Vaillant ecotech 831 - Not up to the job?

[Agile]

Well if its 8 mm then the comments about a bypass are even more relevant!

Although no one has confirmed, I think there is a built in bypass in the boiler with a brass screw to left of pump.

If so this needs to be screwed clockwise as far as it goes and then the system tested. If that improves the situation then it could be unscrewed a few turns and see if it still works. As I understand it with it screwed fully in the bypass is still operating within the pump head and so it would still be safe leaving it fully in.

Opening the front cover of the boiler should really only be done by a gas registered engineer although in the case of this particular boiler its rather less critical.

Tony

 

[DP]

OP, two areas I would be looking for blockage is 1) the rad valve through which the water returns to the boiler and 2) the manifold where the water flow to the radiator.

Blockage usually where a larger bore pipe reduces to smaller bore (e.g. 8mm pipe)

I would not be too concerned about microbore pipe. It has worked thus far, so design unlikely to be suspect.

 

[sambotc]

Standard to combi swap though so some pipepwork would have had to been altered.

Is the boiler in the same place as the existing?

Can you take a photo of what work was carried out in the old cylinder/airing cupboard?

Really would have expected the installer to have sorted this by now.

Sam

 

[goon3r]

Hi Guys,
Ok - wanted to update all. The Original installer came back. He found a blockage in the drop feed pipework which runs from where the conventional boiler was in a cupboard in the bedroom feeding the downstairs rad.

Is the boiler in the same place as the existing?

= nope.

....the pipe he cut out was heavy and thick with sluge which suggests to me the 1st PF was pointless! a new piece of Copper was soldered then the system flushed again. this time i could hear water movement in downstairs rads.

looks like the system is actually circulating now. Downstairs rads do get hot but they take some time. Got a new question for you

When all TRV in house is on max two of the upstairs ones dont heat up!!

i have 22mm pipework only up until the 1st rad. Then it is 15mm everywhere (I dont have microbore - sorry). Do i need to upgrade the pipework to get consistent heat to all rads on the system?
The installer has tried to balance but he hasnt really succeeded.

 

[D_Hailsham]

When all TRV in house is on max two of the upstairs ones dont heat up!!

... The installer has tried to balance but he hasn't really succeeded.

That probably means he did not do it properly.

How to Balance a CH System

 

[Agile]

Proper power flushing is done on EACH rad one at a time and reversing several times.

You seem to have had a cowboy. The trouble is that anyone can buy a cheap machine for £500 and then go out and undercut the professionals but do a poor and ineffective job.

Distribution pipework needs to be in 22 mm up until the last 3 kW of rads in any direction.

Undersized distribution pipework will make it very difficult to balance and the restricted pipework can reduce the heat output.

Tony

 

[goon3r]

You seem to have had a cowboy. The trouble is that anyone can buy a cheap machine for £500 and then go out and undercut the professionals but do a poor and ineffective job.

Tony

Re: cowboy.....the consumer is like 'prey' out here. i relied on gassafe register (thought this = 'professional' but i guess not) and a couple of 'good' reviews on those mybuilder websites. Guess that isnt good enough these days. What to do!? now need to look to someone else to fix the issue and shell out more queens heads.

 

[Agile]

The worst are not even gas registered. Of those a very few do actually do a good and safe job but they are still working illegally and rarely have insurance either.

Then there are the registered people. All that means is that they have passed an assessment that should mean they are safe to work on gas but no mthat they have any ability to fault find or repair anything.

Of them there are quite a lot whose knowledge and skills and rather lacking. Many only do installations where thats not so important. Then there are the real cowboys who cut corners and overcharge intentionally. To be honest there are very few of them probably less than 10% which leaves 90% who do a good job for a fair price.

Yesterday I went to a new boiler installation done by this fellow in his own rented out house. The flue was way too close to an opening wondow and there was a twisted and taped joint in the mains cable under the floor. It was obvious there was something suspicions as the cable went under in white and came up within 1m in black! All for the sake of 20p of new cable. He had replaced a four year old condensing boiler just because he had been unable to fix it.

Customers are also often their own enemies getting a cheap east european who they know is unregistered but they just want to save money.

If it looks too cheap then it probably is.

Tony