vaillant ECOTEC boiler showing F22- no water coming in to increase pressure when opening valves on f

charb56

hi- hoping someone may be able to help. F22 with low pressure 0.4 is coming up on my vaillant ECOTEC boilder. this has happened occasionally approx once a year and has repressurised with opening the filling loop valves. however on trying this no water is coming through. thanks for any advice before calling out a plumber

charb56

sorry meant to put "filling loop" in title!

Swasterix

I had a similar problem with the same boiler. Turned out the pressure transmitter within the boiler was knackered. The reason I couldn’t hear the water filling the system when opening the loop, was because it was actually already full. 

Try turning it off and back on again and see if the pressure comes back. If so, it’s probably the same thing. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Charb.

Does your boiler only have a digital pressure gauge? It doesn't have an analogue one with a needle?

charb56

Jeepers it has a digital display. I have tried turning on/off several times as well

Swasterix

charb56 said:

Jeepers it has a digital display. I have tried turning on/off several times as well

There is a manual gauge, but it is behind the front cover of the boiler (god knows why!). 

Technically, unless you are a competent person, you should not remove the front cover of the boiler. However should you decide to do so, you could take a look and see what the manual gauge is reading. 

charb56

ok think I am not brave enough to do anything but basics! thanks 

Swasterix

charb56 said:

ok think I am not brave enough to do anything but basics! thanks 

Ok - correct answer 😁

In that case, you’re probably best calling a gas fitter out and seeing what they have to say. Will likely diagnose in a short space of time. 

One thing you could do is to crack open the bleed screw on one of your upstairs radiators. If there is water there under pressure, it would point to an electrical problem with the boiler. If not, you’ve probably got a leak somewhere. 

Either way, a gas fitter will sort you out in short order. 

kasqueak

I had the same problem with a f22 fault that was intermittent for about a year. It drove us mad, had various plumbers/gas engineers out and ended up replacing the pump and the pressure control valve. I still kept getting the problem and in the end the problem was actually a small leak in a pipe going to my bathroom rad. Once that was repaired I never had the f22 code again. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Swasterix said:

charb56 said:

Jeepers it has a digital display. I have tried turning on/off several times as well

There is a manual gauge, but it is behind the front cover of the boiler (god knows why!). 

Technically, unless you are a competent person, you should not remove the front cover of the boiler. However should you decide to do so, you could take a look and see what the manual gauge is reading. 

Behind the front cover! I guess it'd spoil the looks of the beautiful boiler :-) 

Charb, could you post back with what they find - it's an interesting one.

(I suspect water will still exit via a rad bleed screw as the boiler shows 0.4bar - not enough to allow it to operate, but still a 'pressure'.

Swasterix

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Swasterix said:

charb56 said:

Jeepers it has a digital display. I have tried turning on/off several times as well

There is a manual gauge, but it is behind the front cover of the boiler (god knows why!). 

Technically, unless you are a competent person, you should not remove the front cover of the boiler. However should you decide to do so, you could take a look and see what the manual gauge is reading. 

Behind the front cover! I guess it'd spoil the looks of the beautiful boiler :-) 

Charb, could you post back with what they find - it's an interesting one.

(I suspect water will still exit via a rad bleed screw as the boiler shows 0.4bar - not enough to allow it to operate, but still a 'pressure'.

As ridiculous as it is, you’re probably right 😂 I can’t think of any other legitimate reason why they would hide it away. Unless it’s a way for them to prevent the average Joe from diagnosing issues themselves...

Ps. Agree with you re. the bleed valve, you could potentially still get water. Although there will probably be a noticeable difference at the rate between 0.4 and 1.5-2.0bar - although admittedly probably not to the un-initiated.