Vaillant British Gas boiler under warranty

LondonS30

daveyjp said:

Problems early on can often be down to a faulty component or the boiler not being fitted correctly in the first place.

I would personally be on to Vaillant as warranty provider and ask for one of their engineers to visit.  Simply swapping out parts is a game of pot luck.

There is an analogue pressure gauge on these boilers, which is the only one you can trust as the display one relies on a sensor which can fail and give a false reading, but the analogue gauge is under the cover - a stupid design.

Yes I did see this when the engineer opened the boiler. The true pressure on that one was also high when he checked (so not just the electronic display at the front)

it looks like the issue in the end what the smaller heat exchanger plate at the bottom. Everything was fine after he replaced that. 

Can problems this early be caused by dirt/ sludge in the system? I feel he was trying to pin it all on that rather than faulty component/ not being fitted correctly 

LondonS30

[Deleted User] said:

LondonS30 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Olly_J said:

A boiler can't really create much of its own pressure, aside from the slight increase you'll see with the thermal expansion of water as it heats up and the pump running, so if the pressure is climbing on a meter independent of the boiler itself, then in my mind you have to be seeing an influx of water main pressure into the boiler system.

I think the upper max for Valiant boilers is around 2.8bar which is considered toward danger level, so I would not be surprised if that has damaged the seals causing your leaks, given you are seeing values of up to 4.5. With regards to the dirt you might want to check they have installed a magnetic filter in the system, as that should catch a lot of the usual metallic debris, and have enough inhibitor added to help stop it being generated in the first place

I was hoping that no one would bring that up as boiler warranties do not cover faults arising from debris from the heating system. 

From the Valliant Warranty Document:

15. If any failure is caused by contaminated water in the boiler (e.g. blockages, or influences of flux residues, iron oxides, limescale, sludge etc.) the engineer’s visit becomes chargeable at the prevailing rates.

The website also states:

Your Vaillant guarantee covers you for the repair of any defects related to the manufacture of your Vaillant appliance. The repair has to be completed by one of our Vaillant Service Engineers and will cover both parts and labour.

Oh dear! I really don’t understand - sorry if I’m missing something but my warranty is with British Gas technically. They have not charged me for any of the parts or Labour even though engineer has said the system is “dirty.” How is anyone meant to know how “dirty” the system is beforehand?! I live in London so probably lots of debris and limescale as well. 

So if someone gets a Vaillant boiler through BG - and a BG engineer does the work does that invalidate the warranty? Does not make any sense 

The installer should have carried out a thorough power flush to remove all sludge and debris from your system. When I had a new boiler installed 5 years ago it took the installer a day and half to power flush 18 radiators. It is possible that the job was not carried out properly and some debris/sludge has now blocked the heat exchanger. I would ask Valliant for an opinion.

Thanks..we had this done in 2019 when boiler installed! That’s why I am shocked so maybe they didn’t do a proper job who knows. I think I will get Vaillant to do my next annual service rather than BG

LondonS30

NannaH said:

Vaillant has very helpful tech support for Gas engineers,  it doesn’t sound like the BG guy has availed himself of their services.  

For anything under warranty, Vaillant themselves should be fixing,  unless the engineer is Vaillant accredited.  

My husband ( Boiler engineer) rings them on behalf of the customer and if it’s covered under warranty, they take over,  they also offer fixed price replacement parts on out of warranty boilers that he often can’t match on price because they are so reasonable. 

Vaillant are very reliable and their heat exchangers are fairly bullet proof.  

Thanks for this. I did not check if he was Vaillant accredited but I assume/ hope if this was the case, BG wouldn’t allow someone who isn’t to do the work. Or maybe they would and it’s all a mess.

looks like in the end it was the heat exchanger plate - maybe I’m just very unlucky! I think I will ask Vaillant to take a look next time if any issues 

[Deleted User]

looks like in the end it was the heat exchanger plate - maybe I’m just very unlucky! I think I will ask Vaillant to take a look next time if any issues 

The problem may well re-occur if your system isn't clean. You have two options: one, ask BG to come back and do a power power flush of your system. Two, drain your heating system; fill with chemical flush; drain and flush with clean water, and refill with water and inhibitor. Personally, I would elect for option one first. 

After my system power flush there was minimal debris in the filter a year later.

LondonS30

I will ask BG to come back and do it. Given it was done by them 3years ago and engineer told me I shouldn’t have to pay for this as under warranty and the power flush they did is valid for the “life of the boiler” - I’m going to try and make sure they don’t make me pay £££ for another power flush.

is there anything else I can do other than the power flush to stop the problem reoccuring?

macman

BG will charge you way over the odds for a power flush. Find a local Vaillant-accredited RGI to do both that and the annual service.
Unless you can shame BG into doing it under warranty, which I doubt. 
You can have no idea who BG sub their service and repair work out to, it could be anyone.

Mstty

I think you have to push for this system flush again and soon, free of charge.

Do you remember how long it took for them to install your boiler, including flush, as a proper flush could take a full day plus. If it didn't I would suggest they come back asap and perform the flush properly.

LondonS30

Mstty said:

I think you have to push for this system flush again and soon, free of charge.

Do you remember how long it took for them to install your boiler, including flush, as a proper flush could take a full day plus. If it didn't I would suggest they come back asap and perform the flush properly.

Thanks. I’m going to push for them to do it free as the engineer advised.

I am trying to remember and I am pretty sure that the whole thing was no longer than a day (for boiler to be installed and one new radiator as well as flush etc). It is a small 1bed flat so not huge. So perhaps it was not some properly. It is hard to know but maybe next time I will make sure I am in when they do it!

chris_n

I had a plate heat exchanger fail after a few years, water was coming out of the PRV like it should not leaking out of the bottom of the boiler. I guess it must have opened a pathway when it expanded due to heat because it didn't go up unless the boiler was running.