Vaillant ecotec plus 418. Many problems.

[Gasguru]

Is the Drayton MA1 valve new? I ask since these are one of the most unreliable zone valves on the market. They typically fail with random problems that you describe.

Forget trying to diagnose them with a multimeter...there are too many failure modes.

The site listed gives a good summary of the issues. I suggest you unclip the white actuator and carry out a few checks yourself. Ensure the heating system is isolated from the mains power.

Check the spindle on the brass valve body is free to rotate by hand and there is no water leakage. The spindle will only move perhaps 15 degrees.
Remove the single screw on the actuator and unclip the cover. Check both springs are secure..it is common for the plastic posts to shear off.
The micro switches and other components can also fail but you can't readily test those.

It is often better to substitute a new actuator/valve to be sure.

http://www.seered.co.uk/drayton.htm

 

[EricTheFedUp]

The valve in the airing cupboard is ticking now, a constant on/off at approx 1 second intervals
possibly a touch faster, it seems warmer than the pipework either side of it.

The old valve was perfect, no issues until the new system was installed. I am willing to
do some tests myself. I have test meters and a tester to check for live cables/studding,
need to find that out. Its a bit chaotic here having the kitchen done. Kitchen appliances
and everything blocking up every room.

Fitting the new valve did nothing to change the system. It just refuses to switch to the
mid position for heating and water. Although with the boiler off its currently in the
mid position and ticking away.


How much am i looking at to get Tony to come and look? Too far for him?

Thanks.

Could it be linked to the fact hot water takes priority over the heating? Although they fitted the original style controller with the large advance buttons on the left and right. I preferred that controller simple for the missus to switch the heating on or off.

If your cold press advance, if your hot press advance. Now you need to move the slider to day time or always on and remember to switch it back..

Am i getting old and hating change???

Sorry but this things doing my head in...

 

[snes]

Don't think Tony's Freedom Pass extends to Birmingham.

 

[EricTheFedUp]

Well i could not sleep again... I made a 4 minute video if its of any use, it seems worse than
before?

will this work?

I had to manually switch the slider off at 7:10 because it was still going
even though the room stat was right down.

EDIT: just spotted the tap symbol appear and disappear when i turned the
temp down on the tap dial. Should it do that even though the water is off?

 

[DP]

Eric, talk nicely to tony

He is known to travel north
Will be a challenge to Tony- he did say he was doing a call for free for someone as he dislikes numpties
So who knows, play your cards right and your troubles will be no more

Thre are times when one has to take bull by the horns and seek alternative solution
I have at times done a 100 mile or more round trip to attend a call, for a fee may I add

 

[EricTheFedUp]

Well they are going to get another contractor in to have a look, they need to find one
first.

Anyone wanna call them and put in an offer?

 

[Agile]

DP will go if he is paid enough. Is Birmingham near Scotland?

He will probably move south anyway if the Scots put his tax up to 50% !

He is very impressed by most HA contractors so don't know what has gone wrong in your case.

Tony

 

[DP]

Tony I think you need to visit specsavers. Read what I posted.
Are you suggesting EVERY HA installer is an idiot

I would have thought Birmingham is closer to London than Glasgow, even as crow flies

If Eric is game and has the dosh, will travel

 

[Johnmdc]

Get them to check the wiring to the cylinder stat.
If they have mixed up the 3 wires to it, that can cause all sorts of problems.

 

[DP]

Get them to check the wiring to the cylinder stat.
If they have mixed up the 3 wires to it, that can cause all sorts of problems.

The problem here is lack of understanding or awareness how a standard system operates. Throwing combines on the wall day in day out does not help

 

[Echo the husky]

The problem here is lack of understanding or awareness how a standard system operates...

It's a standard domestic heating system not a space shuttle FFS! It really isn't difficult.

I get dumped in front of huge industrial laundry machines from time to time, and I'm expected to find the fault and get them working again when they break down, often with the line manager breathing down my neck. Many of the machines are getting old and have no service manuals or wiring diagrams. I am just an electrician. If I can work on these complex machines without assistance, there is no reason why a heating engineer can't fault find the heating system that they have just installed.

 

[ScottishGasMan]

This is amazing how such a simple problem can cause so much fuss. 90% of BG engineers given the time to look through the wiring could have had that sorted 1st time with no fuss.

DP's right though. The folk there getting to look at it are not heating engineers or technicians or whatever you want to call them. They are combi slingers that have learned how to hang a shelf, (once you can hang a shelf you can hang a combi and then its a case of just sticking pipes in and a plug on it)

 

[DP]

The problem here is lack of understanding or awareness how a standard system operates...

It's a standard domestic heating system not a space shuttle FFS! It really isn't difficult.

I get dumped in front of huge industrial laundry machines from time to time, and I'm expected to find the fault and get them working again when they break down, often with the line manager breathing down my neck. Many of the machines are getting old and have no service manuals or wiring diagrams. I am just an electrician. If I can work on these complex machines without assistance, there is no reason why a heating engineer can't fault find the heating system that they have just installed.

Heating engineer sometimes does not understand controls, especially when all he is doing is throwing combis on the wall
Electrician then rolls up, he may not understand the boiler requirements, or the controls may not be in place.
Case of too many cooks.

Dealing with same boiler installed by builders plumber. 3 Existing two port MVs (two heat zones and UV cylinder). Heat zones work OK but when clock switches off, boiler power disappears so no pump over run. HW cylinder demand does not fire the boiler.

Boiler here was a kingfisher that did not need pump over run or permanent live. Vaillant series 4 has been installed because I suggested this to the customer (I was to look after it and builder wanted to fit a Heinze tin on the wall, hens the suggestion). Clearly the plumber was out of his depth here or the electrician needed specs. The condensate pipe runs smack in front of the wiring centre. No bypass fitted

 

[bernardgreen]

there is no reason why a heating engineer can't fault find the heating system that they have just installed

There is one reason. The tem heating "engineer" is not appropriate for them. Heating installer would be a more appropriate title. To be fair to them they were probably only ever trained to fit things and given no education about fault finding other than being told to follow the fault diagnostic flow chart in the manual. And not all faults are covered in those flow charts.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Hey Bernard. If the OP had had a combi, he wouldn't be having these problems