Heatline viso 24/28 combi boiler problems.

[gazza1988]

Hi guys I hope you can help me (well it's my sister) she has had 4 different plumbers and heating engineers out to it all saying something different.

The problem is the boilers fires for around a minute then stops for a minute then kicks up again then stops (this carries on for a while) also when calling for hot water it has started sounding like a small aircraft is flying above the house.

On a good day she can get hot rads upstairs but not down. Although recently she cant get hot rads because the boiler wont kick up long enough to heat the water (now its getting colder I presume)

The first engineer said it was a "dodgy bend" (a joint on a corner, I'm not hugely plumbing literate so I'll explain the best I can) so he replaced the joint and it didn't work he then rang his mate who came out and said it needed flushing. He came round and flushed each rad in turn outside with a hosepipe (I have seen this mentioned on the net) that didn't work.

Another heating engineer came out and said it could be the pump (due to the "aeroplane" noise when calling for hot water) he got a pump and then decided it wasn't that after taking the old pump out and he sent the pump he got back to supplier and didn't charge my sister for his mis-diagnosis

Another heating engineer came out and decided it needed powerflushing and would cost £950. She didn't have enough money for that and is now stuck

A british gas engineer came out and decided that a power flush wouldn't do anything and she needed BG to install a new boiler for her for £2000 (on that pay monthly deal they are running, but she didn't have a good enough credit rating)

My dad managed to get in touch with a plumber he used to work on a site with and he came to have a look for free. He said BG was wrong and the boiler needs "de-sludging" or "de-scaling" I'm not sure which one it is (or if they both the same) but he told my dad we can do it cheaply ourselve with some "sentinel x800" however I have looked around and that only works with a power flush machine (as is my understanding) and she cant afford to rent one.

Does anybody have any tips on what can be done. She has a 6 month old baby and is currently on maternity pay so money is tight. She is having to live with friends and family for obvious reasons, so if anybody wants to help her out with some (hopefully cheap :wink5🙂 solutions that would help her would be greatly appreciated (she's tried winning the lottery too and that so far has not worked :tongue🙂

 

[grahamgas]

What fault leds, if any, is she getting?

 

[gazza1988]

What fault leds, if any, is she getting?

She says none. 1 of the plumbers who came said it keeps "locking out" (which I would assume would show up a light on the control panel) I can do a video and upload it to youtube of what the boiler is doing if that would help?

You can see what the boiler is doing without my attempts to describe what's happening.

 

[julesverne]

had a heatline viso with the same issue a while back and it down to the thermistors. did any of the engineers take any resitance readings on the parts. try using x400 if it is a sludged system that is fine, i dont see why you cant use x800 though it doesnt have to be neutralised. but will need emptying out. a picture atthe time it locks out should help.

 

[gazza1988]

had a heatline viso with the same issue a while back and it down to the thermistors. did any of the engineers take any resitance readings on the parts. try using x400 if it is a sludged system that is fine, i dont see why you cant use x800 though it doesnt have to be neutralised. but will need emptying out. a picture atthe time it locks out should help.

No I dont think they took any resistance readings. I have a multimeter though (if its electrical resistance you mean) so I can have a look at that.

I will nip round and take some photos. Every little helps.

 

[julesverne]

if your not a gas safe registered engineer then you shouldnt be opening the case. get a gsr in who knows what they are doing

 

[gazza1988]

Just been round and it doesn't appear to be locking out. it fires for 18 seconds, then "goes out" for 1 minute, then fires for 18 seconds and then "goes out" again.

It keeps doing this, I had it on for around 30 minutes and no radiator was warm (even at the bottom) It was still cold.

I have took a 3 1/2 minute video of what it is doing.

Julesverne the last guy to come left the front off the boiler. I haven't messed about with anything in relation to gas.

It seems to me that there is a blockage somewhere as all the water it heats up isn't going anywhere so it heats up quick then tries to pump it through for a minute and enough cold water is coming in for it to cool it down so it rinses and repeats.

Is there a cost-effective way to remove this blockage? That is if that's what you think it is.

[DLMURL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RknZxLTl1iY[/DLMURL]

After I started the boiler someone rang me so it cancelled the video so I started it again midway through.

 

[Toned.f]

Its the thermistors.


Get a GSR enginerr to replace both the CH and DHW and that should sort it. The last ones I swapped ( about a month ago) cost me £44! ( this is where Heatline make their money).

 

[gazza1988]

thanks for that.

I can get them new on ebay for £20.50

How much would be an acceptable estimate for a GSR engineer to fit them? After research the estimate from some for £900+ for a powerflush seems quite steep.

 

[Toned.f]

Dunno really, an hours labour max for the thermistors (£60) and then a few more hours for a chemical system clean.

The £900 quoted for the powerflush would be better spent towards a decent boiler.

My experience ( and I'm sure other members will bear me out) is that these budget boiler that are sold at B and Q and other like outlets are put in by DIYers with various installation issues.

Whenever I swap out water carring components there are sludge issues in most cases and no signs of any inhibitor.

Budget boiler, budget install.

 

[gazza1988]

I told her you get what you pay for but went for it anyway. No room stat was installed. He was Corgi registered (as it was called back then) but passed it as safe despite there being a 6mm earth to gas pipe at the meter.

My dad has just told me that the GSR that came the other day did use a multimeter but he doesn't know what he tested with it. Could he be testing thermistors as he has also recommended that we do the following procedure:

1. drain the system
2. Take a rad off on the landing (the boiler is upstairs in an old airing cupboard)
3. pour 1ltr of sentinel x800 down 1 of the pipes.
4. put the rad back on and refill the system.
5. leave the boiler running for 10 days then drain the system again.
6. Take same rad off and pour in sentinel scale reducer and sentinel x100 at the same time.
7. refill the system and it should be good as new.

He has only just let us know, me asking on here has jogged his memory (he has memory problems and forgets to tell us stuff like this, so I do apologise if I have wasted anybody's time.)

Would you recommend getting a second opinion on the thermistors or try what the last GSR said? Or both.

 

[Toned.f]

Steps 1 - 7 won't do any harm however it still wont work as it needs a pair of thermistors

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

one simple check you can do without being gas safe i take it hot water works ok albeit noisy?check the isolation valves under neath the boiler are open its very easy for house holders to turn these by mistake when trying to pressure the system but not so easy to see if there closed by there orientation and if the isos on the 2 22mm pipes are closed it will give this EXACT symptom you describe

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Steps 1 - 7 won't do any harm however it still wont work as it needs a pair of thermistors

why a pair ?hot water works doesn't it?

 

[gazza1988]

Hot water heats up fine. Once it gets hot it starts making the noise. I have read on a couple of searches I did that this can happen and is normal (it doesn't sound it to me, but I'm no expert 🙂 )

I've asked and they said they haven't touched them but my dad could have. I'll have a check when I go round tomorrow.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

if hot waters working ok IT CAN NOT BE THE THERMISTORS the heapline has a plate heat exchanger for hot water to work the primary CH thermistor must be working please check those isos or post a picture

 

[gazza1988]

I've got a key for her house here so I'll nip now. What would you like a picture of? (if the ISO valves are already open)

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

I've got a key for her house here so I'll nip now. What would you like a picture of? (if the ISO valves are already open)

all the isos underneath the boiler

 

[gazza1988]

Ok be back soon

 

[gazza1988]

Hi mate I'm back now. Just transferring the photos to the pc.

No matter which ones I turned off/on it still did the same as described. One I couldnt turn properly (the blue one in between the yellow and red one) and felt really stiff.

Also when I turned the blue one (far left) water came out of it but then it stopped for some reason



Also I videoed me doing it if you would like to see it please say and ill upload it to youtube and provide a link.

As an aside where the flue goes through the wall and outside has no cover on it, the hole that the plumber core drilled for the flue is packed with newspaper. I have caught this on the video I mentioned. I don't know if it matters.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

the newspaper around the flue is frightening has no one picked upon this? the red valve on the right remove the handle(1 pozi screw) and check it with a grips they often spin round try turning it different ways and running the boiler to heating

 

[gazza1988]

Hello. The red valve did turn much easier than the others.

A BG engineer came out (trying to sell her a combi boiler, they did a free "check" on the current system to see if it needed covering with their home plan thingy or replacing) pointed out the flue wasn't installed properly "but was not unsafe" which is what he said to my sister. Mind you the BG engineer never said anything about the 6mm earth bond to the gas meter/water stop tap either.

The whole thing was signed off too! it even says there is a 10mm to the gas meter, I trained as a sparky for 4 years (unemployed atm) I know the difference between 6mm and 10mm cables.

Tomorrow is payday for my sister so we are going to do the sentinel clean procedure anyway as I'm sure its recommended (if the flue is frightening then there may be nothing in the system to prevent scaling.