House bought off British Gas Engineer has noisy new boiler !

virtue · 12 Jul 2007

I have just bought a house off a British gas engineer and everything is fine except the Worcester 28i Junior which is pretty new, is making tapping/clunking (louder than a dripping noise but like a dripping noise) type noises. It is in the kitchen right below my bedroom and when it comes on in the morning or is still on at night it is constantly making these noises. How he used to live with this I dont know when he shouldve known how to fix it.

Could it be an airlock that bleeding the rads could fix or do I need to pay the money for an engineer to come out, which seems silly when one used to live there up unitl a week ago.........

I cant even find the gas meter thus far !!!!!! I could bleed the rads but my DIY ability stops there.

Gasman1015 · 12 Jul 2007

no one's perfect.

Probably expansion/contraction of pipes against a floorboard.

Agile · 12 Jul 2007

virtue said:
How he used to live with this I dont know when he shouldve known how to fix it.

Could it be an airlock that bleeding the rads could fix or do I need to pay the money for an engineer to come out, which seems silly when one used to live there up unitl a week ago.........

I cant even find the gas meter thus far !!!!!!

Could that noise be why he sold the house?

You could claim through your solicitor that the boiler is not in good working order but is defective and was not admitted during the enquires before Contract.

Its probably NOT the boiler but just pipes expanding where they are clipped or passing through wooden floors.

Surely you can find something as big as a gas meter ? Could it be in a white or reddish box outside?

Tony

nickso · 13 Jul 2007

Agile said:
Could that noise be why he sold the house?

Tony

thats poor even for you tony

doyle · 13 Jul 2007

was proberbly tony that sold him the house and piped it to next doors meter

virtue · 13 Jul 2007

I promise to scour the house at the weekend for the meter. I checked outside for a box to no avail. A friend made the same joke about being piped into next door but unfortunatly BG contacted me with the last reading from the previous owners so the dam thing must be somewhere ! With ear to the carpet last night I believe I have traced the noise to an approximate area under the bedroom floor about 2m from the boiler and will be getting a new carpet soon, so it looks like I will have to get the floorboards up at that time to try and identify the problem. Do I get a plumber in at that point or could any practical person (thats not me, but I can call in a favour) do this ? Will the problem area be identifiable by looking at it ? I presume I would be looking for pipes touching too close to each other or to the wood and use those plastic clip type things to make amendments (dont ridicule me on this I am only trying to apply rational thinking) ? Either that or live with it i.e use it as an alarm clock in the morning and dont let the wife dry her washing on the rads at night..... Thanks for the advice, BG tried to convince me to pay £80 for a one off service to the boiler, but it sounds like that is not going to fix things, so you just saved me 80. Oh how that turns on its head some of the pre conceptions about you guys....

FatGit · 13 Jul 2007

Just the image of you crawling arround in your bedroom with one ear on the floor!!

virtue · 13 Jul 2007

Desperate times, I am a light sleeper, come the winter when the heating stays on, I cant see me getting any sleep. A few more nights and I can see myself pulling floor boards up whilst my heavy sleeping family get their rest. If only I new what I was looking for........ No I know why the boiler was only prgrammed to come on for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at teatime...... Note to self... Send the wife to laundrette with the drying...... I have a tumble drier in the garage but the vacating BG man has for some reason had the electricity supply disconnected from the garage !!!!!!!!

Agile · 13 Jul 2007

The clicking is most often where a copper pipe passes over a floor joist.

It should have a few spare mm so that it can expand and is not being pinched by the floorboard.

To allow quiet expansion movement the pipe should be wrapped in felt at that point but only a very few conscientious installers bother to do that.

Tony

virtue · 13 Jul 2007

Can I buy this felt and add it if I locate the offending pipe ? What do I ask for to get the right felt ? The heating system was obvisouly added after the property was built as many of the pipes are exposed on the walls, so I hope this one isnt buried to deep somewhere.

Agile · 13 Jul 2007

You can use the older felt carpet underlay. Or a piece of thick clothing material. Or felt sound proofing for cars.

Or buy a long roll of felt insulation in tube form designed for use underfloors as insulation. Someone mat know where you can buy it in strip for that exact application however so few use it that it may not be made.

Most clicking is caused by pipes being pinched under the floorboards or stressed so they press hard on the wood. You may need to do a little chisling or pipe bending.

Tony

ollski · 13 Jul 2007

Is the meter in a cellar, garage, brown box on floor in front garden. Is it lpg?

giblets · 13 Jul 2007

Don't think it's LPG, Ollski as the OP has been contacted by BG regarding the gas supply.

TicklyT · 13 Jul 2007

giblets said:
Don't think it's LPG, Ollski as the OP has been contacted by BG regarding the gas supply.

My wife used to get regular letters from BG threatening to cut off the gas supply to her flat because she hadn't paid the gas bill..... Trouble was, the village where she lived never had, and still hasn't got any gas

gas4you · 13 Jul 2007

Agile said:
To allow quiet expansion movement the pipe should be wrapped in felt at that point but only a very few conscientious installers bother to do that.

At every joist of touching point of pipe work I always slide tubular hairfelt over the pipe. I know its a pain but is better than getting call backs for 'clicking or banging' noises.

Do you know of installers who do not bother to do this Tony? Shame on them if they don't

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House bought off British Gas Engineer has noisy new boiler !

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