Vaillant TurboMax Problem - Help please.

[akaal]

Hi,

I have a Vaillant Boiler Turbo Max around 11 years old.

Now the boiler has stopped working as it should.

If you open the hot water tap, you get no hot water and the radiators start heating up, thats with the central heating off.

So, I called a plumber, he came around, quotes me £180 for a diverter valve, which he believed to be faulty. The price was abit much for me, so I called another engineer, who came around, checked the boilder and said the diverter valve was fine and that the Heat exchanger needed replacing.

So, he replaced the heat exchanger, and bingo, we have hot water not as hot as it used to be, before the boiler conked out, bearable, I would say.

BUT, the rads still heat up when the hot water is running.

I have told the engineer, he believes it may be a censor, but assured me that he will sort it out.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

If any additional info is required, please let me know.

Thanks.

 

[combispecialist]

with the heating off,run the hot tap and see if the central heating flow pipe gets hot,if it does its a definate new diverter valve req which sounds wot the fault is,i have no idea why he changed heat exchanger cos its nothing 2 do with ure fault,waste of money...

 

[combispecialist]

forgot 2 say if ure diverter is passing ure hot water will not be as hot

 

[holty]

if rads heating up when hot tap is turned on the the first bloke was right.cant understand how the second guy came to the conclusion the heat ex needed replacing.and you think 180 is steep for a divertor.yet im pretty sure a heat ex is alot more.ps might be worth changing the diaphragm first.

 

[akaal]

Thanks for the replies.

What is confusing me is that before the Heater Exchanger we had no hot water, now that its changed, we have somewhat moderate hot water.

I am just wondering, lets say its not the DV, what else could it be?

I want to also say that the DV was replaced around 8 months ago, so its fairly new, but I understand that it can still go faulty.

I don't want to think its a waste of money right now......although it is feeling that way.

 

[combispecialist]

the symtoms u have given it will be a passing diverter valve,despite whether it was changed 8 months ago,if the system is full of sludge then it can seize up the valve,wot was the reason for it being changed b4??

 

[combispecialist]

as holty said u could gamble on a diaphragm change but to be fair if the boiler fires on hw deand the diaphragm is doing its job,

 

[holty]

I can only assume the plate heat ex was changed.tepid water when the rads are heating up. are caused by the divertor not shutting off the ports to the heating circuit.can usually be caused by the diaphragm worn etc.or sludged system not helping to shut off.was central heating working ok before hand?maybe the drain down due to parts replacement helped free the divertor etc.is it the vcw 242 e you have?

 

[akaal]

the symtoms u have given it will be a passing diverter valve,despite whether it was changed 8 months ago,if the system is full of sludge then it can seize up the valve,wot was the reason for it being changed b4??

Actually, we don't know. The first engineer did mention sludge.

We have had the DV changed, I think 4 times, first time was the very first time it went. Then after the second time we had our whole CH system cleaned, I think it was a power flush or something. Then it was working fine for 2/3 years and third time it went was 8 months ago, it started leaking, the current is the fourth DV.

My Father is actually thinking of getting a new boiler after this is "patched up".

 

[combispecialist]

u say the div valves been changed 4 times,unfortunately this could have been due to just the diaphragm req changing,some engineers do a full valve change even tho its just a diaphragm req'd.if the boiler didnt fire on hw demand then its more than likely just diaphragm.

 

[holty]

fantastic boiler if looked after.any boiler is only as good as the system its on.e.g if your topping up fresh water frequently due to a small leak.this could cause system corrosion/sludge.

 

[akaal]

I can only assume the plate heat ex was changed.tepid water when the rads are heating up. are caused by the divertor not shutting off the ports to the heating circuit.can usually be caused by the diaphragm worn etc.or sludged system not helping to shut off.was central heating working ok before hand?maybe the drain down due to parts replacement helped free the divertor etc.is it the vcw 242 e you have?

The CH was working fine before this. The HE which was changed is behind the black control panel, roughly the size of a dvd cover.

We have had this in the past and DV did fix it. But for some reason, unknown to me, the second engineer said its the HE. Maybe he got it wrong.

He did mention a diaphragm and said it could be that.

Yes I think it is the VCW 242 e, although the manual says 282 aswell.

 

[holty]

only prob iv had on these divertors is leaking near the microswitch.not very often though.i will always try a 5-15 quid dia,before replacing the whole lot.9 times out of ten.even if a boilers firing.a new dia will sort the problem.

 

[akaal]

fantastic boiler if looked after.any boiler is only as good as the system its on.e.g if your topping up fresh water frequently due to a small leak.this could cause system corrosion/sludge.

We used to do that due to a leak on the DV, it went un-noticed at first. this was a good couple of years ago.

 

[akaal]

u say the div valves been changed 4 times,unfortunately this could have been due to just the diaphragm req changing,some engineers do a full valve change even tho its just a diaphragm req'd.if the boiler didnt fire on hw demand then its more than likely just diaphragm.

where is this diaphragm located? is it inside the DV.

everytime the DV was changed in the past, we had no hot water, but boilder did fire up.