Vaillant ecoMax 622/2E - fault F.23

[abbotsman]

Hello,

my boiler is a Vaillant ecoMax 622/2E, installed in 2004 by
a professional registered plumber. Faultless running up until now.
On 21st Dec it came up with a F.23 fault, reading service manual
this says

Meaning: Water level low
Temperature range too wide

Cause: Pump obstructed, pump running at lower capacity
Air in appliance, system pressure too low
flow and backflow NTC reversed.

On 21st Dec I drained and refilled, bleed system - water was very black
despite inhibitor. Boiler started and worked fine... until today (11th Jan).
Now have F.23 fault again. Restarted the boiler, ran for a minute or two and then fault F.23 came up again.
The pressure on the Pressure Gauge is 1.1 Bar so this looks fine.
I opened the screw on the face of the integral pump to check for any air in the pump but this appeared to be ok as well.
A second restart and the boiler appears now to be running again.
I think there is some kind of fault or issue here as the boiler has been
very reliable up until now. I have googled and found some comments on checking the expansion vessel - is this easy to do and is it easy to re-pressurise ? Could someone give me some advice please. I'm happy to call in a professional if required but if it's something handled very simply I would prefer to avoid the hassle and cost. I have plumbing experience - installed rads, pipework and a couple of boilers over the years but am NOT a professional plumber.

many thanks for any advice.

Pete

 

[stevetheplumber]

preasure vessel is checked via schraeder vave in exactly the same way as you would check a tyre but boiler must be drained to do it

 

[abbotsman]

Hi Steve, Thank you for your reply. If I drain the system I'm assuming this will drain the boiler also ? Pete

 

[stevetheplumber]

Hi Steve, Thank you for your reply. If I drain the system I'm assuming this will drain the boiler also ? Pete

yes but you can drain just boiler by closing the valves and opening the drain tap on them assuming this bioler has valves

 

[Rodreguez]

Hope this is sorted by now, i have have 15 of these boilers on my contract for servicing. i had exactly the same prob it was the rubber hose which is held on by 2 jubilees on the return pipe to heat exchanger. for some reason any magnetite seems to conjeal there. i had to change all 15.

Before i found this was the prob i tried powerflushing and fernox ds3. nothing worked but they ran for 2 years since the fix no probs

 

[Ellie]

Hope this is sorted by now, i have have 15 of these boilers on my contract for servicing. i had exactly the same prob it was the rubber hose which is held on by 2 jubilees on the return pipe to heat exchanger. for some reason any magnetite seems to conjeal there. i had to change all 15.

Before i found this was the prob i tried powerflushing and fernox ds3. nothing worked but they ran for 2 years since the fix no probs

Thanks Rogreguez. My plumber was baffled what was going wrong until i showed him your post. He took the pipe off and it was blocked solid

 

[abbotsman]

Just to follow up what Ellie has just posted, Following Rogreguez's post I took the pipe off inside my boiler and it was blocked solid as well. Replaced the pipe and my heating system is now working perfectly. Spent almost 9 months with this problem and local heating engineer was useless. He replaced the sensors and was about to do a powerflush at ~ £600 when I rechecked the net and found Rogreguez's post. Replacement part cost about £8.50 + VAT. It's simple to fix. Just make sure you drain the system first. Also, I recommend people don't use/touch the isolation valves underneath the boiler. they are very prone to developing a leak if you use them to isolate the boiler. Replacing these is about £40 just for the part alone. Better to play safe and drain your whole system. If you've found you do have that bloked pipe you should probably clean the whole system anyway. After replacing the pipe, the following week I ran some X400 cleanser in the system for a while, flushed it and then added X100 inhilibitor. (If unsure, use a plumber!!). I also fitted a SpiroVent on the flow and a SpiroTrap on the return but maybe this is a bit extreme!

 

[Rodreguez]

yea it took me a while to work it out. all 15 boilers were at fault, even had vaillant out and they couldn't find nothing wrong. i just decided one day to strip the boiler down and i started with that pipe. Glad to help you out!

Dan

 

[rylann]

Good work Rodreguez, it a tonic to see you share good hands on solutions to the world, after all your experience in the trade would you recommend a vaillant combi boiler. One of my restrictions I am trying to integrate a combi into a existing open oil burner system. I wish to use mains pressure and a pressure regulating valve if necessary to equalise the hot and cold (gravity feed) into a shower mixer. Equally I wish to keep the upgrade simple, keep cost low and avoid major surgery. The Vaillant combi supplies out water at 0.76 bar while the Remeha Broag Avanta Plus 35c Condensing Combi boilers is designed to operates at low water pressure a minimum of 0 5 bar to achieve maximum flow rate, it has same heat exchanger and Siemens controller plus is considerably cheaper. I would appreciate your feedback, thanks in advance, kind regards Martin

 

[Rodreguez]

I think vaillants are good boilers don't personally know the Remeha! I have fitted plenty of showers on combi's and never had a problem with inbalanced pressures. Have a look at Mira Excel EV or an Aqualisa they're good showers.

Also what is the working pressure of incoming main and flow rate? This is needed to know to see if a combi is right for you.

 

[Deleted member 59246]

Bit of a resurrection, I know,
Ive had a few problems with a Vaillant eco max 622 .Same blocked tube problem.This was fixed by a Vaillant plumber 2 years ago along with that seal on the heat exchanger that was an issue with these.
I have now had an E12 fault come up where the boiler over heats and cycles.I took the bypass valve out and it was full of crap.Ran the boiler again and rechecked the bypass valve.It was full again.
I checked and cleaned the flexible tube,which was very dirty but not blocked.I havecleaned the bypass valve 3 times now and it is coming out clean.
I would suggest that if the flexible tube is blocked then,after cleaning or preferably replacing, that it would be an idea to check the bypass valve for rubbish as it is just after this tube.

I have not sussed my problem yet. Just gets very hot very quickly and cycles on and off. Any suggestions.

 

[dancinplumba]

Bit of a resurrection, I know,
Ive had a few problems with a Vaillant eco max 622 .Same blocked tube problem.This was fixed by a Vaillant plumber 2 years ago along with that seal on the heat exchanger that was an issue with these.
I have now had an E12 fault come up where the boiler over heats and cycles.I took the bypass valve out and it was full of crap.Ran the boiler again and rechecked the bypass valve.It was full again.
I checked and cleaned the flexible tube,which was very dirty but not blocked.I havecleaned the bypass valve 3 times now and it is coming out clean.
I would suggest that if the flexible tube is blocked then,after cleaning or preferably replacing, that it would be an idea to check the bypass valve for rubbish as it is just after this tube.

I have not sussed my problem yet. Just gets very hot very quickly and cycles on and off. Any suggestions.

are you gsr ?

 

[Deleted member 59246]

are you gsr ?

nope.,and I have a personal boiler problem which brought me here with a google search.


I just want to understand whats causing it.

 

[Dotty]

You need a gsr in to look at your boiler. We cannot and will not give advice on the installation or repair of boilers for your own safety.

Please go to Gas Safe Register | Ensure your gas engineer is registered. or post a thread in the 'I'm looking for a plumber / gas engineer' section of these forums remembering to include your location. [DLMURL="http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/im-looking-plumber-gas-engineer/"]I'm looking for a Plumber or Gas Engineer[/DLMURL]

If you are gsr please increase your post count to 10+ then send a pm to either Gas man or Redsaw who will then check you and then give you access to the gsr private forum.

Thank you.

http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/central-heating-forum/42241-notice-gas-safety-related-advice.html