Don't buy a Vaillant Central heating boiler - they're crap

[gareth]

It never rains but it pours.

Court summons arrives in the post at 11:45, central heating boiler goes bang at 17:30.

Vaillant ecotec 831 boiler fitted less than 5 years ago.

Faults to date ...

Design fault, a rubber ring to be replaced by a graphite ring.

Design fault, a pressure sensor gives up the ghost.

2 weeks after guaranteee expires, the change-over valve fails but exhibits water leak that has been there for months. Vaillant refuse to honour under the guarantee.

Vaillant pressure us to take out extended warranty, which we do because of change-over valve replaced. When the small print comes, it specifically excludes any faults that existed before the guarantee so cancel the policy immediately.

Thermostat fails requiring use of manual override.

Yesterday, rubber expansion joint fails. Emergency engineer says that it is another design fault having a rubber hose next to the heat exchanger, and that replacement will be a telescoping metal joint.

The emergency engineer says that our experiences both with Vaillant and with theor boilers are commonplace, and that he always recommend Worcester boilers.

Moral : Don't buy a Vaillant boiler, not only are they crap but Vaillant have a predatory attitude towards customers' bank balances.

[Triffid]

I'm really surprised - I've always regarded Vaillant is one of the best manufacturers. When we had a new boiler three years ago it was a toss-up between a Vaillant and a Worcester Bosch. The installer recommended WB - mainly because, he said, they had a first class produce and excellent after-sales service. We took his advice and, in view of your experiences, I'm glad we did!

[gareth]

I forgot - I'm also a Radio Ham, and I have to switch off the boiler before transmitting else it shuts down with a fault code. As I'm not a qualified gas fitter, I may not tamper with it by the usual ruses of fitting ferrite rings and bypass capacitors everywhere. The previous 2 Servowarm boilers (20 years) had no such problems

[Serendipity]

I also have a really old boiler - she has several faults, buts she's good to the kids!

[Triffid]

!! For 'produce' please read 'product'...

[Yeti]

It's only the gas fittings that you're not supposed to touch.

You can do what you like with the electrical parts.

[FranK Turner-Smith G3VKI]

Is this to become a repeat of the Fettled Casting Saga?

[Nightjar]

I've always found it to be so, as have others I know who have used them. Of course, the satisfied customers rarely bother to post threads about how happy they are.

and, looking at the trade discounts I can get on both makes, a bigger profit for the installer.

Colin Bignell

[Triffid]

Nightjar

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can work on gas fittings in your own home if you're competent to do so. The regulations only apply to those charging for their work.

[GEDCOM]

Does this include disconnecting a gas cooker which hasn't got a bayonet fitting and capping off the gas supply pipe?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes, if you are competent. But then, most who are competent wouldn't even bother asking as regards working in your own home.

[YAPH]

Here's my take on it:

[YAPH]

My experience of Vaillant is

- *extremely* unresponsive technical support line: I once hung on for over 40 minutes being told how important my call was to them etc and gave up; I later contacted general customer services who suggested I email them! (Which actually worked - they did get back to me - but as much use as a chocolate teapot if you've got a customer's boiler in bits in front of you and need to talk to someone now.)

- Vaillant engaging in finger-pointing exercise over a fault: a boiler I'd fitted for a customer was making howling noises from the flue (which I think they're a bit prone to do) and they got a Vaillant bod out to look at it who said the primary circuit hadn't been flushed properly, which didn't seem a likely fault. I powerflushed the system (I'd only just got the machine after installing the boiler) and not surprisingly it didn't make a blind bit of difference.

My experience of Worcester-Bosch is - generally being able to reach tech support on the phone when I need it (can be a bit busy when everyone's got frozen condensates) - tech support being generally clueful (can be a bit off with more esoteric issues) - being pretty helpful when you do have to call them out, including attending for free a boiler that was a couple of weeks outside warranty

[nafuk]

Hi, sorry to hear about your problems. I have a Valliant system boiler (not combi) that has been ok for a number of years. Do not forget that you have a 5-10 year (or however long a boiler should reasonably last) guarantee through the sales of goods act 1974. Your complaint is with the supplier of your boiler (plumber, shop, Valliant?). Do not take out extended guarantees. Write to supplier a few times with recorded delivery to show that you have tried to resolve the matter (do not get fobbed off with having to pay for repairs etc.). Then if no joy, do the small claims thing (can be done on-line, or used to be able to do this). Good luck.

[Cod Roe]

DIY work be legally prohibited, e.g. by restricting the sale of gas equipment to registered gas installers? Should retailers be legally required to record sales of gas equipment and pass these to a central body, perhaps CORGI? Should any central body selected for this purpose be required to arrange the inspection of gas installation work in any case where the record of sale suggests work will be carried out by an unregistered installer? Should increased publicity on the dangers of DIY gas work be given by (i) HSE campaigns, (ii) manufacturer?s warnings, (iii) other means? (DD Page 50)

We understand concern about the possible risks posed by incompetent DIY gas work, but believe at present there is insufficient hard evidence of incidents to support the introduction of a legal ban. However, we recognise that current statistics might not tell the full story and recommend that further work be done more accurately to identify the scale of the problem, i.e. by refining arrangements for reporting incidents specifically to identify those related to DIY (see Recommendation 9), with a view to reviewing the legal position again (say in five years time).

In the meantime, we recommend that increased publicity should be given to the dangers of DIY gas work (possibly funded through industry and the Gas Safety Levy - see Recommendations 7 and 11). This should focus more on legal requirements for competence if DIY is undertaken, and penalties if these are not met. More encouragement should also be given to retailers for providing ?point of sale? information, and equipment manufacturers to include warnings with products.

[gareth]

# Hi, sorry to hear about your problems. I have a Valliant system boiler # (not combi) that has been ok for a number of years. # Do not forget that you have a 5-10 year (or however long a boiler # should reasonably last) guarantee through the sales of goods act 1974. # Your complaint is with the supplier of your boiler (plumber, shop, # Valliant?). Do not take out extended guarantees. Write to supplier a # few times with recorded delivery to show that you have tried to # resolve the matter (do not get fobbed off with having to pay for # repairs etc.). Then if no joy, do the small claims thing (can be done # on-line, or used to be able to do this). # Good luck.

Thanks for an interesting suggestion.

Unfortunately Servowarm are no longer in business.

I have a vague idea that someone in Birmingham purchased the rights to their business.

[gareth]

I think that perhaps you're in a different world? An installer who is involved with brand-new systems?

[Kipper at sea]

Check SWR then add some DX grease to aerial coax pl259 lol ex 26 SD 765 26 AT 765

[Doctor Drivel]

Buy an Intergas (Atmos). Only 4 moving parts on the combi. They just go and go.