Valliant Specialist required!

[andyg10]

Valliant Specialist required

And i cannot find one anywhere, even Valliant refuse to do charge out work as they are too busy, the last 3 plumbers who have showed up have not had the technical expertise to recharge the expansion cylinder on the hotwater cylinder, one even tried to convince me the hotwater cylinder was actually the boiler!, and he was recommended by Valliant!...
Can anyone recomend someone honest and reliable who knows what they are doing?
I have a Valliant Vantage VIH C120 unvented hot water system with an intermittent leak on the overflow, Valliant "experts" tell me the expansion cylinder should be recharged...I need someone yesterday and it would be beneficial for them as there are 18 units in this block many with similar faults, and ongoing work is almost guarranteed, SE1 London

 

[silverback]

You do not need a vaillant specialist, this is a basic plumbing task, it seems to me you must of had three idiots, the expansion vessel is as obvious as the nose on your face, I cover your area but I am booked up at the moment, the vessel should be a white or blue metal small cylindrical shaped vessel somewhere around the cylinder, the system must be de-pressurised to take an accurate reading of the vessel pressure, it can then be re-charged to the correct working pressure, using a foot pump or nitrogen.

 

[DP]

The vessel is actually quite large about 300mm in diameter and as long, located to left of the valve train, atop the cylinder.

Have worked on this unit and have a fair number of parts for same. Also am clued up what can go wrong.

Pity is I am some 400 miles away in Glasgow

 

[silverback]

I know how large the vessel is DP, I meant it is small compared to the cylinder, it wont necsessarly be on top of the cylinder, it can be mounted remotely from the connection on the PRV, so it could be tucked behind the cylinder, I have found a few like that in the past, not good for maintenance

 

[andyg10]

Silverback and Dp, you tease me!...so close and yet so far!

Silverback may I have your number for future reference please, I am sure I am going to need your services

I am aware of what the expansion cyclinder looks like, it had a car tyre type valve in the middle facing out.

Silverback, do I let ALL the air out first and then recharge it with a foot pump?...will a car tyre pump take it up to the required 3 Bar?

 

[silverback]

You do not need to let the air out, just top the vessel up, have you pushed the scrader valve, to see if you get any air out, just a quick push, if you get air it may just need topping up, if you get water then the vessel has failed and will need replacing you can do this test without draining the system, but as I said just a quick burst.

 

[andyg10]

yes I did that, and got air, I will buy car pump today and top it up, if a car pump will go to 3 Bar, I think it will....can I have your contact details plse for future reference?

 

[chrishutt]

Bicycle pump is easier to use. You will find instructions on how to check and top up the pressure on an expansion vessel in this forum. I think it's covered in the sticky reference topic. Do a search.

You might try Agile (see his profile for details) who covers parts of London, although possibly not the SE.

 

[silverback]

the Vaillant Vantage instruction manual shows a pre-charge pressure of 4 bar, what is the water pressure at the cylinder after the PRV and yes a car foot pump should provide adequare pressure,

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[Agile]

Anyone working on unvented cylinders should have the appropriate qualification.

If you are repressurising the vessel yourself you need to close the mains feed to the cylinder and depressurise it by leaving a hot tap on.

The optimum pressure really depends on the incoming mains water pressure. If its lower than three BAR then the vessel is better charged to about 3 Bar rather than the 4 Bar Vaillant suggest. Europe generally has much higher water pressures than most of the UK. In NW London you are lucky to get 1.5 Bar.

We generally only cover north of the river but stretch to some SW areas sometimes.

Tony

 

[andyg10]

Thanks Tony....How can I persuade you to come to Tower bridge?

 

[Agile]

Isnt that where they used to hang people?

We can only cover areas which we can access reasonably quickly from NW London, thats mostly W,N,NW, HA, WD, UB, and CV postcodes.

You should be able to manage to do the repressurisation yourself with all the information you have available here. In any case weeping at the pressure release valve on heat up is not very serious and would not be classed as needing an urgent visit.

On the other hand we have a boiler repair for a 95 y.o. lady to sort out.

We went to a blind 89 y.o. lady with a husband of 91 ! She had a new boiler installed by this fellow and she was so sharp that she did not pay him the full amount because the DHW was not working when he had installed it. My engineer said it looked like the first boiler he had ever fitted and he had allowed debris to completely block to completely block the water inlet filter.

Tony