Radiators not warming up - Vaillant Boiler 242E

[turbuch]

I have a vailant boiler 242E , its broken down 3+ times under warranty.

The boiler is less than 2 years old

Heres the story

Had new boiler installed, Corgi Man did not flush the system. 6 months later System broke down. Called Vailant - said system needed flushing
Had system flushed - Boiler stared working , 8 months later Boiler stopped working, called vailant - said system needed flushing - got plumber to change all the radiators & pipes. system worked for approx 4 months. Called Vailant had engineed , said system was blocked. Fixed it or so he said. Not that I noticed. Still did not work.
Called Vaillant again - Engineer came and went, I have hot water but no central heating (So much for the guarantee) . Called someone else this who says boiler has a TANK at the back which is full of MUD and the only solution is to replace the boiler as it will keep breaking down. At present Central Heating works But 2 radiators are cold (No thanks to Vaillant).

Q. Is there a Tank in a Vailant Combi boiler that could be filled with mud or is this bullshit.

Q. Because of the sludge in the system could the pump be faulty.

Q. If all the radiators have been bled and they dont have thermostatic valves - what else could be wrong.

I could buy another boiler and still be at square one.

 

[blahblah]

If you tried to run your car on chicken **** would you blame the manufacturers when it went wrong? Sounds like your lucky they didn't wash their hands of you strraight away. What did the installer say when you lambasted him over the lack of flush?

 

[turbuch]

Fair comment,

The plumber was not that bothered he'd been paid after all. The fact that there was S??? in the system does not invalidate the guarantee. Dont forget S??? happens.

 

[blahblah]

Is it working properly on hw? If not pump maybe part blocked, diverter may be dickie or else the problem is outside of the boiler and not under their guarantee. You appear to have Vailants 2nd year of guarantee which means the original guy Benchmarked it and then it was serviced at year one. Surely you've asked him?

 

[blahblah]

We crossed there. Did Vailant say that? Did they do anything other than look at it?

 

[turbuch]

I have asked him, he says normally vailant engineers are very helpful (I guess times are changing), the last 2 engineers that came said that system was fine. Even though theres was no central heating or hot water(Engineer 1), Hot water only (Engineer 2). Prior to this I have always had feedbck (i.e flush the system!!). So I really dont know what to do. The plumber that flushed the system is saying theres a tank at the back of the boiler thats full of S>>>. Vaillant engineers have not said anything regarding this.

Does anyone know if there is a tank??

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

 

[gastight]

Are sure this boiler is only two years old ?
I thought, and I maybe wrong, that Valliant 242s were superceded with Turbox Max 824.

Can we have the full model of your boiler ?

 

[kevplumb]

would that be whats hanging on my wall

 

[turbuch]

Boiler is TurboMax+ 824/2 E (VUW GB 242/2-5) Thats how its described on Vaillants Web Site.

Hot water is working.

 

[kevplumb]

try reading the small print
if theres any sh?? in the system its down to the installer
and yes i am one
tank at back of boiler is expansion vessel

 

[turbuch]

This 'expansion Vessel' is it easy to replace if it is the cause of the fault, How much would it cost in labour to replace approx??


Thanks

 

[turbuch]

As regards the B****** who installed the boiler he's got his money keeps saying he'll do it but never turns up. As you say ' The cheque has cleared'

 

[ChrisR]

The only "tank" IS the pressure vessel which should be half or more full of air. It would lead to water peeing from prv pipe through wall, bogger all to do with a radiator being cold.

There is (silver thing, transverse) a heat exchanger which can be knobbled by dirt in it but the first thing to go would be your HW.

You could have a blocked MAIN heat exchanger which would lead to evrything being poor, really. Both h/e's can be cleanedin an hour or two total. A main h/e which passes hardly any water (ie from garden hose) still heats the house a bit.

Have you tried shutting all other rads than the non-workers?

I'd suggest you get the heat exchangers cleaned, and have a filter fitted in the return pipe, with isol valves each side. (all too often there's no room). Then you empty the filter if the sludge is still circulating.

 

[DP]

I would say you are lucky so far in that Vaillant people have carried out repairs on yhe 'dirty' system that has caused the boiler to fail.

The Benchmark logbook details who did what to the installation. I would not be surprised if there is no Benchmark logsheet or it is blank. This item is your gurantee that the work was done to a standard. S**** does not happen if the system is clean. But it does mean the manufacturer's engineer can charge for in warranty call as the failure is the cause of boiler malfunction.

Older the system, longer it takes to convert system sediment to solubles that can be removed from the system. A draindown and refil is not a system cleanse.

You could send a water sample to Fernox for testing. They will provide you a detailed report.

 

[kevplumb]

look in forum info
items 8 &9

thanks to dp&cr