitive advice.

The installer changed the diverter valve but that was not the primary problem. Presumably she paid about £120 for that.

He should have power flushed when he installed the boiler and she has now had to pay another £300 to have than done.

Even after power flushing the system still gives symptoms of needing power flushing!

I am sorry to say that she seems to be the victim of an incompetent installer who may be very helpful ( is he Polish? ) but knows nothing about fixing boilers.

She seems to have paid for power flushing which has been done badly without the appropriate chemicals.

All I can recommend is that she gets a British CORGI heating engineer who is a member of the Institute as they have a complaints procedure.

Tony

 

[zippy2007]

Evening Gentlemen,

I'll start again as I think I may have started a war. I have no hot water atall. The builder that originally had the heating installed for me, has ripped me off for thousands, and I'm no longer in contact with him to raise these issues. The person who is trying to determine what is wrong with the boiler is a British CORGI registered heating engineer, who powerflushed the system prior to the F24 code appearing, as at the time the radiators weren't heating up enough, this was rectified. Two weeks later the F24 code appeared. This morning the heating appeared to come on, on the wireless thermostat, but no heat from the rads, I checked the boiler and it wasn't responding (although green light was on), once it was turned off and back on again, the pilot light came on and the rads have worked all day. Tonight, the thermostat triggered the boiler to come on, but again it wouldn't respond, it now reads F22, haven't touched it as waiting for engineer to come tomorrow night, getting a bit fed up with it to be honest, why the new fault code?

Thanks

Emma

 

[zippy2007]

Just to let you know, the pressure is just over 1 bar, so shouldn't need re-filling? Pilot light sign also crossed out on display along side fault code. I've turned the boiler off at the mains and back on again, I've pressed the button with the flame crossed out and reset it, heating is now back on.

As Chris suspected (and tony on previous post I have read), does it sound like the pump?

Emma

 

[ELZ4742]

emma

The boiler also switches to "Fault" when there is not
enough water in the system. This fault is indicated by
fault codes "F.22", "F.23" or "F.24".

not sure that this helps but its a start.

 

[zippy2007]

Thanks, will get this checked out too...