This was a boiler I looked at this week for a good little customer who lives in Herringthorpe, Rotherham, S65. He called me to say his Vaillant ecotec plus 418 heat-only boiler was leaking and appeared to still be leaking even after the boiler had been turned off.
As a general rule if a condensing boiler is leaking only when it is running then it usually means it is leaking condensate from somewhere. If a boiler continues to leak regardless then that usually indicates a bigger issue, which was true in this case.
These ecotec plus heat only boilers are very similar to the Glowworm hxi range and the Vaillant ecoMAX pro boilers. They all use the same heat exchangers.
On the boilers with this type of heat exchanger there are two important seals, one being the larger graphite burner door seal at the top, the other being a slightly less important rubber seal at the bottom. Whilst the graphite seals don’t usually fail, the rubber seal at the bottom always does at some point so they need replacing periodically otherwise they start to leak.
In this case the bottom seal had failed and the heat exchanger was spraying in that direction so it was showing as an obvious leak. This was an open-vented system so the system was being continually filled as the heat exchanger leaked. It had probably been leaking for a while and went unnoticed as the water would have being going straight through the condensate trap and into the drain. If the bottom seal hadn’t failed then this may have continued to leak internally unnoticed.
Vaillant ecotec plus 418 heat exchanger failure
On sealed systems heat exchanger failure is very noticable and doesn’t usually go unnoticed for long. Once the pressure gets too low the boiler stops working properly or stops altogether. On Vaillant Combi and System boilers they should flash up with the F.22 fault code when the pressure gets below 0.8 bar. On boilers that don’t have pressure sensors or switches the boiler usually just gets to a point where is stops working or overheats.
This boiler was in a pretty boiler state but i was able to get it running again short term for a couple of days so we could replace it etc. If the heat exchanger had popped in a slightly different place it could have sprayed on onto the spark electrode/ionisation probe and caused the F.28 or F.29 flame failure fault codes which would have stopped the appliance from working.
Vaillant ecotec plus 418 heat exchanger
Once I had replaced the burner door seals etc I put the boiler back together and tested it. It was working perfectly apart from the internal leak.
This boiler was in a terrible state, the problem with the heat exchanger was just one issue. The flue gas conveyor was leaking, the front insulation pad needed replacing, whoever fitted the condensate trap had twisted one of the tubes badly so ideally that needed replacing. Obviously the burner door seals needed replacing as well.
Vaillant ecotec plus 418 up and running again
This is a perfect example of why you should get your boiler checked over properly every once in a while by someone who knows what to look for.
Areas where I can repair your Vaillant ecotec Plus boiler
I am located in Elsecar, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. I cover a large part of South Yorkshire including most of Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley. I also cover a small part of Doncaster.
Sheffield:
I cover most of Sheffield including central Sheffield, Chapeltown, Ecclesfield, Grenoside, High Green, Oughtibridge, Thurgoland, Wortley, Aston, Aughton, Swallownest, Todwick, Hillsborough and Stannington.
Rotherham:
I cover the whole area of Rotherham including central Rotherham, Brinsworth, Catcliffe, Canklow, Masbrough, Treeton, Whiston, Greasbrough, Kimberworth, Thorpe Hesley, Rawmarsh, Wentworth, Bolton-on-Dearne, Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe, Wath-on-Dearne, Mexborough, Swinton, Kilnhurst, Hooton Roberts, Ravenfield, Thrybergh, Bramley, Hellaby, Maltby, Thurcroft, Wickersley and Braithwell.
Barnsley:
I cover most of Barnsley including central Barnsley, Birdwell, Stairfoot, Worsborough, Kendray, Ardsley, Athersley, Monk Bretton, Lundwood, Royston, Brierley, Cudworth, Cortonwood, Great Houghton, Shafton, South Hiendley, Brampton, Darfield, Wombwell, Hemingfield, Elsecar, Hoyland, Jump, Barugh Green, Cawthorne, Darton, Dodworth, Gawber, Mapplewell, Pogmoor, Staincross, Wilthorpe, Worsbrough, Thurnscoe and Tankersley.
Doncaster:
I cover a small part of Doncaster including central Adwick, Conisborough, Edlington, Warmsworth and Mexborough.