Soundproofing Boiler Cupboard?

[stevec59]

Hi,
We're looking to replace our old Baxi 100 HE, one of the many reasons is the noise, at the moment its in a cupboard in the hall, that cupboard that has a solid wall backs onto the bedroom and it's noisy. yes we're light sleepers, at the moment we don't put it on timer to come on before we wake up as it will wake us up.
We live in a bungalow. one option is to move it into the loft away from the bedrooms, we've had a quote to leave it where it is or move it, to move it to the loft add £800.
I've looked at soundproofing boards but not sure they will stand the weight of the boiler, so maybe some battens 1.5" x 1.5" and a piece of 18mm board, possibly ply?

A new boiler should be quieter, they seem to be @ 50Db, as we have 2 bathrooms and lots of radiators we're looking at 33kw

Thought please.

Many Thanks

Steve

 

[BigSnoopy01]

stud the wall out and fill the gap with sound proof insulation.

 

[stevec59]

stud the wall out and fill the gap with sound proof insulation.

When you say 'stud the wall out' I presume that you mean use battens as I thought, will 1.5" x 1.5" do?
Won't I need some kind of board to fix the boiler to? I've got some 12mm marine ply left over from the bathroom, I could double that up, screw it together, what about fireproofing?

Thanks

Steve

 

[DaveHerns]

Do you mean stud the wall out and soundproof on the bedroom side?

 

[stevec59]

I don't want to stud the bedroom wall and soundproof that, it makes far more sense to do that in the Boiler cupboard

 

[DaveHerns]

I was thinking about fire safety and the secure fitting of the boiler

 

[stevec59]

Ah, yes didn't think about that. If possible in the boiler cupboard

 

[dilalio]

18mm WBP is fine then go over it with plasterboard for the fire proofing. As long as ply is securely fixed "through" battens to the wall behind it'll hold the boiler no problem: shear load.

 

[endecotp]

Beware that securely fixing through to the wall behind is exactly what you don't want to do for soundproofing! There's a fundamental contradiction here between coupling to the wall for strength and decoupling for sound. It may be hard to get it right.

 

[stevec59]

Thanks. So 1.5" x 1.5" battens, fix 18mm WBP to the battens and then fit plasterboard to 18mm WBP?

 

[endecotp]

Question is what are the battens fixed to.
If there are big solid fixings from boiler to ply to battens to wall, the vibrations will be transmitted quite effectively. If there aren't big solid fixings it will fall off.
Really not sure what's best.

 

[hazetimesfive]

ear plugs

 

[stevec59]

Question is what are the battens fixed to.
If there are big solid fixings from boiler to ply to battens to wall, the vibrations will be transmitted quite effectively. If there aren't big solid fixings it will fall off.
Really not sure what's best.

I was thinking screw the 1.5" battens to the solid walls using raw plugs and fairly large screws, screw the WPB to battens and plasterboard to WBP.

Does that sound reasonable? I might see if I can get some loft insulation between the wall and WPB, so cut it 1.5" thick

 

[endecotp]

No, that doesn't sound reasonable for the reasons I gave above; everything is rigidly fixed together.

If you were to use bigger battens, and fix them only to the floor and ceiling with a gap between them and the wall, then you might get a useful reduction in sound - except for the vibrations that go through the floor and ceiling instead. And it would need to be a good sturdy construction to take the weight of the boiler.

The loft insulation will tend to absorb noises like tv or conversations, not vibrations. But only 40mm of mineral wool won't absorb much of that; you need either a more dense acoustic insulation and/or a thicker layer of it. Or something like a rubber soundproofing membrane.

 

[stevec59]

Thanks for that.
I wasn't thinking about using floor to ceiling battens and only securing at floor and ceiling, my concern would be that the weight of the boiler might pull on the battens too much without them being fastened to the wall.
Maybe I need to get more quote for putting it in the loft.

I just fitted a new extractor fan to the bathroom, 40Db, I was suprised how loud 40Db was, so 50 Db will be 1/4 again as load