I have been thinking about this Ian, and some doubts have crept in, seeing that some in this thread seem to imply that the last service was not properly done because of the short time taken. If I were to book a service, I should need to pay £80.00 up front. From then on, I am dependent on the honesty, or otherwise, of the engineer. Having looked at the fault list and the electrode, it's possible he could say, "No, everything is OK." One Vaillant engineer (about three years ago) said, "It looks as if you HAVE HAD a leak", because I was complaining about the pressure keep going down, and the boiler shutting down because of that. He did not say, "There IS a leak". He just finished the service and went. Naturally, the boiler pressure went down again and the boiler shut down again. So, I called Vaillant back, and the next engineer said that the fault was a leaking overflow vessel or tank (I forget the term). Anyway, he replaced it, and the boiler was fine after that. So I know that not all engineers sent by Vaillant are honest. What if the next chap were willing to skip the issue, after I have laid out £80.00? It could be a month or two before it fails again (it's still working, now), after which time, Vaillant might not want to know.
I am more than willing to spend money to keep our boiler fit, but I do want certainty.
L.L.
