vaillant ecotec pipework blowout

[lame plumber]

went to a vaillant ecotec today with water pouring out. Popped open the case to see lovely mess as one of the rubber 1/2" pipes had totally split venting the contents everywhere. So popped down to local garage for some replacement rad pipe and a some jubilee clips, and back to custards. Noticed the other rubber pipe was fitted with jubilee clips as well and that had gone a couple of months previously and that the boiler needed constant topping up since then.

So having repaired said pipe and vacuumed the foam residue that had be blown off the caseing checked expansion vessel, 0 bar, with no water escaping so charged espn vsslr and charged up heating system. Boiler surprisingly despite water wash down started up and ran ok.

So word to wise out there if you come across one of these nightmares, replace both pipes as one gone equals other failing idc and dont forget to see why its failed in the first place!! and dont remember your local auto parts centre supplies the replacement pipe a dam sight cheaper than vaillant spares!

 

[Pssst]

Maybe there is a good argument in boiler design for fitting all the electronic controls (pcb's)at the top of the boiler instead of the bottom obviously with the necessary adjustments for user controls.This ruptured pipe thing seems common on Ecotecs.

 

[Blake]

I have no idea why they even put that rubber hose section on there? There must be some logic behind it I assume but it does seem like a weak point to me.

 

[arran197]

They no longer sell the pipe like that. I've replaced loads, we do it as a matter of course when working on these boilers now. Part numbers from Wolseley are 501461 and 501462. That replaces both to the new type, which are made entirely from copper. You can just about get the return one in by disconnecting the expansion vessel pipe and manoeuvring it round. This is just a single piece of copper. The flow comes in 2 parts and has a sliding o ring so you can fit it in. Quite a good design actually. Far better than the stitched rubber, which splits.

 

[flesi]

That's a bad design , now they made it rigid £75 for two piece of copper pipe. Vaillant should supply for free.

 

[arran197]

That's a bad design , now they made it rigid £75 for two piece of copper pipe. Vaillant should supply for free.

Is that actually how much they cost?

 

[dave1]

That's a bad design , now they made it rigid £75 for two piece of copper pipe. Vaillant should supply for free.

Yeah I thought they were around that figure. Rip off!
It's like they thought lets design a part that will fail then sell an upgraded part at an ridiculous price!

 

[Roger Welton]

Much like glow worms test point caps, yes we've designed a part that is potentiating dangerous, but we will still charge you for them rather than doing a product recall /infield mod ourselves.

 

[dancinplumba]

I have no idea why they even put that rubber hose section on there? There must be some logic behind it I assume but it does seem like a weak point to me.

ask petercj its something to do with bmw cars ????

 

[arran197]

Bloody hell, I've been ordering them like they're going out of fashion, thought they'd only be a couple of quid. Ah well, I'm not paying for them fortunately. The company probably gets a huge discount anyway.

I had to replace 2 Gianoni heat exchangers a while ago, one on a Baxi Duo Tec and one on a Vaillant EcoTec. They are the same heat exchangers, the Baxi one which doesn't come with a burner seal or the washers for the connections cost £145 and the Vaillant one, which does come with the seals, costs £260! Those aren't the exact figures, but I know Vaillant parts are horrendously expensive.

 

[neily01]

Yeah I thought they were around that figure. Rip off!
It's like they thought lets design a part that will fail then sell an upgraded part at an ridiculous price!

A bit like the potterton promax and others that require the new update front panel to stop explosive ignition.then when you ask was there a problem with the previous version they say no and i cant help but ask why bring out a update then?