Vaillant Boiler - 'Dust in Gas System'

atlantis187

Sorry guys I'm not very technical when it comes to these thing.


Basically we had a brand new Vaillant ecotec pro 28 combi boiler fitted in December 2013. It came with 2 years warranty.


in December just gone 2 weeks before the warranty finished the boiler started displaying and F.28 error code, so I called them out Vaillant and the guy said a lot of dust has got in there I think through the pipes or summat and he changed the gas valve as this was supposedly clogged up, he recommended I get a 'filter' installed. didn't really know what he was on about.


Anyway since Monday the boiler has started displaying the same error code F.28 and is not working, Unfortunately this is out of warranty now by a few weeks and vaillant are wanting to charge me £299 to come and see to it.


I argued the case that the part the engineer changed in December should still be in warranty they said it is but because I hadn't got this filter fitted they are refusing to send someone out.


What can I do their technical team are quite useless and cant really explain to me where this filter is supposed to be fitted and what purpose it serves?


Guys please help we have been without heat/hot water since Monday.

Pincher

F.28 – Appliance Does Not Start: Attempts to ignite During Start Failed.


This is consistent with no gas getting to the jets.


Cars can break down because the fuel filter blocked up, if you have a dirty petrol tank, and you have a similar situation here.


If the supply is contaminated somehow, then your neighbours should be having similar problems. You can get scaly water supply, but it's still drinkable. Maybe fitting a gas filter is standard practice for some areas?


Or it could be the new power flush: "Unless you pay us £700 for an unnecessary power flush, your cover is not valid." way of extorting money.


Pay an independent engineer to give a second opinion?

Browntoa

British Gas one off repair is less than that including all parts

AnotherJoe

atlantis187 wrote: »

Sorry guys I'm not very technical when it comes to these thing.


Basically we had a brand new Vaillant ecotec pro 28 combi boiler fitted in December 2013. It came with 2 years warranty.


in December just gone 2 weeks before the warranty finished the boiler started displaying and F.28 error code, so I called them out Vaillant and the guy said a lot of dust has got in there I think through the pipes or summat and he changed the gas valve as this was supposedly clogged up, he recommended I get a 'filter' installed. didn't really know what he was on about

Why didn't you ask and follow up? That self evidently is what you need to do now.

Call in a local fitter or get BG as in thread above and ASK them. Indeed you could call a local fitter and tell them as well as it failing you've been advised you need a filter, they should be able to advise and fit for you

roddydogs

Dosent help I know but my Valliant came with a 7 yr Gtee.

footyguy

Sorry I don't know where a filter would go either. The person that recommended it would probably be the best person to ask.

I think you may have not fully understood the cause (or maybe I don't?) but I can't see how dust can get into the gas pipes.

What can cause the error message you are getting is an accumualtion of soot/debris around the actual burner that means the burner fails to light.

An annual clean up (which is included in any annual service/inspection) should prevent problems.

What I don't understand is why yours has failed within 4-6 weeks of being attended to. Perhaps the guy didn't clean it properly.

What I would say is gorget paying £299 for a call out. Call a local RGI - they shouldn't charge more than about £75 for a call out and quick diagnosis.
(If it justs needs cleaning - they probably will do that in the price too)

Hoof_Hearted

I am not a plumber but I understand that the heat exchanger on the Ecotec has very narrow tubes, which can get clogged, so perhaps they were referring to a cleaner on the CH pipe, such as a Magnaclean. The other thing is to look at the boiler pressure. Press the + button -- it should be about 1.8 bar. If not, top up the water. (At your own risk as I am not a plumber, just an owner).

atlantis187

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

I am not a plumber but I understand that the heat exchanger on the Ecotec has very narrow tubes, which can get clogged, so perhaps they were referring to a cleaner on the CH pipe, such as a Magnaclean. The other thing is to look at the boiler pressure. Press the + button -- it should be about 1.8 bar. If not, top up the water. (At your own risk as I am not a plumber, just an owner).

What is this magnaclean
Is it a simple clean of the gas pipe going from the meter to the boiler
Also roughly what's average price I should pay for this?

Hoof_Hearted

It's a magnetic filter that is fitted just before the return pipe goes into the boiler. Most of the gunge in the system is rust from the inside of the rads. The Magnaclean (and there are similar things) attracts and retains the gunge. You then isolate it (two valves), take it out and clean out the stuff.

They cost about £100 and my guess is £150 to fit as the system needs to be drained and refilled and new rust inhibitor added (v important). On lots of new systems installers put them in automatically.

However, it's nothing to do with the gas pipe. It's to do with the water circulation. There shouldn't be any stuff in the gas pipe.

Edit -- just rechecked my paperwork and the boiler pressure should be 1.6 bar and you press the minus button to see this.

atlantis187

Thanks for your help guys I managed to convince vaillant to send out an engineer out free of charge
He has just been and changed the gas valve again for a new one. He said there is a lot of 'sulphure' dirty muck getting into the valve and I should get an inline filter fitted.

Because there is muck getting into the boiler coming from the supply is this my responsibility or should national grid or my supplier British gas sort this.

Thanks

Pincher

Back in August 2015, there were thousands of households that were getting contaminated water around Lancashire. They had to ship in water for the households. It is perfectly possible you have a localised supply issue.


For example, maybe they are importing American shale gas, which has a different composition. Maybe this is the next frozen condensate pipe fiasco. People with old non-condensing boilers probably have larger jets or bores, and the sulphur simply pass through and pollute the atmosphere instead. A bunch of I told you sos coming up.


Having a filter is the right idea, until the supply contamination is sorted out, but you need to work out how to clean the filter, since it's bound to clog up. I expect only a GasSafe engineer is allowed to clean it.