Vaillant 'Fan speed malfunction'

[Gerry555]

Hi, the outlet pipe from our sink blocked and when I tried to flush it through, water traveled up our boiler's outlet pipe (plumbed into the same pipe) and started dripping out from the underside of said boiler.

Things were alright for a while, but now we have no hot water. Two symbols have appeared on the electronic display. According to the manual, they signify that there's a 'Fan speed malfunction'.

The boiler is a one-year-old Vaillant ecoTEC. Is there anything I can do myself, or should I call someone in?

What next?? Help!

 

[Bunnyman]

No u need areg engineer for this one water in fan an gas valve will prob need to replace em both as it sounds like u filled the heatexch through the condense pipe!!

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• Bunnyman
• 26 Mar 2010
• 499

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

when I tried to flush it through

Would you care to elaborate on how you did this?
I have visions of you sending water back up into the boiler and affecting the internal electrics. Not something I have come across or even heard about before and it could be something that boiler manufacturers could cater for in the design.
If this vision is your reality then you need the cover taking off, the electrics drying out with a hair dryer and a prayer mat to pray that you havent totally knacked the fan.

 

[Bunnyman]

Quite common if condence plumbed into downpipe without an air gap if drains or rainwater gulley back up it can fill ht exch with rainwater

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• Bunnyman
• 26 Mar 2010
• 499

 

[Boilerman2]

I've seen this happen too many times, sounds like the Tacho on the fan has been soaked, as it ran for a while, i suspect the fan will need to be replaced

The worst case of this sort I found was a Grant Vortex 36 condensate into a rainwater downpipe, to a soakaway, after a storm it all backed up, filled the combustion chamber and boiler with water, the Riello burner was also filled, as was the air inlet snorkel, untill the water ran out of the balanced flue!! (bloody good boiler though, not a drop leaked out into the kitchen though!!)

 

[Gerry555]

Thanks for the replies, I feared as much. Will call our engineer tomorrow.

The boiler was installed last year and I totally forgot about its outlet pipe being plumbed into the sink's. The only upside is that we had to get the boiler serviced soon anyway, in order to qualify for Vaillant's extended warranty. How much should a new fan cost?? (don't worry, not thinking of doing the job myself, just wondering what we should expect to be charged).

Again, many thanks.

 

[Gerry555]

when I tried to flush it through

Would you care to elaborate on how you did this?
I have visions of you sending water back up into the boiler and affecting the internal electrics. Not something I have come across or even heard about before and it could be something that boiler manufacturers could cater for in the design.

The outlet pipe for our kitchen sink runs under the floorboards and is really long. It sags under its own weight and, despite using a sink trap, muck accumulates. It blends with limescale and forms thick, chalky bricks over time (usually every three years we get this problem).

A past plumber showed me how to blast it by detaching the u-bend and fitting a washing-machine hose to the pipe. The other end of the hose connects to the tap and mains pressure does the rest. Works every time, but I totally forgot about the outlet for the boiler. Rather than pressure building up, all the water ran up into the boiler and started dripping out the bottom. Only about a cup and a half - realised pretty quickly what had happened - but enough to cause damage by the sound of things.