New vaillant ecoplus boiler and really fed up

[AnnaD]

I had the above said condenser boiler installed just over a week ago, finally after having no heating for 3 months. Since then I've had nothing but trouble and it's getting me down now. The first time an engineer had to come out because I kept getting a F.83 code on it which the engineer said was due to air in the system and told me I needed to get the installers out again. So they did today and said they didn't think my original boiler had been wired up properly so they've attached a wire to the boiler (I'm sorry, I'm female I don't know what the parts are called). Anyway I finally have heating but the problem I have now discovered is that I can't turn the heating off and it's wasting gas. I have set the timer and neither the heating or the water is on there. The boiler was still cranking itself up periodically so I have now set the heating on that to summer mode with hot water only. However the hot water is still going around the system and heating up all the radiators. How can I stop this?? I can't afford to waste fuel like this or keep getting parts replaced. If it helps I have a pump that is set to III and some other kind of valve thing in the airing cupboard. I never had this trouble with my old boiler, I only had it replaced because of a gas leak and someone told me about the government scheme.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Wow.

 

[Hason]

Sounds like it was wired up on switch live ,ESP if you had to run new wire,get the wiring checked as this doesn't sound like a boiler fault,,boiler will only come on if a signal is sent from controls.sadly not all engineers can sort heating wiring,but don't get to stressed with boiler.good luck

 

[BigSnoopy01]

Def a wiring fault , get them back, keep boiler stat turned down.

 

[AnnaD]

Thanks both. I was wondering that. I did manage eventually to turn the heating of by pressing the 'power on' button on my pump and setting it to I. That seemed to stop the noise from the pump. I had turned my radiators down so tested one to see if the heating had gone off and it did begin to heat up so I turned it down again and left it. This morning I did the check again and no heating coming through so I've reset the heating on the boiler but left the pump at I (what do all those settings on the pump mean?). The heating is on at the moment but I've only put it on for an hour so I'm interested to see if it will go off in an hour. I'm just worrying about the cost of getting people out more than anything.

 

[DaveHerns]

Get the installer back. He's supposed to fit it and leave it working properly. There must be some guarantee. Be careful about slowing the pump down too far.The boiler might then cut out because it's overheating due to lack of circulation. Might not be but better not take chances

 

[Agile]

It seems that you had the boiler fitted under some kind of free or subsidised scheme.

Even so you should expect it to be fitted properly. You should complain to the installers or scheme providers and really in writing as telephone calls have no impact.

Whilst DP on this forum thinks that contractors for HAs and these schemes are very good, I have to say that I hear of so many examples of substandard work.

Tony

 

[simond]

What do mean, Tony?

The installer of a boiler under the Governments' schemes must have passed their PAS2030 accreditation.

There is no way this boiler could have been bashed in by a knuckle dragging numpty. Us private contractors can only aspire to reach the heady heights of these skilled artisans.

 

[muggles]

Thanks both. I was wondering that. I did manage eventually to turn the heating of by pressing the 'power on' button on my pump and setting it to I. That seemed to stop the noise from the pump. I had turned my radiators down so tested one to see if the heating had gone off and it did begin to heat up so I turned it down again and left it. This morning I did the check again and no heating coming through so I've reset the heating on the boiler but left the pump at I (what do all those settings on the pump mean?). The heating is on at the moment but I've only put it on for an hour so I'm interested to see if it will go off in an hour. I'm just worrying about the cost of getting people out more than anything.

You shouldn't really adjust the pump, it should have been set to an appropriate setting for maximum heating efficiency. I suggest you put it back to where it was. Do you have a hot water cylinder?

As for the cost of getting someone out, it should cost you precisely nothing. You have a contract with the installer to fit the boiler correctly, so that it does what it's supposed to do; if there's an installation fault that means it doesn't work properly, they need to come back and fix it for free

 

[Agile]

The installer of a boiler under the Governments' schemes must have passed their PAS2030 accreditation.

Would that explain why this lady I know had her 418 fitted without a permanent live which invalidates the warranty?

Even worse the installing man wanted to charge her another £60 to connect it properly!

The installing company has a lot of complaints all over the web about them.

I am going to do it free for her because I don't like to see people taken advantage of by nupties.

Tony

 

[DP]

Tony, you completely miss the point I made about some HA installers. I SAID there are HA guys that do top quality work. I did not say they ALL work to same standard

You have worked in isolation too long as a result you think you are the only one who can turn out quality work. Give credit where credit is due old chap

 

[AnnaD]

I'm not housing association, I own my own property but had the boiler fitted under the government scheme having to pay a donation for it to be fitted. Thank you for all your comments, I just can't fathom it out. I have contacted the installers but they won't be able to get out to me until later during the week. I'm not very good at ranting at people, I just ended up getting upset instead. Does anyone think they should have replaced my existing thermostat and timer too?

 

[DaveHerns]

Probably not if there's nothing obviously wrong with them

 

[DP]

Anna, your boiler can be thought of as a big kettle.
The programmer should have two channels, one for heating, other for hot water.
Heating channel or zone should have associated heating thermostat that monitors room temperature where it is fitted. If you set that thermostat to 20, room temperature, once it has reached 20, boiler display will show the boiler is off but the pump will run for a a short period of time.

Similarly, hot water cylinder should have a thermostat that is probably set to 55, 60 or some such number. If you are asking for hot water to be heated, thermostat fitted to the cylinder should stoop the boiler from firing but pump will run on for a short period.

When boiler is running, you should see a radiator symbol in the display panel on the boiler. (I am sure if I am correct, the Vaillant boffins will correct me)

If non of the zones are calling, boiler will stay off.

Thermostats are a requirement and should have been fitted.

Boiler wiring should be as the book says else boiler may or may not work correctly- No deviation

The benchmark logbook (Page 48) should have been completed by the installer

Hope above helps