Complete-Heat

thinking possible a pin hole in the main heat exchanger. this would account for the run off down the condensate. ---------- Post added 03-08-2014 at 11:26 ---------- when you say the 3 way valve has been changed do you mean the syncron motor (the top part) or the whole valve. if it was the first one then the valve rubber could still be passing within the brass assembly.

If I was you minimo I would complain to the local TSM. (Service manager). I trained and used to work for BG and this is not the way to sell homecare maintenance contracts. When assessing a boiler/heating system any remedial work needed should be told to the customer before signing them up. Then you could choose either to pay BG or get a local engineer to sort out the work and then sign the homecare contract. After the contract is signed if the boiler breaks down the repairs and labour is free covered under homecare. Also a yearly boiler service. For many people homecare is a good deal. I think this BG engineer has taken advantage to hit his bonus and end of month targets. I,ve worked out my charge which would have been £150 max.

£340 to clean out the flexi to the expansion vessel and add a prv. What on earth has happened to BG...done many of them on worcesters when I worked for them. Its a bit of a tight squeeze but after the first pretty straightforward job. not that often you needed to replace the flexi, just clean out the gunk and replace the o ring. re-pressurise the exp vessel and refit the prv. I could do it in a hour, hour and a half tops. andy

Glad you impressed and hope it all goes well. However, I have never (even with help) done a combi swop in just one day. A day and a half yes as takes me half a day to powerflush. Could do it in day and be neat and tidy but just wouldn't. I still feel that most of the Eco installs are having to become fit and forget jobs as there is no real profit margin in the install once those at the top and middle have taken their cut. Installers insisted that the grants came direct to us. That way customers would get a decent install, a decent boiler with a min 5yr warranty. But hey why would govt listen to those in the know......

Could be faulty thermostat as even broken ones can still "click". I,m assuming from reading that this is a combi boiler. The temp dial on some combis will stay fixed at 70, or urs at 74 when the heating is being controlled externally by a thermostat. Would check the stat first. Agree with Micky about all the rest. Andy

Maybe times a changing. There used to be loads and loads plumbers on here. Chasing jobs and undercutting prices. Regulars like myself moved into contract/ commercial or stopped quoting on the forum. Find one of the regulars and send a pm. U may have to wait but the job will be first class

Ahh OK then little easier to pinpoint with the F codes. then a F28 and F54 points to a problem with gas pressure/ignition. know u say condensate is inside but Are u sure condensate is not blocked with ice where it exits . If it's outside pour some hot water over the pipe. Also some meter regulators can freeze and lock up especially if your gas meter is outside. Try some hot water on that as we'll. if no joy then will need vaillant to check inside boiler. When he gets there I bet he does the first two of my suggestions first....before delving into the boiler. Common f28 is thrown up when boiler needs a new igniter. Wen you try and fire the boiler can you see sparking through the little viewing window. Vaillant are fantastic boilers and I used to be one of their service engineers. Only a few things generally go wrong with them and standing in front they are a doddle to fault find and repair. Andy

live monitoring is too sensitive and would need to be standing in front of boiler to see where it faults out. S.98 is often a result of the boiler not registering a pressure rise in the heating side or not registering the flow of hot water (almost the same as S.97). As you say you do not have heating I would say its prob the pressure sensor. and this sensor also sends an impulse to the pcb for the hot water side. the other reason could be faulty pump but I doubt it in a fairly new 831. run the boiler again and see what the fault code is. it will be a "F" code. u may get F.75. if this comes up then new pressure sensor, easy 15min job. any other F code let us know. tip that may help if this is reason. drain some water from heating side, open a rad bleed nipple and drain off some water. let boiler pressure drop to 0.5 bar. then blast in some fresh via the valves underneath back to 1 bar. this can often clean out the crud that is sitting on the sensor. only a temp fix though. andy

Not sure what happended to Dan from CityWide. He may have moved onto some contact work. Contracting for Vaillant they think they own you and you have no option but to sign off your own Gas-safe card whilst working for them. seen a few of the guys move off here for a while whilst on contact work, perhaps Dan doing the same. Agree with Micky about your current boiler. It will be a sticking fan that will just need replacing and is a doddle to fix.

the outer casing does seal the boiler on the ideal NF. Why have you jumped to thinking its got to be perished AP tubes. yes they sometimes split but not that often and when they do split the boiler tends to cycle on/off every couple of mins or so. there are two other possibilities

yes cos he gives load of advice on here.. for the OP, any reputable gas person on here would not condemn your back boiler unless it was "immediately dangerous". And in doing so only has your best interests at heart (your life). The baxi Bermuda is in fact quiet a reliable back boiler but like any back boiler does need a regular service. the rear fins are prone to clogging up but a REALLY good clean is often all is that's needed to pass the flue analyser test. The burner pressure can also "drift" but this would also be adjusted during the service the main problem is just how inefficient they are by todays standards, ALOT of heat does rise up the chimney even though they are quick to warm up both the house and owners. I'm not on domestic appliances anymore but one of the guys will be here soon or will pm you to take a look and get you through this winter. you are right in saving up for a new more efficient boiler. andy

Hi, these units are not serviceable. they weren't made for long and I think were grohe's first dip into the water of providing wireless units. I have only ever fitted 1 of these and being one of the first ever wireless models it was very expensive. I noticed back then that the main unit was sealed and the edges were hot glue welded together. The thermostatic valve was unobtainable from grohe from the very beginning, so if it went wrong you needed to buy the whole unit. Because of this I never recommended them to my customers. In ANY shower the thermostat is a weak point and I like to know I can get a spare rather than ripping off for installing a new shower. so, sorry cant help in giving a fix. they will need replacing. andy PS: avensyis is a completely different model

Steve is still around. He is working on a large contract at the moment and the terms prevent him from working on domestic. jon and micky are both great..

It will be the expansion vessel. The increase in pressure will also take out the prv (blow off). if you check below the boiler you will see a 15mm copper pipe which leads outside. I bet it is dripping (or if you wrap a plastic bag around it it will be full of water the next time the pressure on the boiler drops. andy ---------- Post added 28-06-2013 at 14:29 ---------- domestic hot water switch ( a bit like a thermister on a combi). received a feed from the pcb that u are asking for hot water. Booster switch is a secondary switch that is set to come on for a given time and temp. Hot water switch is in line with your timer, where as the booster witch is wired seperately and u have to press it to turn it on.

Rod and spindle on the 831. Tends to disengage leaving the bung at midpoint so hot water passing to the rads. Can be fixed but so quick to replace DV valve and u will get parts warranty. Andy ---------- Post added 11-05-2013 at 10:40 ---------- So does appear to be a sticking microswitch. Like I said sludge so could do with a flush. Andy

Easy enough to check with a multimeter where the fault lies. Without looking I would still suspect the valves. When you said replaced, was that the whole valve assembly or just the head. In such an old system there will be loads of crud in the pipework and it sticks to the bung in the valve body. So people will change the valve head and within months the microswitch burns out or sticks in open position.

Agree with Steve. Blocked pipe as expn vessel on a S/D is often ok. Not difficult to strip down and clean but you spend ages afterwards trying to sort out ALL the leaks so have to go round and replace all the o rings that get disturbed!!!. So easier and cheaper to add cheap external vessel Andy

Ask Steve (corgi gasman), Jon (jb heating), or another of the regulars on here. As said along with service replacing the thermistor and cleaning out the plate to plate improves the hot water temp no end. Glad to help Andy

Steve is right. When they first came out a lot of installers fitted the green star boilers, especially the juniors. A decent boiler for a decent price. However, they don't have a high flow rate and the hot water temp is factory set at 55. Most have flow rate of 11 litres per min which is fine for basin/sink taps. On full a bath needs about 15 litres per min and in winter boiler works harder to hit hits temperature rise. As Steve said new combis now take this into consideration and allow up to 65 degree. Over time scale can affect temp performance. May see improvement if u swop the hot water thermistor and descale the plate to plate Andy

I,ve used Flowgas for customers with LPG and Apollo Fuels for heating oils. I prefer to use local companies and have found that rates and delivery times are pretty much standard across most firms. andy

Same here. I,m in S11 and have a puppy. When out with my daughters have met a few others. We now walk through Bingham park to forge dam cafe where dogs are welcome. I,m sure if you went walking in your local park u would also met other like minded dog walkers

couple of suggestions, although would be helpful to know make/model combi. on new combis is the ability to set both the temp of the heating and the temp of the hot water. I usually set the hot water to 60degs, but the heating side of the combi needs to be on full. on condensers that is usually set for 70-75 which keeps combi in condensing mode for as long as possible. Make sure its not been set any lower as the boiler will shut down no matter what temp you set the wall thermostat. second is with the thermostat itself. I have been to some real shoddy installs where the wall stat is sitting just above a radiator or in the main lounge.ideal place is in the hallway.

Yes it can. If u think about it cold has more pressure than hot so will pass through ur shower. It's now mixing with the hot and can flow in this mixed state to the rest of the hot taps. Isolate the cold to the shower and see what happens. If still happening isolate cold on bath mixer and see.

I wouldn't think boiler prob at this time. its a matter of fault finding. and you say that you have lots of hot water at your downstairs taps. Turning on the cold taps upstairs gives you lots of hot water there. So, without looking at your system i'm thinking that somewhere upstairs the cold supply is overcoming the hot supply. In my experience mixer taps/showers are the main culprits.

Seem to me as if cold supply is passing over to the hot side. The usual suspects for this are mixer taps and mixer showers. I would be thinking the shower. Turning on ur downstairs cold is reducing the pressure and allowing the hot through. Cartridge maybe needs changing