My Vaillant Turbomax VUW 242 boiler problem with hot water

ian2012 · 9 Jul 2009

Hi there,

Wondering if someone could help me out here. Would be most appreciated!

I have now for a long time been struggling with my boiler. Since I ve moved in the house, the hot water could never continuously flow i.e. when having a shower, you would get hot water for about 5minutes then lose it and then get it again.

I have called various people to come and fix the problem. One of the guys recommended that i get a power flush, to clear the system of small debris. He pumped the system with a chemical, through the radiators, etc but note that he did not remove the boiler itself and clear the actual boiler (as I have been told this is the proper way to do it). This did not solve the problem!
He then went onto to say it could only be the ?heat exchange filter? that is faulty.

I went to call another guy, and he said the heat exchange filter could not be faulty without me noticing (somehow). He recommends i change my boiler altogether!!!

I would greatly appreciate if someone could help me out on this and give me some much needed advice.

Cheers,
Ian
(no knowledge of boilers whatsoever)

gas4you · 9 Jul 2009

From here it sounds the classic plate HE blockage on the system side.

The plate HE needs removing and chemically cleaning on its own.

Strange the chap who came round didn't know this and done a full powerflush instead, no doubt at quite a price

mickyg · 9 Jul 2009

Interesting fault. Are you sure its 5 minutes? 5 minutes of correctly functioning hot water before a fault is unusual. Does the temperature fluctuate as well?

kevindgas · 9 Jul 2009

blockage in plate heat exchanger is simple to sort out. get your gasman take it out and look inside it if its blocked clean it out with a chemical cleaner. or just replace it.

if this boiler has the cylindrical diverter valve it often fails so also worth thinking about.
certainly do not think you need to replace boiler!

namsag · 10 Jul 2009

You say with shower on.
Does it just run for 5 mins with the bath tap or sink tap.

ian2012 · 10 Jul 2009

I think 5 minutes is a bit ambitious, its maybe about 2 minutes. The boiler is in the kitchen downstairs and the shower is upstairs. It happens with both the tap (in the kitchen) and the shower. But i mean you notice it more with the shower, since you turn the tap on and off when you're washing dishes.

I also gotta note that the boiler is 11 years old. Does this have any implications?

The guy that did the powerflush thought the system could have been clogged up, but then realized it must be the HE plate. Apparently the last guy said that even clearing the HE plate, with a boiler this old, there is still only a 60% chance of it working again? Is this true?

[Also the on/off switch keeps flashing when i turn the boiler on and a light is glowing for the hot water indicator]

ian2012 · 10 Jul 2009

Sorry, i ve made a mistake in saying that he did not clean the HE plate, he actually did clear the HE plate. He said that the HE plate mite need changing as a consequence( note that the HE plate was not leaking, and so i am doubtful whether it needs replacing).

But the important point is, the last guy said the piping in the boiler itself, the boiler system, is clogged up and would need cleaning itself. He said, since the boiler is 11 years old, you are not 100% guaranteed the boiler will work if it is cleaned.?

ian2012 · 10 Jul 2009

Also have to note that:

Since he did the powerflush, the hot water is not working now at all!! The on/off light is flashing, on the boiler.

peter the plumber · 10 Jul 2009

this sounds that the plate to plate exchanger is blocked and has tripped in the over heat stat.look in to boiler and on the left hand side you will see a rubber covered switch,make sure power is off and press switch.turn boiler back on,if it keeps tripping you have a blocked plate to plate peter

gigz · 10 Jul 2009

ian2012 said:
Since I ve moved in the house, the hot water could never continuously flow i.e. when having a shower, you would get hot water for about 5minutes then lose it and then get it again.

Do you mean the water stops coming or the water goes cold ?

ian2012 · 10 Jul 2009

I meant the water gets cold.

gigz · 12 Jul 2009

Might just need the diaphragm changing

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My Vaillant Turbomax VUW 242 boiler problem with hot water

namsag

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