Vaillant Boiler no hot water VCW242 EH

[gleds]

i Have a Vaillant combi boiler and as winter has hit the hot water has gone on the blink. The central heating is working fine, but when we turn on the hot tap the boiler tries to ignite but with no success. Weirdly enough there is a old switch on the top of the boiler which i guess was replaced some time ago. The switch has a plunger on it

can anyone tell me if it is probably the switch again and replacing it will fix it. or What I should expect to pay an engineer?

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

[ChrisR]

There will be many parts on a boiler this age which aren't as they were designed to be. Several common parts to fail, would cause your problem. Replacing one dilapidated part doesn't always solve the problem, so more has to be gone into, and everyone's unhappy. A bit like changing old spark plugs on a car which doesn't start reliably. "They didn't need changing" is the cry, if the car turns out to have a Starter problem

Everyone I hear of is being told they need a new boiler for the most trivial of faults, so unless you're very lucky, that's all you'll hear.

Try a company which has OLD engineers, who will know the beast well!

 

[clarkerothwell]

my guess is that this boiler is approx twenty years old?
Will be lucky if you can get parts for it, and if you can this time, after paying for labour and parts, who's to say it might only last a month before something else goes, and all been a waste of money.
If i had a twenty year old car, and i was having trouble with it, i wouldnt be thinking of replacing any spark plugs on it, or taking it to and old garage hoping they know how to work on it, i'd be investing in a more effiecent relaible model with better performance and another ( hopefully) 15 / 20 years!