Lessons
Fault Vault jobs: Y-Plan
In short
Faults on the Y-Plan example, walked the way the DrawWarm Fault Vault walks them: confirm the complaint, follow its checks in order, name the cause, repair it, prove it. The Vault may help at every step; it never gives the answer.
The call-outs, by symptom
Each job starts from the customer’s words. The fault is hidden until you prove it, so the jobs are listed here by what the customer rings about.
No heating
“Hot water's fine but the radiators are stone cold, whatever I do with the thermostat.” The method
Heating and hot water only together
“We only get heating when the hot water's on as well - it won't do heating on its own.” The method
Heating stops when the cylinder is hot
“The heating's fine on its own. With the hot water on as well, the radiators go cold once the cylinder's hot.” The method
No hot water
“Heating's lovely and warm but there's no hot water - the cylinder's cold.” The method
“There is no hot water, and the radiators are cold too. I hear the valve click and move, but the boiler never lights for either.” The method
Everything dead
“Nothing works. No heating, no hot water, and the controls are dead.” The method
Radiators cold at heating
“Hot water's fine but the radiators are stone cold, whatever I do with the thermostat.” The method
“We only get heating when the hot water's on as well - it won't do heating on its own.” The method
Radiators hot on hot water only
“The radiators get warm when nothing's asking for heat - it's all off at the timer and they're still hot.” The method
Radiators hot with nothing on
“The radiators get warm when nothing's asking for heat - it's all off at the timer and they're still hot.” The method
Valve never reaches heating only
“We only get heating when the hot water's on as well - it won't do heating on its own.” The method
Valve stays at MID with the cylinder hot
“The heating's fine on its own. With the hot water on as well, the radiators go cold once the cylinder's hot.” The method
Hot water scalding
“The hot water's scalding - far hotter than it used to be, whatever the dial on the cylinder says.” The method
In the simulator, you practise how to
- Read a mid-position valve: B, MID and A, and what white and grey do
- Follow a fault-finding walk check by check: the last point with 230 V, the first without
- Link out, disconnect and isolate as tests, and put things back
- Name the cause, repair it and prove the repair
How a Fault Vault job runs
- 01
The customer’s words, and the DrawWarm Fault Vault’s first question.
- 02
See the fault for yourself: set the demand and watch what each part does before you touch anything.
- 03
The Vault’s checks in order, each one a reading with the meter.
- 04
Isolate, prove dead, the switched live too, then change the part you have proven faulty, core by core.
- 05
Earth continuity before you switch on, then prove the repair.
- 06
A question on what you found, and the job on your record.
Where it connects
Practise it in the simulator.
Runs in the browser on a laptop or desktop. Cancel any time.