Vizo boiler error code already?

[jbartlett]

Hi everyone,

We had a Vizo boiler installed back at the end of June (2008) as we had to upgrade our very old backburner system.

At the start of this week it stopped working and displayed an F4 error code on the display.

Since then we have had the initial guy who installed it out to have a look who reset it, and then said it was still showing the same error so to contact the company (heatline) directly as its still under warrenty.

We then waited days (without heating or hot water) for the engineer to come round who said he wouldnt touch it because apparently the flue kit used to install it didnt have a heatline sticker on it, he temporarily put the warrenty on hold until we replaced it with an official heatline flue (We didnt get the right flue kit for the boiler originally apparently, which meant the installer had to get another one at time of install.)

So, now we have the installer back on the case trying to source the correct "heatline" flue kit and install it so we can call back the engineer to finally look at it, tell us whats wrong and get it fixed!

I wondered if anyone could give us any advice regarding the above situation and also shed light on the likely problem that we have with the boiler bearing in mind the F4 code?

(We were told by the installer it could be an ignition problem. I wonder if, worst case and we are not covered by warrenty, if this can be replaced?)

We understand Vizo and heatline boilers are budget boilers, unfortunately when we had our old system condemned without warning, we simply had no choice but to get what we could afford.

Any advice, insight and help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

 

[mehran]

first thing is not to worry

second thing is get the right flue, the uses of the wrong flue could put your lives at risk(AR)

you have a vizo plus, the most likely cause of the f4 fault is the sensors in trap have got wet which is a very easy fault to fix. if it is something elses like the spark gen then it is still covered. heatline are a good company and as long as the boiler is installed right (like the right flue) then you have nothing to worry about.

i am a service agent for heatline in the north east and know they give people second changes even when the boiler breaks due to installer faults!

 

[jbartlett]

Thanks alot for taking the time to answer the question. It has been a worry so that helps us put our mind at rest a little.

Our installer was showing us that the flue is apprently fine to use with this boiler and that it isnt related to the fault at all, obviously it can be hard to tell who to believe in this situation. That being said he is now looking to install the correct flue, so I hope the engineer should be helpful when he returns and that is done.

I wasnt there when the engineer came round but apparently he was very unhelpful and wouldnt even hint at what the issue was because of the flue issue.

That left us worrying about what could actually be wrong with the boiler and how big an issue/fix it was, but it seems from what you are saying that the F4 code usually points to something relatively simple to fix?

We tired to source the right flue for this boiler ourselves and came up with:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/n...refview=search&ts=1224710018231&isSearch=true

Would you know if this is the correct flue? I would like to have an idea of what one is the right one so I can ensure our installer gets it right this time.

Many thanks for your help again!

 

[mehran]

no that is not the right one!!! that is for the b rated vizo and not the vizo plus

the vizo plus would have a plastic inner tube if i remember right. the flue should be close to where the boilers are in b&q, cost £27. it makes no sense to use the wrong flue in the first place!!!

f4 cover a lots of faults... most of time it is the trap but it could be anything from no gas to wrong spark gap it could even be the flue!!!

but i must stress to uses heatline flues for heat-line boilers. what flue did he uses? where did he get it? why did he uses it when the right flue is very easy to get?

on page 14 of the vizo plus manual

"WARNING !

ONLY A HEATLINE APPROVED FLUE IS TO BE USED WITH THIS PRODUCT. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT WILL INVAILDATE YOUR GUARANTEE AND MAY LEAD TO A DANGEROUS SITUATION."

if i was the heatline guy i would of capped you gas supply and gave you a warning notice. i may even come over as a bit OTT but it would of been for your safety.

but when you get it all done then you should be fine

 

[jbartlett]

Thanks again for the clarification.

I cannot find the flue kit for the Vizo plus on the B&Q website but I imagine they should stock it? (I will pass this onto the installer!)

We bought our boiler from an installer who has stock of them, he sold us the boiler and sent us everything. Obviously having no knowledge of boiler installation ourselves we simply provided the installer with the boiler and flue and other bits and bobs it came with at the time.

He proceeded to install it and apparently needed a flue extender if I remember correctly. He went out and sourced this at the time of install. We obviously had no idea that this might be an issue in future!

I have no idea now why he didnt just get a heatline flue kit or extender if they do it, from B&Q at the time. It seems like it would have saved us alot of hassle!

I understand the safety aspect and thats exactly what happened with our old system which was condemned. The guy did come over as being over the top and I understood why, after he saw that I was understanding about the situation and the fact he had to do his job he did end up having a very helpful conversation with me.

I hope the Plus flue kit is easy to get hold of, I will certainly make it VERY clear to our installer that he uses the heatline plus flue!

Hopefully then the engineer can return and fix the issue and we can have our heating back on!

Thanks again for the help.

 

[simond]

This should be a lesson for those who source their own boilers.

- the type of installer who fits a customer supplied boiler is normally a desparate one without any work of his own. Installers need to make a margin on the equipment to survive.

- the chances of a component not being on site are very high and any time spent by the aforementioned installer sourcing, or waiting for that elusive part is normally not chargeable (because the customer has negotiated a fixed price). So any mistakes by the customer normally end up being paid for by the installer in his time - which is his only income.

- when things go wrong the blame is not easily apportioned. Get a contractor to do the work start to finish and supply the boiler, there is a much simpler contractual arrangement.

- everyone in the trade knows how much boilers cost on the internet (so why do customers keep telling us???). My company fits 100s but I doubt I get any better deals from our merchants than if I spent an afternoon on Google looking for just one. Boilers are a very low margin product in merchants and e-retailers.

 

[jbartlett]

I am sure the above is a fair point for those in the industry. To be honest, we had no idea what we were doing. As customers who have never dealt with boilers before, we got as many quotes as we could. We went with a recommendation from a friend who used the guy we went with. He seemed very helpful and told us if we wanted to source the parts he could charge us just for the install. We ended up paying around £1300 all in, inc the boiler itself. (and all the parts like valves and chemicals) Obviously being in a situation where we had not budgeted for a boiler and literally had to count every penny it seemed like an excellent idea.

I would say, whilst its a lesson to all of us, at the same time I dont think its our mistake. We came into this knowing nothing and just followed the advice we were given. We would of assumed that a corgi registered installer would have known about using the right flue's and everything else.

Obviously you get what you pay for in life. Unfortunately when you dont know what the going rate is, you dont neccessarily know you are paying lower and going to pay in futute for that.

I hope we can source the right part now, get it fixed up correctly and get the engineer from heatline to fix the boiler fault once that is done.

I personally feel we should be going to the installer to get them to resolve out of their own time and pocket. At the end of the day we were customers with no knowledge. If he is going to say that certain parts are ok and then proceed to install something in a way which isnt covered by the engineer when there is a fault (because its deemed to be a "not correct installation") then how would we of known. Surely the responsibility then lies with the installer who did the job in the wrong way?

Fingers crossed that heatline will fix it once the right flue is installed.

From what I was reading, could this issue be caused by a too small pipe being used for the gas inlet to the boiler during installation. (Again I dont really know anything about it but read this being the case in a few other situations.) If so, do you think we have the right to go back to the installer and request the correct thickness is used? (Perhaps thats not the issue at all but I would be interested to know if it could be a factor?)

Thanks again to everyone for their comments.

(I think its worth remembering that sometimes customers who go the cheap route dont do it because they begrudge paying a fair price and simply want to be 'clever' thinking they are saving money. Sometimes they are misadvised in a situation they know nothing about and end up the victim of the situation.)

 

[Deleted member 105431]

Hi everyone,

We had a Vizo boiler installed back at the end of June (2008) as we had to upgrade our very old backburner system.

At the start of this week it stopped working and displayed an F4 error code on the display.

Since then we have had the initial guy who installed it out to have a look who reset it, and then said it was still showing the same error so to contact the company (heatline) directly as its still under warrenty.

We then waited days (without heating or hot water) for the engineer to come round who said he wouldnt touch it because apparently the flue kit used to install it didnt have a heatline sticker on it, he temporarily put the warrenty on hold until we replaced it with an official heatline flue (We didnt get the right flue kit for the boiler originally apparently, which meant the installer had to get another one at time of install.)

So, now we have the installer back on the case trying to source the correct "heatline" flue kit and install it so we can call back the engineer to finally look at it, tell us whats wrong and get it fixed!

I wondered if anyone could give us any advice regarding the above situation and also shed light on the likely problem that we have with the boiler bearing in mind the F4 code?

(We were told by the installer it could be an ignition problem. I wonder if, worst case and we are not covered by warrenty, if this can be replaced?)

We understand Vizo and heatline boilers are budget boilers, unfortunately when we had our old system condemned without warning, we simply had no choice but to get what we could afford.

Any advice, insight and help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

That's Heatline and the budget end of the market for you I'm afraid.

 

[mehran]

That's Heatline and the budget end of the market for you I'm afraid.

so you are saying that if you went to a valliant 937 showing the F81/91 'issue' and the installer had used a heatline flue on the boiler would you of not of pointed out? no? well it must be the over priced boiler end of the market with dodgy seals thing

to jbartlett go to b&q and ask for a flue Extension for vizo plus. they may need to order it. if they cant get it then try and phone heatline and see if they could send it to you or know of a suppler that could in your area.

the part numbers for the Extensions are:
HL 30083574 - 250mm Extension (White) for ‘A’ Rated Boilers
HL 30083575 - 500mm Extension (White) for ‘A’ Rated Boilers
HL 30083576 - 1000mm Extension (White) for ‘A’ Rated Boilers

and the boiler you got is fine i fit heatline boilers all the time and know what the score is

 

[Deleted member 105431]

That's Heatline and the budget end of the market for you I'm afraid.

so you are saying that if you went to a valliant 937 showing the F81/91 'issue' and the installer had used a heatline flue on the boiler would you of not of pointed out? no? well it must be the over priced boiler end of the market with dodgy seals thing

the budget installer fitted the wrong flue, premium installers of premium products are far, far less likely to make such a blunder. . . . .

 

[mehran]

what that got to do with heatline or any other make of boiler? crap installers are crap installers. next thing you going to tell me that people that drive bmw's are better drivers then skoda drivers?

 

[Deleted member 105431]

what that got to do with heatline or any other make of boiler? rubbish installers are rubbish installers. next thing you going to tell me that people that drive bmw's are better drivers then skoda drivers?

boilers sold cheaply in b&q and alike attract a certain type of installer, they are rarely installed correctly and sometimes a diy job. Protherm suffered from this same problem. I am not doubting you personally but the rubbish installers rarely fit good (premium) boilers.

 

[nam]

Thanks again for the clarification.

I cannot find the flue kit for the Vizo plus on the B&Q website but I imagine they should stock it? (I will pass this onto the installer!)

We bought our boiler from an installer who has stock of them, he sold us the boiler and sent us everything. Obviously having no knowledge of boiler installation ourselves we simply provided the installer with the boiler and flue and other bits and bobs it came with at the time.

He proceeded to install it and apparently needed a flue extender if I remember correctly. He went out and sourced this at the time of install. We obviously had no idea that this might be an issue in future!

I have no idea now why he didnt just get a heatline flue kit or extender if they do it, from B&Q at the time. It seems like it would have saved us alot of hassle!

I understand the safety aspect and thats exactly what happened with our old system which was condemned. The guy did come over as being over the top and I understood why, after he saw that I was understanding about the situation and the fact he had to do his job he did end up having a very helpful conversation with me.

I hope the Plus flue kit is easy to get hold of, I will certainly make it VERY clear to our installer that he uses the heatline plus flue!

Hopefully then the engineer can return and fix the issue and we can have our heating back on!

Thanks again for the help.

This is how installers gets a bad name, You sourced the boiler and got someone in to fit it then you blaming the guy when it was you that supplied him with the wrong parts. Why was he suppose to go to b&q to get the extender when he didnt buy the units in the first place? The engineer should have completely disconnected thegas supply.

 

[nam]

what that got to do with heatline or any other make of boiler? crap installers are crap installers. next thing you going to tell me that people that drive bmw's are better drivers then skoda drivers?

But the guy was installing what he was given to installed OK he could have left thejob but someone else would have done it using the parts that was given to him. It wasnt as if the installer supplied the wrong parts. He might not even know that b&q sells the extender kit

 

[nam]

That's Heatline and the budget end of the market for you I'm afraid.

so you are saying that if you went to a valliant 937 showing the F81/91 'issue' and the installer had used a heatline flue on the boiler would you of not of pointed out? no? well it must be the over priced boiler end of the market with dodgy seals thing

the budget installer fitted the wrong flue, premium installers of premium products are far, far less likely to make such a blunder. . . . .

Assuming the premium installer supplied the boiler.