Partial refresh of page with IceFaces SessionRenderer - unwanted side effect

Question

I have a page with two areas. Left area is for notifications which should be updated frequently. The right area contains forms.

I thought I could use the IceFaces SessionRenderer for updating the left part of the page by using

SessionRenderer.render("notifications")

I have created a Timer which is executing the refresh each 10 seconds. I have also correctly added the current session with

SessionRenderer.addCurrentSession("notifications");

The refresh is working.

Now my problem is that when for example the user presses submit without any input fields filled out there are validation messages shown. BUT: after the render() is called all methods have disappeared (as if the user has pressed F5).

Is there an error in my approach or is this the expected behaviour. What I want to accomplish is that the update of the left part is completely independend of the rest of the page.

Note: I'm using two BackingBeans for one page. One for the notifications and one for the form.

Thanks.