Help and advice needed with Vaillant Turbomax 242

[bingobango]

Hopefully some Vaillant experts out there can help me out!

My boiler is a turbomax 242/e or 282/e (its has a black fascia and green dials) and is about 12-13 years old. Last year I had a new diverter valve put it and it was working fine until the other day.

It doesn't fire up and ignite automatically anymore - and there is a flashing orange light beside what looks like a timer symbol.

If you use the reset dial, it takes a half dozen or maybe more tries before it finally fires up (you hear that 'click click' spark sound and then whoosh as it finally ignites). It seems to run fine when it is finally lit and we get HW and CH ok.

I had a company out to look at it, basically he said it was the circuit board and it would cost about £350. He recommended getting a new boiler which would cost arounf £1500 fitted.

I have had a look on the internet and have seen circuit boards (PCBs?) for sale for much less.

Does it sound like a circuit board issue?
Is there more than 1 type of circuit board and which one would it be?
Is there a part number for the circuit board I need?
Is it possible to fit a circuit board yourself - is it very difficult? I could always buy it myself and have someone else fit it?


We are looking to move house so dont really want to spend £1500 on a boiler. Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[Groovejet]

I would also check the servo valve.
If you take the 2 flat headed screws from either side the front panel it is the piece of kit with the small copper sensing tubes coming of it, which in turn go to the pump etc.( located behind the panel directly in the middle, cant miss it!)
This unit(servo) always gives trouble on this boiler for me, sometimes you can tap it with a screw driver, not excessively but dont tickle it either!
This sometimes gives it a jolt to bring the boiler on, in turn the diaphram pushes the spindle onto the microswith starting ignition.
If you arnt confident get someone who is!
Hope it helps?

 

[bingobango]

Thanks - I am hoping the engineer who came out would have checked that as he serviced it also - he seemed pretty certain it was the circuit board but who knows - I will have a look at that later!

Anyone able to help regarding the circuit board questions?

 

[Agile]

When they dont know whats wrong they always say PCB because its expensive.

You seem to have a flame failure problem and almostly certainly caused by something else. Probably just needs setting properly.

We cannot give DIY advice on gas related aspects.

You seem to think that you are going to save money by blindly changing something when you have no idea if its the cause of the fault.

Tony

 

[bingobango]

Thanks for the comments!

I am just looking four the best course of action, the engineer said it was the circuit board so thats all I have to go on..I was just wondering if what I described would be a common problem that could be attributed to a certain part.

It seems vaillant have a scheme whet you pay 260 pounds and they will fix it as long sad it's not the heat exchanger our something..maybe that would be best...

 

[Agile]

You did not say if you paid him?

If you just call someone out "to quote" for the repair, they are bound to quote a high price and are VERY foolish if they actually diagnose the fault and tell you what it is when they are not to be paid.

Tony

 

[bingobango]

He was a paid engineer which I have used before to service and repair the boiler, the call out was 65 pounds..

I just rang them to ask again about what the problem could be - he said either the pcb or the gas valve but he couldn't be sure it was most likely one or the other. He said they could bring down both and try eac one to see which it was. The PCB would cost like £340 fitted and the gas valve around £280 fitted I think.

So which would be the best course of action? Is it worth repairing for £260 using vaillant themselves, or buy the pcb or gas valve myself...or time to get a new boiler one altogether (eco tec 28)?

Thanks..

 

[Agile]

I dont see it as a proper diagnosis to just list two expensive parts.

The gas valve needs to be installed by a competent engineer. You could try to fit the PCB I suppose but its not a DIY job that I would recommend for most people.

My expectation is that its NEITHER of those parts!

What will he do when he changes the gas valve ( at your cost ) and it does not fix the fault? Then if he changes the PCB and that STILL does not fix it?

I still think that it just needs an adjustment and no new parts!

If thats the best RGI that you can find then the makers fixed price repair might be your best option.

In our local area I would 90% expect we would repair it for just our diagnostic charge ( more than £65 though ).

Tony

 

[ChrisR]

A bit like saying it's either the software or the hardware

It's always possible that an intermittent fault can be a pcb, which would cost more than the "fixed price" which some companies will repair for, if labour is added.
But it could be just an electrode somewhere.
Did yer man take it apart even?

Timer symbol?????
Oh right, eggtimer thing = ignition contacts

I wouldn't advise you try to change pcb or gas valve etc yourself.

 

[bingobango]

Thanks folks - the Vaillant repair option might be the best solution since they will repair everything for that fixed price (except the HX but I'm assuming its not that!).

I was just wondering whether a 14 year old boiler is worth repairing and can I get a couple of years out of it still.

Unfortunately I wasn't as home when the engineer came and my mum had to let him in, so I dont know if he took it apart or not. I assume he would have, they are a reputable firm and I have used them before.

So if £260 would fix it I would pay that assuming I got a couple of years at least out of it...remember I have already had a replaced diverter valve last year so hopefully that will last as it seems a common problem with these vaillant models..


My current issue looks like this one here:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1582720#1582720

in case that help identify the problem and if there is anything I can try myself..