Vailant VCW GB 242 EH Faulty?

[jaykayen]

Hi

Searching in panic last night before I went to work I found this forum - and now hopefully you clever and kind people might be able to help me!

I was having a shower last night when the water went cold (nice), so I went to check the boiler (valiant VCW GB 242 EH). It was making all the normal noise but there weres no flames through the viewing window - for hot water or heating. A few exploratory tests revealed that powering off or having the heating turned off made no difference. The boiler was drawing no gas from the supply, although when the hot tap was turned on the normal noise could be heard - but no ignition clicks.

I left the system turned off overnight and when i returned this morning tried it again - it worked, although the hot water seems hotter than normal. I have one control knob for temperature, and that still changes the radiator temperatures. Also now when I hav the heating on, and turn on the hot water, the flames go out then relight (it could have done this before but I never really paid that much attention).

My question is therefore...whats going on? Is the boiler on the blink? If its is developing a fault, can it be DIY fixed, what parts do I need etc. If it requires professional attention, any idea of a ballpark cost? (Swansea area)

I moved into this house 2 months ago, so have no long term experience of this boiler and no instruction manual. The boielr has a sticker inside with the dates that is has been serviced - last time approx 8 months ago.

Many thanks in advance,

J

 

[croydoncorgi]

'Normal noise' when drawing hot water: What? Boiler fan running? or just water noise? The bokler pump is supposed to run on for a while after doing HW. Or was it doing CH as well?

If it lit up OK this morning, could be have been a glitch in the HW flow switch - in which case you will probably find it gets worse. More and more flow will be needed to get it going. Also note that despite advertising most combis DO NOT do HW and CH at the same time! They do hot water immediately the tap runs but it can take up to several minutes before the burner relights to do central heating, depending on model.

Hot water flow detection problems are usually quite easy to find and fix.

 

[jaykayen]

By normal noise, I was meaning the both water flow and fan noise, plus the water pump when the heating was on.

Thanks,

J