I have an 11 year old Vaillant serier GA100 hot water boiler which has developed a buzzing sound coming from the damper actuator. Pushing on a round aluminum cover (labeled Synchron) within the box seems to reduce the noise. This Synchron is very hot to the touch. Should this unit be replaced??

Thanks
Paul

 

It sounds like the motor is getting ready to crap out. I suggest getting a new one & installing it. The motor MIGHT be the same as a Honeywell zone valve motor. If you can't find just a motor for the damper, you might want to check on the zone valve motor. Maybe the same, maybe not but I know the zone valve motors are readily available.

 

Pulled out the old automatic vent damper...I don't think it was functioning as the damper was in the open condition when the boiler was not on. Am having trouble rewiring the new unit I attached to the flue pipe. The wire colors on the new harness don't match those of the old.

 

I was involved with vent damper design for Honeywell in the late 90's. I have a Vaillant GA100-10 installed in 1995. It really cool looking, but the first thing to go was the vent damper after 5 years. It was made by a defunct company called "Flair". The motor wiring insulation became brittle and crumbled away so it shorted out. This is because the control components were not designed to withstand the heat and corrosive gasses that are present within the cabinet. It seems many boiler manufacturers make this mistake and the components end up failing early. This is very prevalent on the GA100. Parts for control components are usually not available for replacement. They are specific to the manufactured item and need to meet quality control requirements since especially since this is a safety sensitive product. It is best to replace the whole unit instead of trying to repair it.

For a fix, I installed an external Johnson Controls damper that I got off of Ebay cheap that was compatible with the Honeywell intermittent spark control unit. You could do something like this or you could call Vaillant customer service - they seem to be pretty helpful despite having pulled out of the US market years ago.

Colin Carr
855 Industrial Hwy., Unit #10
Cinnaminson, NJ 08077
Phone: (856) 786-2000
Fax: (856) 786-8465
E-Mail: usa@vaillant.com

Other than that, I have replaced the transformer twice - due to over heating and burnout and the gas valve failed last year. The front burn chamber bulkhead has a crack in it and the rear cowling rusted through after 5 years. The boiler has just begun to leak. I will have to replace it after 14 years of service - not exactly a long life for a boiler. Perhaps it was sized too big and failed early due to cycling, but once I do my own heat load analysis I will know more - as it is, I would steer away from the brand even it was offered for sale here.

 

Never seen one of youze guyz models, but other than being kind of a pain to clean, the F70/F75 series weren't too awful bad ... mine's gettin' a bit 'long in the tooth' but still going OK ...

So, don't run 'em down too bad... even though they pretty much left a bunch of owners 'high and dry' when they pulled out of the market.