Vaillant EcoTech Plus 837 - F28 fault when heating is triggered

[dazzler9000]

Hoping somebody can help. I called out a heating engineer this week as my boiler has started erroring in the mornings when the heating is triggered. This has become more frequent, but so far can be remedied by pressing the reset button. When it errors, I get the F28 and a F54 error. The engineer said it's difficult to troubleshoot as it can be reset/restarted. He said when it breaks, he'll have a better idea of the problem and currently, he'd just be swapping bits and that could get costly.

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas. As mentioned, unless it's in an errored state, the boiler always delivers hot water and the heating seems to work okay in the evening.

 

[BlueLoo]

Vaillant F28 Error/Fault Code: What it is (and how to fix it)

F28, no, it's not a fighter jet. It's an error code which pops up surprisingly often on many Vaillant boilers. Have you been a victim of the F28 code? Help is at hand, at Heatable.

heatable.co.uk

Get a new heating engineer.

 

[CBW]

As above, new heating engineer. F28 combined with F54 points to a specific problem on a Vaillant

 

[dazzler9000]

As above, new heating engineer. F28 combined with F54 points to a specific problem on a Vaillant

Thanks, he did mention it could be the gas valve or gas supply. He checked the supply into the house and that was fine.

What doesn't make sense (to me at least), is why does it always fail to start in the morning? Hot water from taps and heating in the evening appear to be fine?

 

[Jon0781]

Thanks, he did mention it could be the gas valve or gas supply. He checked the supply into the house and that was fine.

What doesn't make sense (to me at least), is why does it always fail to start in the morning? Hot water from taps and heating in the evening appear to be fine?

Did you ever resolve this? If so, what was it?

Also having the same issue and going around the houses a little with engineers.

 

[dazzler9000]

Did you ever resolve this? If so, what was it?

Also having the same issue and going around the houses a little with engineers.

Hi Jon,

I haven't resolved it yet. Fortunately, so far I've been able to reset the boiler each time it's happened.

I've been reluctant to throw money at an ageing boiler so close to spring (mine seems to break only when heating is needed) as my concerns were that a gas engineer might just be guessing what the issue is and I'd end up spending £300-£800 until we fix it. I did conclude that if I called another engineer, I'd get Vaillant directly as they'd have the best chances of fixing it right away. But i'm concerned that something else will break straight after and I may as well have replaced it.

Currently, I'm looking at getting a quote for a replacement with British Gas. My life is stressful and I like the thought of interest-free purchase/payment and a 12-year guarantee.

 

[Jon0781]

Hi Jon,

I haven't resolved it yet. Fortunately, so far I've been able to reset the boiler each time it's happened.

I've been reluctant to throw money at an ageing boiler so close to spring (mine seems to break only when heating is needed) as my concerns were that a gas engineer might just be guessing what the issue is and I'd end up spending £300-£800 until we fix it. I did conclude that if I called another engineer, I'd get Vaillant directly as they'd have the best chances of fixing it right away. But i'm concerned that something else will break straight after and I may as well have replaced it.

Currently, I'm looking at getting a quote for a replacement with British Gas. My life is stressful and I like the thought of interest-free purchase/payment and a 12-year guarantee.

That's fair enough, I'm almost certain from my Google research that it's the gas valve but the engineer suggested more than likely to be ignition. That was replaced and sure enough woke up to a cold house this morning . Like yours, the fault seems to be sporadic!

 

[dazzler9000]

That's fair enough, I'm almost certain from my Google research that it's the gas valve but the engineer suggested more than likely to be ignition. That was replaced and sure enough woke up to a cold house this morning . Like yours, the fault seems to be sporadic!

Good luck, let me know how it goes. As I mentioned, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid, somebody guessing at my problem and getting it wrong at my expense.