Valliant Boiler problems

[Christian and Beccy]

We have a Valliant Turbomax Pro 837e Boiler and while I appreciate it's not the most energy efficient of boilers, we bought it primarily for the stonking DHW flow rate, I am deeply concerned at the amount of gas we are using and the fact that it seems to struggle to do the job.

Our heating is turned 'on' all the time, although only required to bring our Bungalow to the living temperature of 21.5° for a couple of hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening. It maintains a temperature of 19° minimum outside these times. Our controller has an optimum heating function where it works out when it needs to turn the heating on to reach the desired temperature for the time you set and at the moment, for example, it turns the heating on at around 3.30-4.00pm to get from 19° to 21.5° by 6.00, which is doesn't quite do. It's usually around 6.30-7.00 before it gets to 21.5°.

I'd have thought it would be a breeze for this boiler. I know there are other factors to consider, but what I am wondering is whether it could be something in the setup of the boiler. How do these come settings-wise out of the box? Do they need much messing around? For the 4-week period from late November to late December, we used £100 of Gas, which I think is insane.

Incidentally, the bungalow is Cavity wall insulated and has loft insuation, although that could do with improving. We used more gas this year (actual quantity of gas) than the same period last year, even though last year we weren't cavity wall insulated.

How can I find a list of Valliant specialists in my area? I would like to get the boiler serviced (it's a few months overdue) and checked out.

 

[simond]

I don't imagine there is much wrong with your boiler.
You should have the stat set to a lower temp overnight, maybe 14-16C.

If you are at home all day then 20C is a reasonable temp, if you are not at home during the day back the temp off to 14.5C or less.

Your heating bill will be directly proportional to the outside temperatures, so you might expect a high usage over Dec and Jan (it was -5C last night).

Consider fitting thermostatic valves to the areas you don't occupy...... we are now importing electronic timed TRVs for our customers because they do an excellent job of turning the heating off in areas not occupied all day.

 

[Deleted member 105431]

they are great boilers and quite efficent even by modern standards. If you want to save gas do as simond suggests and get the boiler serviced. Insulating the house is the most cost effective way of reducing bills though. Have you been given an estimated bill? Maybe worth reading the meter and give the supplier the reading. Switching suppliers may save some cash with BG being the most costly with poor customer service.

I would be more than happy with that boiler in my home.

 

[Christian and Beccy]

Surely what is a reasonable temp is defined by the individual? At 20° I am cold, simple as. Also, if we let it drop to 14-15° overnight, I'd dread getting up for a pee.

Also, to heat the house from 15° to 20-21° would take hours. Thats the reason I tried raising the base temperature from 17° to 19° as an experiement.

A friend of mine has his heating at 23-24° and isn't anywhere near as fussy as we are about when it's used and he doesn't spend as much as we do on gas. He also has a much lower spec boiler. He demonstrated to me the other day how he can get his house to 23° and then turn it up to 24° and it will make that temperature within 20 mins. Although I wouldn't want that, I can't imagine mine would even get to 23° in any reasonable amount of time.

The thing is, it's not a big bungalow and when we are home, we use it all, so having unheated zones just isn't practical.

As a side-note, hot water takes around 45-60 seconds to come through too, with a distance of around 6-8 metres from the boiler to the tap. Is this normal?

 

[Deleted member 105431]

Simond please tell me more about these timed trv's. Good idea.

 

[Christian and Beccy]

they are great boilers and quite efficent even by modern standards. If you want to save gas do as simond suggests and get the boiler serviced. Insulating the house is the most cost effective way of reducing bills though. Have you been given an estimated bill? Maybe worth reading the meter and give the supplier the reading. Switching suppliers may save some cash with BG being the most costly with poor customer service.

I would be more than happy with that boiler in my home.

We chose it because we wanted something that would be capable.

We were with Scottish Power last year as we still are and I have looked at their feature where you can graph your year-on-year usage and we have managed to save around 20% in the last 12 months by making changes to our electrical usage, but our gas usage is up by a similar amount. I'd have thought the cavity wall insulation would have done something?

The only thing I can say positively about this boiler is that once hot water it through, it fills our 1900x900 bath in under 10 minutes, which is ACE. Incidenally, we do have a shower too, so that bath doesn't get used all the time!

 

[gas4you]

I would agree with all of the above and your posts as well.

The problem could be that your radiators are just not big enough for the job of heating the rooms they in.

You could have the biggest boiler in the world, but if you have too small rads then its power output can never be utilised.

 

[simond]

Dangermouse

The timed TRVs are pictured on our web site under the 'radiators and underfloor section) (see my profile) - I can't forward you details from Honeywell, because Honeywell UK don't bring them into the UK.

They are actually made by a company linked to Honeywell Europe.

They have similar guts to the HR80 unit used in the CM Zone and Hometronic, but are considerably cheaper.

You set a fixed high temp and a fixed low temp; then they can be timed on a 7 day basis, with two highs and two low periods a day.

You can buy then direct from German suppliers but it is a fag, so we keep them on the shelf in bulk and it gives us a USP with our customers - another thing British Gas can't offer! I always have a sample in my van.

I always keep a timed TRV too.

 

[Deleted member 105431]

Dangermouse

The timed TRVs are pictured on our web site under the 'radiators and underfloor section) (see my profile) - I can't forward you details from Honeywell, because Honeywell UK don't bring them into the UK.

They are actually made by a company linked to Honeywell Europe.

They have similar guts to the HR80 unit used in the CM Zone and Hometronic, but are considerably cheaper.

You set a fixed high temp and a fixed low temp; then they can be timed on a 7 day basis, with two highs and two low periods a day.

You can buy then direct from German suppliers but it is a fag, so we keep them on the shelf in bulk and it gives us a USP with our customers - another thing British Gas can't offer! I always have a sample in my van.

I always keep a timed TRV too.

good stuff, they are a geat idea. BG haven't been innovators/market leaders for years. They don't even install unvented ffs. They lack the engineers to set up/understand/install simple systems nevermind anything slightly complex like weather comp/hometronic/underfloor heating/ etc etc.

 

[gas4you]

Simon, could you e-mail me a link to the german suppliers please?

 

[simond]

Dave

If you could email me at [email protected] I will look it up tomorrow.

PS: Take the dots out first.

 

[gas4you]

Dave

If you could email me at [email protected] I will look it up tomorrow.

PS: Take the dots out first.

Done

 

[Deleted member 105431]

how much are they each?

Or is that sensitive info?

 

[simond]

Well, that is sensitive in so far as we obviously sell them to our installation customers in Surrey. We've only done a handful to date.

Ordering them from the EU is a nuisance, because they take forever to arrive and we have to do it by bank transfer etc. Three weeks is quick.

If you want to order some yourself from Germany, Dangermouse, I can copy you in on the email to Dave. You've got my email address, (leave out the dots in the company name).

 

[Christian and Beccy]

I would agree with all of the above and your posts as well.

The problem could be that your radiators are just not big enough for the job of heating the rooms they in.

You could have the biggest boiler in the world, but if you have too small rads then its power output can never be utilised.

Well, our bedroom is cold, but we have one of those Jaga LowH2O units in there, which really isn't alot of cop (despite them having bold claims for them), but 3 rooms have Jaga Iguaga units in which are ACE.

There is a heating temperature dial on the front of the boiler and that is up quite high (almost maximum), which I think may not be right, but don't really know on what basis this is adjusted.

I really need a sensible constructive overview of what we have from someone that has Vaillant experience, along with a boiler-service. I also need replacement TRV's fitted to a couple of the conventional rads (I'm not happy with the ones on there at the moment) and a system flush. Is this something you can do?