ECOTEC PLUS PROBLEM

[sibley]

I have a one year old Ecotec Plus boiler. When it fires up, the temperature on the display shoots up really fast to 75 degrees (the temperature that the boiler thermostat is set to), then it sounds as though it is boiling (kettling?) before cutting out and dropping very quickly back to around 45. It does this cycling/anticycling all day which means the radiators take ages to warm up and never reach their full heat (the hot water is unaffected). Sometimes it shows an S53 code (" appliance is within the the waiting period of the operation block function due to water shortage - VL-RL spread too big) but I'm not sure what this means exactly. I have tried changing the thermostat temperature, bleeding the radiators, opening/closing different valves, checking the pressure on the expansion vessel, checking individual radiators for blockages (Femox was used on installation), and anything else I can think of. Three plumbers have been and all suggested different things - two of whom charged me for work which made no difference and then refused to come back - so I am very wary about calling out anyone else. The plumber who installed it originally is uncontactable.

 

[lightning]

S53 could be that your boiler needs range rating,your by-pass is not set up right,faulty pump, cr*p in the heat exchanger.

What model boiler do you have ??

There are some expert vaillant engineers on this site who will help you more

 

[sibley]

I think it's the Ecotec Pluc 428 if that makes sense

 

[lightning]

Have you added up the output of all the radiators in your house,there are alot of threads about this issue do a search at the top of the page for s53

 

[sibley]

Since it was all working perfectly okay last winter and the problem only began when I put the heating back on at the end of October, having had it off through summer, then I feel it must be a problem with the boiler or the heating system generally, but am fed up with trying to work out what, hearing conflicting opinions, shelling out money unnecessarily and still being cold!

 

[Beerlover]

If your boiler is an ecotec plus 4xx boilaer - I would bet it is your pump not the boiler, that is at fault

 

[sibley]

Thanks for that suggestion but a new pump was installed at the same time as the boiler a year ago and has not given any trouble - in fact the display shows "pump overrun" when it should

 

[Agile]

You clearly think that you know that your pump is working properly and correctly set.

I suppose, as you call them plumbers, that you are one of those people who think that plumbers are all thick and left school with just three GCSEs and that you are bound to be intellectually superior. If you had called me and asked me to enter by your tradesmens entrance then I would have just walked away!

However, we would have liked to help you but taking that attitude is not going to encourage any professionals to help you any further.

A clue might be not to call on plumbers?

Tony

 

[sibley]

Wow! That's a very angry response. One of the people who came is a friend of a friend (who has been very helpful but unable to solve the problem) and he calls himself a plumber. I have never considered it an insult (as you seem to be suggesting) to call someone a plumber any more than I would to call someone a vet or a teacher or an electrician....but perhaps there is an etiquette that I'm completely unaware of. I have absolutely no idea myself whether the pump is working but I have been told by three experts (I think that might be the safest term to use) that the pump is fine and this is not a "pump" problem so I have accepted that to be the case. As for the suggestion that I have a trademan's entrance - if you saw my house you would laugh out loud.

Thanks to Lightning for the suggestion to search for the S 53 thread - I see now that this seems to be a problem for many people and I am still reading all the anecdotal evidence ....and shivering.