Vaillant says Vaillant flue kit is excluded from my warranty!?

JohnRed

An independent plumber installed in my house a Vaillant boiler 4 years ago (combi boiler ecoTec plus 832) together with a Vaillant flue kit connecting the boiler to the outside of the house.

The boiler was sold together with a 10-year extended warranty (which is the main reason why I went with Vaillant instead of Worcester Bosch). However, we just noticed that the inside of part of the white pipe (included in the Vaillant flue kit) connecting the boiler to the outside of the house is significantly rusted. The installer indicated that this was a common problem with Vaillant flue kits and recommended that I call Vaillant to ask them to fix this under the 10-year warranty.

I just called Vaillant who informed me that the 10-year warranty only covers the boiler itself, not the flue kit. I pressed them to tell me what the manufacturer warranty period was for the flue kit but they refused to provide me an answer. Instead they told me to go back to my installer, and get him to ask the retailer he purchased the kit from if this was covered by the retailer's warranty. My installer says he couldn’t claim under a warranty from his retailer, and quoted me £300 to replace / repair the defective flue.

If one wants to buy a Vaillant boiler, one has no choice but to purchase the Vaillant flue kit that comes with it. I therefore find it difficult to swallow that this is excluded from their much vaunted 10 year extended warranty, and I also find it quite shocking that Vaillant is refusing to tell me if there is any manufacturer warranty at all on their flue kits, and how long it runs for.

Any advice / thoughts on how to proceed and protect my rights would be greatly appreciated.

PS: this is my first post and at first I mistakenly posted this in the LPG sub forum before realising my mistake. Apologies for this!

jefaz07

Inside part of the white pipe? Can you post up a picture. As far as a flue goes the inside part of the white pipe is plastic as to not rot from condensate.
Or do you mean the air intake (the outer pipe)? If so, do you know why it’s rusting? Is the fall on the flue as such that the condensate runs back through the boiler and into the trap or can you see it dripping from the flue terminal into the air intake?
I haven’t heard of this being a particular issue with a Vaillant flues and I’m sure if there was a ‘known’ fault...especially with a flue....there would’ve been some sort of technical bulletin issued

JohnRed

Thanks and sorry if I wasn’t clear. It’s basically the inside of the metallic ring around the white pipe which is rusted. The installer opened the ring up the other day and I could see it’s totally rusted inside. From the outside it’s not so visible but I’ve tried to show it as best I could on the first photo linked below.

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