Noisy Boiler, Ideal Classic

[pogrady]

Hi. I have an Ideal Classic SE9FF boiler which is almost 7 years old. A couple of days ago it started making a really loud noise when heating the water. It is difficult to describe but I guess it sounds like a cross between a buzzing and vibrating sound, though not really either of these - maybe a bit like an engine. I can't feel any vibration on the outer casing, and it is definitely not banging or rattling sound. Sorry to be so cryptic! It's just really loud and sounds unhealthy.

The system is working fine - the cylinder fills up and provides hot water to the taps and all the radiators in the house are hot.

This noise only occurs when the gas is ignited. As soon as there is no demand on the boiler and the flame goes out the noise subsides with a fairly high pitched short-lived whining. Could it be the fan?

I was going to take out CH insurance but as you'd expect there is a 30 day period before I can make a claim. With a baby in the house I don't want to risk being without heating so I'd like to get it 'repaired' before it actually fails. I'll get a CORGI registered engineer to do it but I'd appreciate your thoughts first. I'm not sure if an insurance policy would cover this if, strictly speaking, there isn't actually a fault.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[45yearsagasman]

I'm not sure what you expect after loosely describing a noise. Honestly, without being in front of the boiler the cause of your noise will be guesswork, from fan, heat exchanger, gas valve etc. Best advice is as you suspected, to get a good boiler engineer to check it out. As your system is working ok, I wouldn't think there is too much wrong.