Vaillant 282 Self-Servicing ?

[johnny_t]

OK, Please don't shout....

I have what seems to be a fairly old Vaillant 282 running on LPG, and have the British Gas 3-star cover. This gives an annual safety check, but I am acutely aware that this is not the same as a service and I would like the boiler to run as efficiently as possible given the running costs are somewhat high.

Is there anything I can do as a halfway house between nothing and a service (like hoover out the soot or something). I am competent with a spanner and a screwdriver, but am in no way a Gas man or Plumber.

Or should I leave well alone and just get someone in to do a service ?

 

[weareleeds]

A yearly visit by b.g. will check combustion performace so if any soot was in heat exchanger(most unlikely it will more likely be zinc oxide) it would show up when tested. So my advice is leave it to those who know what they are doing

 

[DP]

There should not be any soot in the combustiom chamber. However, there will be dust in the chamber, on burner, main heat exchanger and fan. This, if it is causing a problem, will have been picked up by the flue analyser.

What will not be picked up will be the water carrying components like the servo valve, water section, diverter valve and what not.

Boiler is quite complex. You may end up with a broken boiler if you do not understand boiler operation (which can catch out even those who are familiar with its operation)

Well built boiler which could do with service as recomended by the makers and not as practiced by some. Flue analysis cannot be used as a substitude for a service. This I was told by my CORGI inspector at the last inspection.