3 replies to this topic

[Tyzão]

First of all, I live in Berlin -- and moved into a new apartment here. We have a Vaillant hot water tank in the house, which from appearance looks clean & good. The problem is the hot water tank keeps causing the breaker fuses to switch off when it is being run for an extended period of time. We were in the house for 2 or 3 weeks when the breakers switched off -- I tried replacing them in the fuse box, but the hot water tank still didn't work. It then took more than 2 weeks to get a repairman who was able to fix it to come to the house. He was able to fix the hot water tank, saying it had a "loose wire." Three days later, the hot water tank breaker tripped again. This time I went to the fuse box and removed two of the three 10amp fuses for the hot water tank and the hot water tank now functions, but to a greatly reduced capacity. It seems the hot water is over much more quickly and with me, my wife, and two daughters, I still haven't had a hot shower since Thanksgiving, which in Berlin really doesn't cut it. One detail that might be helpful, the fuse box (from what I can tell) has 3 10amp fuses (400 V / 250 V) for the hot water tank. I think one of the four repairman who appeared in the house (and couldn't do anything except say it was an electrical problem) said something about two of the wires being connected (to a single breaker?).

I don't think this is necessarily a repair job for me -- but I am trying to understand the problem in total before I hire a Vaillant repairman to come to the house. Since all of the costs associated with the hot water are supposed to be included in the monthly rent, I'm probably going to have to get into the litigious environment which is very commonplace (and is very boring).

I also hypothesize that the 3 x 10 amp fuses are some kind of trick to limit the length of our showers, since the land lord also pays for the water. I've also noticed these "tricks" with the heating (which is also from a boiler in the basement).

Can anyone please give me some insight into what is going on? If the 3 x 10 amp fuses were replaced by 2 x 15 amp fuses, and properly wired, would that fix the problem? Is it possible to make sure a change in the fuse box? Would a typical qualified repairman be capable of making such a repair. What was indicated by the original "problem," which didn't appear to be remedied by replacing the fuses, and apparently was an issue internal to the hot water tank itself?

Thanks for your comments!
Tyzão

[RegUS_PatOff]

a model number may be helpful,
so we could (possibly) find infomation,
such as the wiring diagram and what size Fuses are required, etc
but it soulnds like a job for a qualified electrician.

[Tyzão]

oh sorry, I actually have the installation manual, its all in German, but there are several diagrams which probably are more than adequate. I'm not sure if the manual is also available in English.

Anyways, its a Vaillant and my particular model is the VEH 80/6 exclusiv

[Tyzão]

I did a quick search and found the manual I referenced here --

http://www.vaillant....siv_classic.pdf

its all in german, but hopefully the diagrams are self-explanatory, or I could probably translate a bit if needed

Thanks!
Tyzão