Vaillaint Ecotec 831 - wishy washy noise

[bassmonster]

hi all,
i'm going to check out above boiler later tonight. hot water is fine but it's apparently making a wishy-washy noise when the central heating is on. Anything obvious to check out?

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Air in the system/boiler, pumps not ropey.
Check it's not turning into a washing machine :lol:

 

[dancinplumba]

Aav on pump block

 

[bassmonster]

Idchappy, those were her exacts words... She even made the sound over the phone..... Lol

By aav, you mean automatic air vent I take it? How to remedy?

Why only making noise on heating mode... Going over now. Will report back....

 

[Masood]

Check for tiny washerwomen hiding in the boiler casing...

 

[Rickster123]

Check for tiny washerwomen hiding in the boiler casing...

Her??

 

[jonnyswamp]

Condense backing up?

 

[bassmonster]

Well, there was no mrs wishy washy when i got there. The boiler has never been serviced in the last 7 years it has been installed.

The pump seems to be working fine. The water is pure black so I recommended a power flush and Magna filter to be fitted along with a service.

Customer did mention that sometimes the flue would literally spray out water... Can this happen?

I'm yet to quote them for a power flush. Anyone fancy doing a tag team on this as I don't own a powerflush machine and more than anything, I could do with some brain picking. Please pm me if interested.

 

[moogwai]

check the rubber hoses on the flow and return under the heat ex.....they always get full of crud, best to take the whole pipes out and clean instead of just the hoses.

 

[bassmonster]

Moogwai, would I need to drain the system to check the rubber hoses?

 

[moogwai]

nah.....isolate the flow and return valves, the flow and return valves on these have built in drain offs on so you can drain the boiler from there. make sure you have some silicon grease with you for when you reassemble the pipe work....the one going in to the flow manifold can be a bit tricky......best to put the pipe into the flow manifold before connecting back to main heat ex.

the return pipe will undo from the top o the pump manifold......the orings should be ok, ive never had to replace them in the many times I have done this.

 

[dancinplumba]

Touch them rubber hoses you in trouble

 

[Rabbitman]

Your right there danciplumba, I remember once only going for a broken control knob and ended up replacing the hoses........ The original ones (minus the White stripe) can leak for fun lol

 

[moogwai]

Touch them rubber hoses you in trouble

Yeah don't try and remove the hoses at all....leave them on the removed pipes and squeeze them and all the crud will come out....or just go armed with 2 replacements.

 

[myles]

Your right there danciplumba, I remember once only going for a broken control knob and ended up replacing the hoses........ The original ones (minus the White stripe) can leak for fun lol

Must be a common theme, I had exactly the same job last month!