Not a query as such, but my old Vaillant combi, a veteran of 14 years has
failed ( with three separate faults - the pump failing was the critical
one ). Rather than repair the beast, I propose to buy new, and was wondering
if anyone has any comments on Vaillant, and its Turbomax combi boilers. My
info is that they're a good make, and mine lasted 12 years without a
service.
NB; The house is a three bed semi, one bath, one shower. I'm thinking the
824 at 24 kilowatts is sufficient......

Andy

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 00:54:23 +0000, andrewpreece wrote:

Not a query as such, but my old Vaillant combi, a veteran of 14 years has
failed ( with three separate faults - the pump failing was the critical
one ). Rather than repair the beast, I propose to buy new, and was wondering
if anyone has any comments on Vaillant, and its Turbomax combi boilers. My
info is that they're a good make, and mine lasted 12 years without a
service.
NB; The house is a three bed semi, one bath, one shower. I'm thinking the
824 at 24 kilowatts is sufficient......


Well your existing boiler (VCW 242 most likely) did not last that long
and might well have gone longer with occasional maintenance.
I'm have reapcled these when they are aged 17 years+ with others nearby
installed at the same time still going strong.

You are already aware of the pros and cons of combis so I'd go for a
Turbomax+ 824e or 828e (the latter is around 50-75 quid more), and
give 1/6 more flow.




--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

Hiya

We had a Vaillant Turbomax fitted in February (not sure of the model
number), but it's great so far and both the Corgi fitter and a British
Gas engineer (who recently serviced it as part of an existing
maintainance contract) sang it's praises. The fitter reckoned it
should have a lifespan of at least 15 years if it's serviced yearly.

The combi that it replaced was a 20 year old Vaillant that was on it's
last legs and beyond economical repair ...plus I suspect that the
previous owners of the house never had it serviced.

Our house is also a 3 bed semi, with bath & water mixer shower.
There's 1 radiator in each bedroom, 1 in the bathroom, 1 on the
landing, and 2 in the front room. At full temp, the radiators are
almost too hot to touch with the Turbomax :-)

regards
Davey P

On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 00:54:23 -0000, "andrewpreece"
wrote:

Not a query as such, but my old Vaillant combi, a veteran of 14 years has
failed ( with three separate faults - the pump failing was the critical
one ). Rather than repair the beast, I propose to buy new, and was wondering
if anyone has any comments on Vaillant, and its Turbomax combi boilers. My
info is that they're a good make, and mine lasted 12 years without a
service.
NB; The house is a three bed semi, one bath, one shower. I'm thinking the
824 at 24 kilowatts is sufficient......

Andy

Ed,
It was a VCW 242. You're right, if it had been maintained I would not
now
be facing a bill of such a magnitude that I would consider a new boiler an
option.
The combi was not mine to maintain ( my parents' house ) and for some reason
they gave up after only two servicings ( '90 & '91 ). Fourteen years doesn't
strike me
as a poor lifespan for a neglected combi.
The pump has failed ( fatal ), there is a valve/actuator coupled to a
microswitch
that has failed ( valve siezed and the actuator very slow in making the
microswitch
leading to a wait for hot water ), and the system loses pressure over a day
or two,
possibly due to the air charge in the reservoir vessel being gone ( leak or
whatever ).
Had these faults been dealt with one at a time I would expect some years
more of
service, but there you are. Worst case I'm looking at £400+ for parts and
labour, with
a new 824 combi costing £650 plus labour. Wonder if what my parents saved in
servicing
costs offsets the cost of a new combi being needed a little early??!!

Andy

PS My heating chappie said Vaillant are best, then Worcester, but
Chaffoteaux combis are
dismal.

"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 00:54:23 +0000, andrewpreece wrote:

Not a query as such, but my old Vaillant combi, a veteran of 14 years
has
failed ( with three separate faults - the pump failing was the critical
one ). Rather than repair the beast, I propose to buy new, and was
wondering
if anyone has any comments on Vaillant, and its Turbomax combi boilers.
My
info is that they're a good make, and mine lasted 12 years without a
service.
NB; The house is a three bed semi, one bath, one shower. I'm thinking
the
824 at 24 kilowatts is sufficient......


Well your existing boiler (VCW 242 most likely) did not last that long
and might well have gone longer with occasional maintenance.
I'm have reapcled these when they are aged 17 years+ with others nearby
installed at the same time still going strong.

You are already aware of the pros and cons of combis so I'd go for a
Turbomax+ 824e or 828e (the latter is around 50-75 quid more), and
give 1/6 more flow.




--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

"andrewpreece" wrote in message
...
Ed,
It was a VCW 242. You're right, if it had been maintained I would
not
now
be facing a bill of such a magnitude that I would consider a new boiler an
option.
The combi was not mine to maintain ( my parents' house ) and for some
reason
they gave up after only two servicings ( '90 & '91 ). Fourteen years
doesn't
strike me
as a poor lifespan for a neglected combi.
The pump has failed ( fatal ), there is a valve/actuator coupled to
a
microswitch
that has failed ( valve siezed and the actuator very slow in making the
microswitch
leading to a wait for hot water ), and the system loses pressure over a
day
or two,
possibly due to the air charge in the reservoir vessel being gone ( leak
or
whatever ).
Had these faults been dealt with one at a time I would expect some years
more of
service, but there you are. Worst case I'm looking at £400+ for parts and
labour, with
a new 824 combi costing £650 plus labour. Wonder if what my parents saved
in
servicing
costs offsets the cost of a new combi being needed a little early??!!

Andy

PS My heating chappie said Vaillant are best, then Worcester, but
Chaffoteaux combis are dismal.

I would go along with that.



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Please dont top post - reply below.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 23:52:11 +0000, andrewpreece wrote:

Ed,
It was a VCW 242. You're right, if it had been maintained I would not
now
be facing a bill of such a magnitude that I would consider a new boiler an
option.
The combi was not mine to maintain ( my parents' house ) and for some reason
they gave up after only two servicings ( '90 & '91 ). Fourteen years doesn't
strike me
as a poor lifespan for a neglected combi.
The pump has failed ( fatal ), there is a valve/actuator coupled to a
microswitch
that has failed ( valve siezed and the actuator very slow in making the
microswitch
leading to a wait for hot water ), and the system loses pressure over a day
or two,
possibly due to the air charge in the reservoir vessel being gone ( leak or
whatever ).
Had these faults been dealt with one at a time I would expect some years
more of
service, but there you are. Worst case I'm looking at £400+ for parts and
labour, with
a new 824 combi costing £650 plus labour. Wonder if what my parents saved in
servicing
costs offsets the cost of a new combi being needed a little early??!!

Andy

PS My heating chappie said Vaillant are best, then Worcester, but
Chaffoteaux combis are
dismal.

"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 00:54:23 +0000, andrewpreece wrote:

Not a query as such, but my old Vaillant combi, a veteran of 14 years
has
failed ( with three separate faults - the pump failing was the critical
one ). Rather than repair the beast, I propose to buy new, and was
wondering
if anyone has any comments on Vaillant, and its Turbomax combi boilers.
My
info is that they're a good make, and mine lasted 12 years without a
service.
NB; The house is a three bed semi, one bath, one shower. I'm thinking
the
824 at 24 kilowatts is sufficient......


Well your existing boiler (VCW 242 most likely) did not last that long
and might well have gone longer with occasional maintenance.
I'm have reapcled these when they are aged 17 years+ with others nearby
installed at the same time still going strong.

You are already aware of the pros and cons of combis so I'd go for a
Turbomax+ 824e or 828e (the latter is around 50-75 quid more), and
give 1/6 more flow.



You will almost certianly need to make sure that the old pipe work is
flushed out really well. I would suspect that the failure mode of the
existing system was:
1) Failure of expansion vessel.
2) Operation at little pressure and/or frequently topping up primary
circuit.
3) Corrosion of primary circuit due to addition of oxygen and dilution of
inhibitor.
4) Sludge ingress into servo and diverter valves (VCWs have a stack of 4mm
pipework in them), leding to problems.
5) Impellor detachment /pump failure followed by catastrophic failure.

On one I met like this the resultant kettling cause the releif valve to open
and the heat exchanger to start leaking.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
1) Failure of expansion vessel.

On this point. Boilers which have separate expansion vessels - or even
those that them internally - that do not have low pressure lock-outs can be
in big trouble if the vessel fails and the householder does not notice, or
know about the low pressure on the pressure dial.

Pressure vessels are not expensive at all and if an additional one can be
fitted, it is wise to do so. If one fails then the second will take care of
the system. The failed vessel should be picked up on the next service and
then replaced. The knock on effect of a failed vessel is quite expensive.

Or alternatively fit a low pressure electrical cut-off device on the system.
These are available from boilers that have them installed as standard.
There are stand-alone versions around, but will take some hunting down.


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