Hot water low pressure after Diverter Valve replacement

[The831Bunny]

Anyway it's all ******? That's not a screw to be loosened? That's the fill loop connection? Where is the non return valve and hose that comes with the boiler ? It's missing and the valve is passing, no amount of tightening will fix that... U need a new fill loop , not plumbers fault I'm afraid, he would have needed to move the valve to fill ,,, just ur bad luck

Correct, the filling loop hose and NRV are missing...

 

[Bunnyman]

Ur right 831 4 pages of irelivant ****** really an Welcome back 831 hopefully catch up tomoz

 

[Dan Robinson]

Hey man - this wouldn't be DIYNot without pages of waffle

 

[Gorguruga]

No, that's the engineers fault since that pipe wasn't leaking until the engineer unscrewed it. His action of unscrewing it literally caused the new leak. I actually saw him unscrew that area, then a gush of water sprayed out and he quickly screwed it back - right at the start of the job. He obviously didn't screw it back tight enough.

This may be difficult for you to understand.

The engineer unscrewed "something". Its not clear exactly what was unscrewed.

He then screwed "it" back.

It then leaked afterwards.

Now the difficult part.

You blame the engineer, not obviously why.

But could you understand if the engineer correctly unscrewed and screwed but the poorly matched parts did not seal properly afterwards?

I can understand how that scenario could happen of course, but at the same time can you understand that a rogue-trader might easily cause an issue like this too in order to get more business out of the customer?

That's why I say it's a catch-22, none of the qualified people here might have ever tried to do that, but we all know that there are many people who do operate in this way. Look at the "Rogue Traders" TV series which documents on camera many examples of this from many different workman.

To give you an example outside of the world of plumbing / boiler engineering. Look at computer viruses - many people believe it's the virus-killer companies who actually hire people to create new computer viruses in order to create the demand for their virus-killer product.

It's about creating demand so that you can fulfil the supply. A very old concept really and still very much relevant in today's world throughout various industries.

 

[Gorguruga]

Whilst I can understand what you are all are saying here and a lot of customers do have a bad attitude!
Do they also blame the last mechanic who fixed their car when something else goes wrong with it or even their doctor when they become unwell?
No!
But it is a fact of our trade that they're always very willing to blame the plumber for anything that goes wrong!

However,the poster does have a problem with low water pressure that requires our investigation.

Just reminding everyone that "We are a service industry"
Servotech

That's partly because a lot of engineers have a bad attitude too. Do you know I rang around 6 or 7 companies, did quite a bit of research and finally settled on one because a) the company had a good reputation and b) the owner of the company seemed to be a normal, friendly, down-to-earth guy over the phone whereas every other engineer I had called sounded like I'd just interrupted them at a funeral or something.

And like I mentioned before, there are plenty of tradesmen who do try to cheat customers - it's been documented in the Rogue Traders TV series very thoroughly. It's conduct which is so common that they were able to make an entire TV series out of it. Hardly a rare occurrence in other words.

 

[Johnmdc]

I think you are being a bit paranoid here. Have you even rang them to ask them to come back and fix it yet?

 

[Gorguruga]

The evidence seems to point that we have a householder who thinks it is fair game to get a tradesman in to fix one problem and then expect him to mop up all the other age related defects on his system, for free, whilst he is there.

We had a similar issue a year ago, where we closed and then opened a towel rail valve as part of a powerflush routine, and the spindle snapped. Customer was adamant that we'd broken it and therefore it had to be replaced at our cost. Nearest merchant for a matching one was 20 miles away. I expect many of the tradesmen here will have come across some cheap imported chrome in line valves that regularly snap internally.

I suppose a good analogy would be that you go to a friends house and open the window, it falls clean out of the frame into the street below. Are you going to arrange for a new window and get it fitted?

Just for the record, we changed the valve because the customer's wife said we'd broken it; at our cost, a few days later. But I don't think we were treated ethically. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.

I'm behind the tradesman in this instance.

How did the customer know that you didn't damage it on purpose to try to get more money out of them? Happens all the time.

 

[Gorguruga]

Anyway it's all ******? That's not a screw to be loosened? That's the fill loop connection? Where is the non return valve and hose that comes with the boiler ? It's missing and the valve is passing, no amount of tightening will fix that... U need a new fill loop , not plumbers fault I'm afraid, he would have needed to move the valve to fill ,,, just ur bad luck

The plumber actually said "there is no filling loop" when he initially examined the boiler.

 

[Gorguruga]

I think you are being a bit paranoid here. Have you even rang them to ask them to come back and fix it yet?

Yes, they'll be here between 2 to 3. I've encountered similar issues in the past with rogue traders so it's not paranoia, as such, since it's a concern based upon empirical evidence.

 

[endecotp]

Forgive my ignorance folks, but how can this system possibly work without a filling loop somewhere?

Is the implication that there was once a filling loop but it has been removed and now there is no way to top up the system? And that this "dripping screw" is the point where it should be connected?

(Maybe it is hiding in the back of a cupboard somewhere?)

 

[DP]

So, 4 pages on this thread and finally it has been revealed the poster has been critical and suspicious of the guy who came to do some work on his boiler

How did the customer know that you didn't damage it on purpose to try to get more money out of them? Happens all the time.

Yea, with customers who think like you, any wonder quite as few regulars here would would rather stay in bed

 

[Gorguruga]

So, 4 pages on this thread and finally it has been revealed the poster has been critical and suspicious of the guy who came to do some work on his boiler

How did the customer know that you didn't damage it on purpose to try to get more money out of them? Happens all the time.

Yea, with customers who think like you, any wonder quite as few regulars here would would rather stay in bed

Of course I'm suspicious of any stranger who comes into my house. They are strangers and I don't know anything about them, like whether they're reputable people or con-artists. Only a fool would unreservedly trust a total stranger.

But, in this case, as mentioned before, I did a lot of research and talked to the owner a few times (which must have been an hour in total) so I don't believe these guys are rogue-traders at all, I just think the screw wasn't tightened enough or the subsequent expansion and contraction of the boiler, post-repair, managed to loosen the screw.

 

[Gorguruga]

Engineer just popped around, spent 1.5 hours fixing the problem, including a replacement valve part. No additional charges. Knew I chose the right company, what a gem.

 

[Johnmdc]

Result! So what was the problem with the reduced flow, the leaking valve being faulty and not letting enough water through?

 

[Gorguruga]

Result! So what was the problem with the reduced flow, the leaking valve being faulty and not letting enough water through?

Indeed it was. The engineer couldn't tighten the valve any more than I'd already tightened it with some pliers so he removed the part, tried to lubricate it but that actually made the leak much worse. Luckily, he ended up having the exact part in his van (second-hand one) so he just replaced it with that part after trying a few different sized washers. He was very critical of Vaillant part prices since this replacement part would usually cost £45 new and he said it probably only cost a couple of quid to manufacture.

So now, flow rate is back to normal, haven't heard a bang from the boiler for the past half hour (since I got back in) and there's no leak!

Here's the part:
http://www.partscenter.co.uk/en/hea...oiler-parts/ecotec/vaillant-0020010295-valve/