We have a Vaillant Ecotec 415 system boiler, about 11 years old. It has been serviced annually (most recently in Sept 2021) and we've had a couple of issues with odd noises in the past (once just after servicing), but these have been resolved by a heating engineer tweaking something or other - otherwise it has behaved perfectly and when I asked the engineer not long ago about its likely lifespan, he said it's a good boiler, working well and should have a good bit of life left in it.
The boiler is usually reasonably quiet, but in the past few days, it's become noticeably noisier and sounds a bit rough. The odd noises that were resolved previously were quite different and higher-pitched. This time it seems more like excess vibration causing an uneven low hum, which can be heard in other parts of the house, especially the room above. I've attached a couple of audio clips but unfortunately the recording isn't very good (probably needs volume right up). I know there's a thing called kettling and I'm not exactly sure what that sounds like, but I would guess it's not what's going on here as it sounds more like something causing vibration.
Apart from the noise, the boiler is (dare I say it) doing its job as normal so far. To be honest, we can live with the noise as it's not too loud, but I wouldn't want to ignore it if there's a safety risk or if the boiler could be damaged by whatever is the cause of the excess noise. We're really hoping it's nothing major as these are not the easiest of times and we're looking to sell the house soon, so having to replace the boiler now would not be a welcome development. Anyway, I expect the answer is that we'll need to get a heating engineer out to look at it, but before I fork out a callout fee I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask on here in case anyone has other suggestions. I was shown previously how to adjust the output (part load / range rate) which is what one engineer did before to resolve noise, but I think we have a different issue on this occasion. Any ideas before I call someone out?
Thanks.
The boiler is usually reasonably quiet, but in the past few days, it's become noticeably noisier and sounds a bit rough. The odd noises that were resolved previously were quite different and higher-pitched. This time it seems more like excess vibration causing an uneven low hum, which can be heard in other parts of the house, especially the room above. I've attached a couple of audio clips but unfortunately the recording isn't very good (probably needs volume right up). I know there's a thing called kettling and I'm not exactly sure what that sounds like, but I would guess it's not what's going on here as it sounds more like something causing vibration.
Apart from the noise, the boiler is (dare I say it) doing its job as normal so far. To be honest, we can live with the noise as it's not too loud, but I wouldn't want to ignore it if there's a safety risk or if the boiler could be damaged by whatever is the cause of the excess noise. We're really hoping it's nothing major as these are not the easiest of times and we're looking to sell the house soon, so having to replace the boiler now would not be a welcome development. Anyway, I expect the answer is that we'll need to get a heating engineer out to look at it, but before I fork out a callout fee I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask on here in case anyone has other suggestions. I was shown previously how to adjust the output (part load / range rate) which is what one engineer did before to resolve noise, but I think we have a different issue on this occasion. Any ideas before I call someone out?
Thanks.