DeviMat Issue - Stopped Heating Up

[simpic]

Hello,

We have had a lovely warm floor bathroom for the six months.

On Saturday the floor did not heat up.

It's a Devimat 3.5 m2 - Timber (350 Watt Capacity) purchased from Tile Fix Direct wired up to a Heatmiser Touchscreen Control PRT-ETS.

I have tested the resistance of mat and get no reading.

I have tested resistance of floor probe and get a reading in the kilohm range.

If I do a continuity check between the earth from the mat and the load (Black) cable I get a reading.

I'm pretty sure that means the mat is dead for some reason. Any ideas as to why this might have happend all of a sudden?

Is a call to Devimat support worth it or will they just say 'Sorry, nothing to be done'

I really don't want to have to pay for the tiles to be ripped up and the mat relaid!

Regards,

Simpic

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

How long as it been down, what type of warranty period was offered?

 

[simpic]

It's been down six months. The warranty is several years 10 I think. But only for the mat. Not the cost of ripping it up and re tiling. Secondary costs as they term it.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I rather think you already know the answer to your question.

If you get no reading on the element than the element is open circuit.
If you get a reading beween the element and the earth this is also a bad sign.

It very likely that the element has been damaged. Heavens knows why. It could be a defect with the Devimat itself.
Are you sure nobody has screwed anything into the floor?.
I've seen it done: "My missus wanted a door stop so it didn't bang into the cabinet"

They do sell a Repair Kit but I expect you would need to know where the fault is first. And take up flooring to get back to the mat.

Call Devi and ask what to do
http://devi.danfoss.com/United_Kingdom/Professional/Products/Postings+Support+and+Service/

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You'll probably end up joining the club of people who have a broken UFH installation that they cannot possibly repair because of the disruption to the flooring.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's been down six months. The warranty is several years 10 I think. But only for the mat. Not the cost of ripping it up and re tiling. Secondary costs as they term it.

Did you not stop to think that if it went wrong you would have no alternative but to take tiles up and then re-lay them?

 

[simpic]

Looks like we might have a possible solution.

I have spoken with the Devi people. Who are now Gaia Climate Solutions Ltd. (formerly DEVI Electroheat Ltd.) and arranged an engineer to visit next week.

The engineer will be able to heat the mat up somehow and trace the point at which the fault has occoured using a thermal imaging camera. We can then lift the one tile where the fault is and they can repair that part of the cable.

Simples

Well lets wait and see!

Whether this is covered by warranty will be decided by the engineer when he looks at the mat after we have taken the tile, adhesive and self levelling compund up. If it's a manufacturing defect it's all covered by Gaia Climate Solutions, no charge to me.

But if he decides that the fault was due to the mat being damaged during installation, then I have to pay for the engineer call out.

Here is a quote from the email I got sent by them...

"We are sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with your under floor heating, from the information provided we have determined that you require an engineer to visit, investigate and potentially repair your under floor heating system.
The cost for this visit to attend will be as follows:

£150.00 - Engineer call out including first hour £75 per hour - Every hour or part thereof
£8.50 - Per devimat repair kit £9.99 - Per deviflex heating cable repair kit

£89.99* – Replacement devireg Touch thermostat
Please Note: The devireg 550 has been discontinued and replaced by the devireg touch.
£34.99* – Replacement devireg 550 switching unit (BACK)
All repairs will be capped at £450 VAT, plus any repair kits. *All costs stated above exclude VAT at the current rate, except where highlighted.
To assist our engineer we request a relevant contractor to be present to lift the floor coverings as required. Failure could result in an aborted cost.
Underfloor Repairs accepts no liability for associated costs due to the repair of the product.
Whilst we have a good success rate and will endeavour to repair the fault, there are occasions where due to the severity of the damage to cable/mats we are unable to successfully repair the product. Our engineer will provide full details regarding the action required should this happen.
All repairs carry a 12 month warranty. (a copy of the full terms and conditions are available upon request)
It is strongly recommended that firstly you follow the underfloor repairs guidelines to checking the system to eliminate any basic wiring, thermostat or fuse issues. This service is a underfloor repair service, if the fault is found to be something that was originally declared as working on our trouble-shooter guide, a charge will be made of £275 VAT.

In the unlikely event that heating failure is a result of a manufacture fault, we will provide the relevant materials including a sample of the cable, an onsite engineers report and any subsequent images to the manufacturer to assist any claim.
If you are in acceptance of the above quotation, please complete and return the attached page. Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact myself on 0845 3052175.

We look forward to contacting you shortly to arrange a convenient appointment."

Personally I think there is little chance that the engineer will say it was a manufacturing defect, but it's still cheaper than ripping the whole floor up and re doing everything!

Regards,

Simpic

 

[simpic]

It's been down six months. The warranty is several years 10 I think. But only for the mat. Not the cost of ripping it up and re tiling. Secondary costs as they term it.

Did you not stop to think that if it went wrong you would have no alternative but to take tiles up and then re-lay them?

Errr, yes ??? And your point is?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

My point is why on earth did you install something like that if you were not prepared for the costs and disruption of taking up floor tiles when something went wrong?

 

[simpic]

My point is why on earth did you install something like that if you were not prepared for the costs and disruption of taking up floor tiles when something went wrong?

It shouldn't go wrong after six months, that's the point.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

FGS grow some common sense.

 

[simpic]

FGS grow some common sense.

Wow, you really are a rude person aren't you.

Common sense has nothing to do with the issue being discussed. A product which has been purchased in good faith with a long warranty has failed after six months in operation.

I'm well aware of the costs involved of getting it fixed and the disruption involved. And whether the company involved will consider it a warranty issue or not.

You really should keep your ill formed opinions to yourself.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Common sense has nothing to do with the issue being discussed.

It has everything to do with it.

A product which has been purchased in good faith with a long warranty has failed after six months in operation.

That's what products do. NOTHING never goes wrong.

And a warranty is not a guarantee - that heating mat could have failed after 6 days, 6 weeks or 6 years. It may be less likely to fail in the early days - depends on what's wrong. Faults due to improper installation are more likely to happen early on.

But to say it shouldn't go wrong after 6 months is naïve I wonder why the makers have got such a well established process and pricing structure for a service to repair something which shouldn't go wrong?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Simpic

It's not worth arguing. Personally I have a lot more sympathy with your plight than that shown by your other correspondent. $hit happens and it's better to try and help rather than pour more fuel on the flames.

Maybe nothing ever goes wrong in BAS's World.

Back to your mat. I would be very interested to know how the DeviMan plans to "heat up" a mat that has no continuity. Maybe he will use some other sort of energy trace tool.

Please post back with details. I may want to use the same technology/method on a similar problem, elsewhere.

Good luck

 

[simpic]

Taylortwocities,

I will do. He's due next Friday so I'll update after that.

Very interested to understand how he's going to do it as well.

Cheers,

Simpic