vallant ecotech 824 boiler leaking

[mrsme]

Plumber turned up today 10 days after first visit, he came with another plumber probably because hes not very familiar with my boiler. After an hour they came to tell me that vaillant had sent them the wrong sized o rings and they would need to speak to vaillant again and then get the correct ones re ordered. So I'm still in the same position as I was before with heating and water working but leaking and needing daily top tops.

I don't understand why o rings took this log to turn up when they could get posted next day delivery in an envelope. He didnt mention any other parts so it looks like its just the o rings they are going to change

 

[Agile]

It must be the plate HE as the diverter valve does not have replaceable "O" rings.

However, to see that they are the wrong size it would have to be taken out....

As far as I am aware Vaillant will not supply direct to engineers.

Because rubber parts have a limited life and are cheap the spares merhants dont like stocking them and so they often have to order them from Vaillant and that can take up to six weeks as many parts are stocked in Germany. Yes, I know there are 12 flights a day from Germany, and even a lorry takes two days...

I do hope that sort it out soon for you but at least its still working!

Tony

 

[Bunnyman]

Be very careful! The heat exchangers never leak on these why would they? The 831 bunny was prob right the divertors do leak from the spindle u really need to get a proper bloke to look at this it should be repaired in days not weeks!!

Untitled

• Bunnyman
• 26 Mar 2010
• 499

 

[mrsme]

This job has now been done and I just wondered if I am paying the right price for this? They never give an invoice at this plumbers so you can't see what is for parts and what is for labour but the boss phoned me today to say the price is £216.50. They also only ever give a hand written reciept just with the amount on and signature saying paid, it doesnt say what its for or anything.

That price is for a new diverter valve and the labour. This is the Nottingham area and to give an idea of their usual charges a boiler service from them costs £50.
I looked up the cost of the diverter valve on the net and it said £52 including vat so it seems the rest will be for labour, is £216.50 a fair price? It took them a bit less than an hour to do it.

I hope they haven't charged me for their own mistakes because the plumber initially came round very briefly to take a look on his way back home that took 10 mins max, he took the service book with him to order the part. He pointed to the heat exchanger saying it was that part which needed new o rings.
After 10 days of hearing nothing I had to contact them and he then turned up with another guy and tried to fit these o rings this took no more than an hour. They then told me vaillant had sent the wrong parts so they took the book back again to order the correct part. After that visit the boiler was leaking faster and had to be topped up every 2 hours so I rang back again to tell them the leak was worse and I couldnt wait another 10 days to get the right part he rang back saying they had now ordered a diverter valve as vaillant had sent the wrong part before.
A few days later they came to fit the new diverter valve which took a bit less than 1 hour.

I think they ordered the wrong part themselves not vaillant sent them the wrong one because if they had asked for o rings for the diverter valve they would have been told they had to order the whole diverter valve in the first place. I just hope they havent charged me for them getting the wrong part and the labour for trying to fit that wrong part etc

 

[Agile]

If you have to employ nupties then thats a pity.

Any competent breakdown engineer will be familiar with Vaillant boilers.

I would have charged about £186.

Dont expect that we can reliably buy parts that cheap. Many of those on ebay are stolen, not complete or not really new.

Tony

 

[mrsme]

It was not ebay, I don't use ebay I have just had another look and it says £48 to trade

Anyway I went to them because they were local and in businesss for years I just wanted to get it done asap and thought I would give them a try witrh this boiler this time.

I am now wondering if it is better to get annual insurance cover from vaillant or homeserve as at least there is more chance of them having a part or getting one quicker and knowing the boiler.

I've never bothered with this kind of cover before but there is cover for just the boiler, service and boiler or whole system cover