Do I need a Heating Engineer ?

unclebulgaria

Listen JWhite, with the greatest respect you're only option is to get a "decent" local GSR or as Ruski said try Vaillants own fixed price option.
Trust me there are sooooo many options for faults that us telling you on here will go nowhere. The fact that the plate heat exchanger has been changed is good only if your central heating system isn't full of sludge still because no sooner has he changed it the new rubbish will have run straight into it again, that's if he did change it and not just flush it through! It could also be a fluctuating voltage across on the diverter valve motor which would have it moving back and forth partially closing and opening the diverter, it could be a partially blocked main exchanger. Lots of things.
Lots of things to check and a good GSR who enjoys fault finding and doesn't just see it as "inny meany myni mo" will use a process of elimination then may even call Vaillant and ask their tech guys if he's tried everything! You'll know a smart ar*e, he wont fix it and wont ask for advice!

Leodogger

You are probably right, what's a GSR ?

SuzieSue

JWhite wrote: »

You are probably right, what's a GSR ?

Gas Safe Registered I think.

Leodogger

Thanks for the info.

unclebulgaria

Sorry. Gas Safe Registered engineer. It pains me to say this but just because a guy is Gas Safe Registered doesn't mean he knows what he's doing when it comes to fault finding. Some think they are good fault finders others prove it by fixing the problem and even checking with the manufacturers. I always double check unless its obvious, after all its your money I'm spending.
Good luck.

Leodogger

As you say some heating engineers like to think they can fault find but it seems ours does not as he suggested the parts be changed before he had explored less expensive faults to find. He doesn't seem to want to respond to our text messages now so it looks like we will be looking for another engineer who hopefully will know what to look for.

Leodogger

southcoastrgi wrote: »

Do you know what else he changed ?

What's the heating work like ?

I did send you a private message when I finally found your advice to me, but as you haven't seen it, can I ask if the problem is as you suggest, what do we do to rectify it as my husband has felt the pipe and he said it did feel crunchy but he said it disappeared as he squashed it? The plumber did originally ask us if the system had been flushed when the new boiler was put in several ago but we don't know as we have only been here for 2 yrs.

Does the water pressure make a difference, because when we turn on the tap in the kitchen when someone is using the tap in the kitchen, the water almost drops to a trickle and likewise when you turn the bathroom tap on when the shower is on, it cuts the water off almost completely to the shower. Obviously we don't use the other taps though when the shower in on but wondered whether the water pressure is not high enough, even though we have got the hot water pressure on the boiler turned full on.

southcoastrgi

When the boiler isn't working the gauge on the front should be 1bar or just above, I doubt your incoming water pressure/flow rate is the issue

Leodogger

Well then I am stumped, I have asked the plumber to come back tomorrow and get his thinking cap on. No point in calling in another expert until I know exactly what parts he changed.

Leodogger

Got the plumber back and he thought he had solved it but again it keeps on fluctuating between hot and cold so now we have decided to buy another Grohe mixer shower as we think it will fit over the same holes as the old one. It is a Grohe 34143000 Grohtherm 1000 Thermostatic Shower Mixer.

Do we need a plumber to change this over as it seems a modern version of our old one ? Could my husband change it himself though there doesn't appear to be any signs of grub screws in sight to unscrew ?