Vaillant ecoMAX Pro - vibrating noise?

Hi all,

I've moved into a house with a new (around a year old I'm guessing - don't know for sure, previous owners installed it when they built the extension) Vaillant exoMAX Pro boiler. I'm getting a vibrating/rattling noise from the boiler, it doesn't always do it but seems to be more often than not at the moment - also seems to be coming from the top?

I'm going to get someone to come and service it in the next few days (as I'm almost certain it hasn't been serviced since it was installed), but bearing in mind I know a bit less than nothing about these sorts of things, I'd be grateful if anyone has any pointers at what could possibly cause this!

Thanks!

Pete

Dont just get "someone to service it" !

You meed someone with a Flue Gas Analyser who knows how to set it up properly.

If its really a rattling then that could be anything.

There is a problem with this model if the mixture is too weak that it makes a foghorn sound on minimum power. More often noticed when the house heating has been on for a hour or two or for a few seconds when it starts up. There is a simple mod if the mixture is found to be correctly set.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the quick reply! It's not a foghorn noise and it doesn't always do it. If I get it serviced, would they be able to set it up?

I'm also thinking of getting one of those insurance policies to cover anything that goes wrong (they all require evidence of a service within the preceding 12 months hence the imminent service), are these worth anything? I'm looking at either Homecall+ or Swinton, heard too many bad things about British Gas Homecare to risk it.

Thanks again for any help, as you've probably guessed I'm a complete amateur when it comes to this
Pete

Thats the point!

Anyone you call will rush along and charge you £50-£60 to "service" it but unless you get one of the 1% of very competent people they will not have the FGA or the experience to set it up properly.

If you can locate a competent person locally I would not expect an insurance policy to be very good value for you as you have a good quality boiler. If not then see if vaillant have a scheme that uses their own staff engineers, at least they will have the spares.

Part of the problem is that the insurance firms have to use cheap contractors who often use inexperienced or pretty useless people to do the visits. Even BG who do have a very good training program seem to be able to mess up repairs too often. You can read about some of the worst on these forums.

Tony

Hmm, good point well made - don't suppose you have any recommendations for reliable people in the Milton Keynes area!

Failing that, I've a few contact numbers for engineers in my area so will ring round tomorrow and ask them if they can do this sort of thing.

Thanks again for the help - much appreciated.

Pete

You need to find someone who has a Flue Gas Analyser and is comfortable using it to set up boilers like yours. These people are really less than one in a hundred of CORGi registered people.

We do warranty repairs for one of the manufacturers and there seem to be less than half the service agents who have or know how to use the FGA.

I would recommend Dave in Leicester but thats quite a distance from MK. I do like that Chinese restaurant by the lake to the NW of MK just over the A5 on the right.

As a round about way, you could ask Kevin at GES in Welwyn if he knows anyone who is very competent with FGA. GES repair and calibrate the FGA instruments and he might know somebody suitable.

Having said that your boiler could easily work fine for several years without a service or needing a repair. We always advise an annual service though as this keeps it operating at maximum efficiency and identifies leaks and other problems at an early stage.

Tony

Best thing you can do is when you ring them ask if they have a Flue gas analyser.

If they say anything other than yes there you go.

Mind you like Tony said they might not know how to use one!

I dont think I could ever work without one. I find it invaluble especially as I can use the temperature probes aswell to check temperature differentials and such.

Stan