Vaillant 242 turbomax trouble

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voodoocars

Last year I had a load of grief with the vaillant turbomax 242 i've got.
I took the dhw heat exchanger off and cleaned it out with vinegar to remove limescale and changed the prv.
The prv is leaking again so pressure drops when the heating has been on again and I have to keep topping it up (I wish the wife would keep the heating off..) but now the hot water will not fire up when the upstairs bathroom taps are turned on (although if the sink and bath taps are turned on together it will fire up).
Boiler works as usual if the downstairs taps in kitchen are used.
What is goin' on with it - it must be a water flow/ pressure problem but I dont know where to look..
 
Sounds like you have more than one problem.

Your expansion vessel may have lost it's charge. Simple test. Does the pressure increase rapidly when the heating is turned on? If it does the valve will lift and if there is any rubbish in the system it is unlikely to reseat properly.

Drain the boiler and pump/check it with a foot pump with gauge.

Second problem sounds like a flow switch. It probably needs a bit more flow to fire the boiler if it is playing up. If its the older turbomax 242 its likely to need a new diaphragm.
 
sounds like that black rubbish that was in your heat x is everywhere else in your boiler and sounds like your expansion vessel is knackered.
When did u last have it serviced?
Might be power flush and new boiler time!

I take it from the " I Dont Know Where To Look" that you are not Gas Safe Registered?
 
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Just checked and the pressure gauge goes from 1 bar to 2 bar in about 2 mins when the heating is turned on. Is this bad...
 
you could call the engineer who told you what it was last time before you did it yourself🙁
seriously i hate it when called to a job tell them what it is and then they have a go themselves
 
Yeah, its probably an indication that the expansion vessel needs attention. If you have loads of rads and a big system it could be normal. Leave it on and see what happens.
 
The engineer who helped me sort it last time lives down the road and we did the job together. This is a different problem. I aint gonna take the thing apart as I dont have the time. I am just curious as to what these faults are.
 
so the engineer down the road quoted you a price incl parts and then did him self out of the job and sugested cleaning it out with vinegar
 
newbie1 said:
course he isnt registered its another bit of diy asking on here then doing it himself
Click to expand...

Newbie, have u heard about the new gas safe policy or reg?

Supposedly.... As long u r not interfering or working on the gas line in the boiler then anyone can do the work such as diaphragm or ntc replacements. (only work on such things as gas valve/burner repairs/replacements/adjustments require a gas ticket). I wouldn't bet my house on it but one of the boys said he seen this statement in a gas safe leaflet/magazine not so long ago, at the time I dismissed it out of hand but as time goes by the more im starting to wonder if it's correct.

Has anyone else seen or heard of this supposed strange change to boiler repair regs?
 
Oh my god. what is it a national security secret or something? Just help the lad out. Its' only an expansion vessel for gods sake.
 
thats a fallacy put about by people who want to work on boilers
say during your work on the boiler you displace a pipe or slacken something off and forget to tighten it and after working on a boiler arent you meant to examine the flue gas and air...say a boiler is faulty in some way and novice has a go and doesnt realize there is a problem and as last person working on appliance now becomes liable

as an example did a pcb on a suprima recently(surprise surprise) so no gas work as such but performed tightness and inlet pressure test and regulator shot on the meter and actual leak on the meter so do you see my point joe bloggs i recently diagnosed his pcb problem and he turned around and said ok ill do that myself then nice one

Gassy said:
Oh my god. what is it a national security secret or something? Just help the lad out. Its' only an expansion vessel for gods sake.
Click to expand...
so gassy you advocate non gsr engineers to start taking apart boilers and having a fiddle inside..when going to a boiler are you saying you dont carry out a preliminary tightness test..how on earth can you walk away from a gas appliance not knowing its gas tight before and after your work
and yes i know its not part of the regs but is prob the best non regulated practise there is
 
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He is only asking for advice. he ain't saying he is going to get his toolbox out and mend it himself
 
I completely agree, IMO you need to have passed ur acs and have experience to visually/competently check gas appliances. Ppl like u, me and the rest of the gas qualified folk are the only ppl who should be working on gas boilers.

But this 'supposed' new gas safe rule seems to state differently.

I'm only passing on what I've heard. I am ACS/NVQ-3 and experienced so this said rule change doesn't benefit me at all
 
but thats just what he did last time
i genuinly like to give advice but the trend at present is for people to ask gas related question then have a go themselves and this is getting to the dangerous stage now
people shouldnt be working on boilers unless certified to do so
as you know not all boiler problems are directly related to the faulty part and a dangerous boiler can still be a dangerous boiler with a faulty expansion vessel and the prv is classed as a safety device as well

and they would need to rewrite the gas regs as regard classes of persons allowed to work on boilers

there is no difference between illegal fitters and diyers other then the illegal fitter takes money and risks life the diyer risks life to save money
 
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Also there is no requirement to do a T/T before boiler work. Only if replacing a gas valve or working on gas pipework or smell of gas etc will I do a preliminary T/T.
 
as i said not in the regs but best practise is tightness before and after all work
scenario 1 you dont do tightness and you work on boiler and then record a 6mb drop at the end
customers says your a bodger it was fine before you touched it you could end up worst case recarcasing a property because you cant prove it was allready leaking
 
newbie1 said:
as i said not in the regs but best practise is tightness before and after all work
scenario 1 you dont do tightness and you work on boiler and then record a 6mb drop at the end
customers says your a bodger it was fine before you touched it you could end up worst case recarcasing a property because you cant prove it was allready leaking
Click to expand...

not an issue, isolate boiler and prove leak is on pipework.

If I'm repairing a boiler then I try stay clear of touching gas pipework unless I have to. Obviously working on gas pipework can open a can of worms at times
 
My mate (who is gas safe reg) is comin' round soon so we can sort it out. When I called him and described symptoms he said he has a pretty good idea of fault.
Thanks for those of you who gave advice 🙂. Like I said I'm just interested and I like to know what the problems are.

Those of you who choose not to give advice, thanks for your input,its invaluable I'm sure...
 
Remembering that just by removing the cover on some boilers and you are splitting a combustion seal.
old tinkering timmy is going to say he only took cover off didnt touch the gas side.
But may still wipe the family out in one oh sorry but saved 35.00(cheap for a family!!
Why dont they get it?
us secret engineers eh
NO TICKET NO TINKER and NO ADVICE FROM ME!
PS look at his previous posts then tell me hes just after advice!
 
thats the point i was making maybe i didnt voice it the right way but some people are quite obv looking for info so they can have a play and i believe that is wrong when it comes to gas appliances
i fervently believe no ccn1/cen1 then no touchy
 
I always try and find out about things even if someone else does it for me. I wouldn't mess with a boiler if I didn't know what I was doing - if I did know then I would.
Regarding my previous posts, yes, I was after info to see if I could do it myself (safely). However, the job was done by a gas safe engineer who is a friend and so we did the job together and he explained it to me during the procedure. That is why the heat exchanger was cleaned out with vineagar (a tip from here by the way). He was totally in agreement with this and to date the DHW exchanger has been ok.
Anyhow, he's been round today and put a new service kit in the diverter valve and pumped up the expansion vessel as the valve was toast. This time I didn't get involved as I had something else going on but again he explained to me the ins and outs of it.This does not mean that I will try to repair a boiler in the future so you may now rest assured.
The boiler is now ok.
Sometimes you wonder why you ask people for advice.....😕
 
to be fair voodoo you posted you got an engineer round who quoted you a price and told you what needed to be done and you then posted you did it yourself

as engineers its a bit much to travel to a job diagnose only to see customer then do it themself
 
As gas fitter/engineers when wedo any work on say a boiler before its put back into service all safty devices are checked for correct operation,the flue is checked condition/operation and its gas rated or flue gas analysed!
This is what the regs require and also in basic for is following maufacturers guidelines also basic checks should be done on any other gas appliances!
All this is done for a reason. aswell as this u should also hold a ticket (unvented) to work on pressurised systems ie removing plate heat ex!
I cant understand why someone would begrudge paying 60 to 80 quid for all this to be done to know it all sorted and safe. Without the correct tickets you arent competant -ok u may have done job ok but u have to be able to prove competance and u cant do that without the tickets.
Last point Its about time they passed legislation making Annual serviceing compulsary on any gas app!
Iam not having a go pal-i just belive safty should not be compromised which is why i wont give people instruction otherwise,wether it makes a differance or not-at least they havent followed my guidance.
Good luck getting boiler sorted-in u have a mate who is GSR use him u know he will look after u and atleast you wont get cowboyed!
 
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