ᐅ Heating system failure caused by ammonia from the drainage system
Created on: 17 Jun 2019 12:23
L
Lorenz-AKU
Hello,
we built an Okal house before 2017 with a Tecalor 404 eco heat pump. This year, 2019, the first service by Tecalor (under a maintenance contract) was due in April. Coincidentally, about two weeks before the service date, our heating system repeatedly showed errors related to the refrigerant.
When the technician from Tecalor visited us at the end of April, he found damage to the heating system caused by ammonia flowing back from the duct (according to the Tecalor employee). This ammonia entered the house connection room due to dried-out funnel traps and the absence of a trap and corroded the copper pipes and motors.
After several weeks, when we asked Tecalor when the repair would take place, we received an email stating that a repair was not possible and that a full replacement of the heat pump would be required at our expense.
We passed this information to DFH, and after a few weeks—as we have already become accustomed to from DFH (Okal)—we received their response. They claimed that the system failed due to our own negligence because we had neglected to regularly fill the funnel traps with water (which was never mentioned to us during handover). The missing trap was not addressed at all.
Now, I would like to ask the users of this forum:
Has anyone had similar experiences with their heating system?
Who among you homeowners has to regularly fill the funnel traps in the house connection room to prevent damage to the heating system?
Furthermore, I would be interested to know if anyone can tell me whether this system was connected correctly at all?
A funnel trap was installed on the expansion vessel, another funnel trap under an Optiline filling valve, but the condensate drain from the Tecalor heat pump was connected directly to the sewage line without a trap.
In my layman's opinion, I would say that a trap placed directly at the floor above the sewage inlet would have been sufficient, into which condensate water from both the expansion vessel and the Optiline filling valve, as well as from the heating system’s condensate drain, could drain.
I am attaching a few photos of the installation by Fehl and Sohn (subcontractors of DFH) for reference.
I am grateful for your opinions on this matter and hope they will help us decide on how to proceed.
Since the heating system no longer provides heat, there will probably be no warm water in our house as of September. For reasons of preserving evidence, I am not allowed to make any changes to the current installation.
However, I am also not willing to pay for a new heat pump installation, which is expected to cost about 25,000 euros.
we built an Okal house before 2017 with a Tecalor 404 eco heat pump. This year, 2019, the first service by Tecalor (under a maintenance contract) was due in April. Coincidentally, about two weeks before the service date, our heating system repeatedly showed errors related to the refrigerant.
When the technician from Tecalor visited us at the end of April, he found damage to the heating system caused by ammonia flowing back from the duct (according to the Tecalor employee). This ammonia entered the house connection room due to dried-out funnel traps and the absence of a trap and corroded the copper pipes and motors.
After several weeks, when we asked Tecalor when the repair would take place, we received an email stating that a repair was not possible and that a full replacement of the heat pump would be required at our expense.
We passed this information to DFH, and after a few weeks—as we have already become accustomed to from DFH (Okal)—we received their response. They claimed that the system failed due to our own negligence because we had neglected to regularly fill the funnel traps with water (which was never mentioned to us during handover). The missing trap was not addressed at all.
Now, I would like to ask the users of this forum:
Has anyone had similar experiences with their heating system?
Who among you homeowners has to regularly fill the funnel traps in the house connection room to prevent damage to the heating system?
Furthermore, I would be interested to know if anyone can tell me whether this system was connected correctly at all?
A funnel trap was installed on the expansion vessel, another funnel trap under an Optiline filling valve, but the condensate drain from the Tecalor heat pump was connected directly to the sewage line without a trap.
In my layman's opinion, I would say that a trap placed directly at the floor above the sewage inlet would have been sufficient, into which condensate water from both the expansion vessel and the Optiline filling valve, as well as from the heating system’s condensate drain, could drain.
I am attaching a few photos of the installation by Fehl and Sohn (subcontractors of DFH) for reference.
I am grateful for your opinions on this matter and hope they will help us decide on how to proceed.
Since the heating system no longer provides heat, there will probably be no warm water in our house as of September. For reasons of preserving evidence, I am not allowed to make any changes to the current installation.
However, I am also not willing to pay for a new heat pump installation, which is expected to cost about 25,000 euros.
L
Lorenz-AKU17 Jun 2019 16:27I would immediately call in an expert for a 360 evaluation. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone for that. I had a very detailed conversation with an expert from this area who quoted 3600 euros net. If anyone can recommend a good and affordable expert in the Oberfranken region, I would be very grateful.
TÜV and DEKRA do not offer this kind of service, unfortunately. I have not yet inquired at the Chamber of Crafts.
TÜV and DEKRA do not offer this kind of service, unfortunately. I have not yet inquired at the Chamber of Crafts.
apokolok schrieb:
That can’t be the intended design; nobody fills trap seals manually. As I understand it, modern systems are able to refill the trap seals automatically. Is that correct?