Boiler Breakdowns

[Boilerman2]

A good boiler engineer needs outstanding Mechanical & Electrical Skills it is a worls away from installing! take an interest in Electrical Engineering as it IS TRUE that many faults are Electrical/Electronic in nature so good multimeter skills are needed to read micro amps resistance capacitance and good old volts both AC & DC good mechanical skills are also needed to beable to dismantle sometimes quite intricate assemblies such as the interior of combi boilers etc. as has been said try to find employment form a Company with a service department and show an interest in working for the service department Service engineers are now so rare that if they think you have what it takes I guarantee they will teach you all you will need to know!
I wish you luck with your career plans!

 

[poolebybirth]

Why people make boiler breakdown's out to be rocket science is beyond me - it is NOT!!!!!! just attend manufcaturer courses, read manuals and get practice! It is harder than installing them but with a brain and the manuals you can do it !!

 

[Boilerman2]

I don't remember mentioning "Rocket Science" in my post??

 

[bengasman]

Why people make boiler breakdown's out to be rocket science is beyond me - it is NOT!!!!!! ...

Do you think it is more or less difficult than figuring out how many turns of teflon tape you need on a joint?

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=238762

 

[poolebybirth]

lol that was yonks ago! how sad u remember that!!!! just saying how some people make out it's rocket science - it IS NOT! 90% of breakdowns are simple / basic faults

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

an 10% arnt, an are you good enough to fix those 10% i think not

 

[poolebybirth]

well i guess depends what they are - with the manual yes of course - i can use a multimeter !

 

[Gasman77]

Why people make boiler breakdown's out to be rocket science is beyond me - it is NOT!!!!!! ...

Do you think it is more or less difficult than figuring out how many turns of teflon tape you need on a joint?

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=238762

Haha busted! you look like a right nosher now poolebybirth - asking how many turn of ptfe to use then 8 months later telling every one that breakdowns are easy!! haha what a mug!

 

[poolebybirth]

grow up! i'm no mug, I was just asking as I used to use hemp ! And didn't want any leaks.

 

[Gasman77]

I know that, but don't say breakdowns are easy if you don't know how to make a joint up - makes you look daft!

 

[poolebybirth]

I just wanted to know how many turns in your opinions was good for a hot water cylinder thread - as didn't want to drain down and redo.

I am not saying they are easy and know they are far from it, a lot are basic checks though/.common sense - but some posters make them to be rocket science

 

[Gasman77]

It is compared to putting ptfe on a thread

 

[misterdubya]

Numpty wrote:

Why people make boiler breakdown's out to be rocket science is beyond me - it is NOT!!!!!! just attend manufcaturer courses, read manuals and get practice! It is harder than installing them but with a brain and the manuals you can do it !!

If repairing boilers are easy, what's your take on this....

28 year old Vaillant Combi VCW-Sine 18 T3WF H in excellent working order. Heating and Hot water work correctly. However, the unit has developed a minor tapping/knocking noise after HOT WATER demand is closed. The noise occurs for approximately 3 secs just prior to the burner shut off.

The tapping is coming from the DC solenoid. The DC Solenoid is not switching off cleanly. As the PCB/Electronic board reduces the voltage to the DC Solenoid it appears to get to a level when the DC Solenoid oscillates on/off for about 2 - 3 seconds. This causes the tapping noise.

The heating works well. It shuts off the DC solenoid perfectly when it reaches the set temperature ( 1 thro 8 on temperature dial). There is no tapping. This means that the PCB Electronics which modulate the voltage to the DC Solenoid is working correctly. (The NTC sensor and heating temperature rheostat voltages at the inverting and non inverting inputs of the op amp when equal drive the op amp into saturation and reduces the output voltage to zero (which switches off the voltage to the DC solenoid). The Vaillant installation and servicing manual states the voltage across the DC Solenoid should be between 15 - 5 vdc during operation but only suggests switch off should be about 5vdc. The voltage to the DC solenoid actually reduces to about 3.1vdc before shutting off for both Hot Water and Heating (This I believe is not uncommon and not the problem).

My question to the forum is:

Does anyone know the PRIMARY mechanism used by the Vaillant Combi VCW-Sine 18 T3WF H to switch off the DC solenoid after Hot Water demand is closed WHEN heating is switched ON? Or possibly know the answer to solving the tapping problem?

Thanks for any help.

This is a stolen post but you have not advised on a fix. Why's that - seeing as boiler repairs are easy? :

Mr. W.

 

[Gasman77]

 

[poolebybirth]

a_ that post is not from a householder quite obviously and b) without seeing it is a LOT harder to diagnose - not saying all are easy - but most are common sense faults