Best way to reduce combi noise?

[lucluc]

We're thinking of having a rear extension on an old, small mid-terrace. We will have to move the boiler either in to the extension or in to one of the small occupied bedrooms next to the bed.

The extension would be used as a living room with a new boiler either near the tv or near the sofa. Would the boiler noise in the living room be annoying? Especially if we had UFH so the boiler is on longer.

What's the best way to dampen/quieten the noise of a combi boiler? Just put a cupboard around it with ventilation?

Is there any benefit to building a small stud wall with a door? Or even putting a proper brick wall around it? Or would the extra noise reduction be minimal? I could maybe put the boiler in an out-house.

Or is it best to have the boiler away from the living room and in a wardrobe in the bedroom instead? We can't put it in the bathroom due to the layout with vent pipe/window. Can't put it in the loft since no-one wants to vent via the roof.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Outhouse or bathroom or loft. Def not in any habitable room (sitting room or bedroom)- modern boilers are quiet but they are louder than ambient, it will be a nuisance. Building cupboards etc is a waste of money, better throwing the cash at an outhouse or an installer who will vent through the roof

 

[MeldrewsMate]

As above; but to answer your question....turn it off

 

[muggles]

Go for one that's Quiet Mark approved if sound levels is a priority

 

[lucluc]

Thanks. Sadly our bathroom wall is half window and the other half is the toilet which has an air brick above it and the soil pipe runs up the middle. So the boiler can't go in there. I'll try and think of a way to alter the kitchen layout to leave the boiler in there.

Currently my flue goes out the wall and then 90 bend and goes up a metre or so and then another 90 bend for the smoke to come out. This was to avoid plume on the windows.

Could the existing flue be boxed in (in the new extension) with (say) a screwed on inspection panel and then go up through the roof of the new extension with no modifications to the boiler or flue? Not ideal, but a builder could probably make a stud wall and hide it all; we'd just have to rethink the extension layout.

Does the bit that sticks out through the external wall need fresh air, or just the bit where the smoke comes out?

Perhaps we could get someone to re-route the existing flue on the boiler so it goes out of the existing wall, then bends left to go out the new extension wall, then bend again to go up, so avoids going through the extension roof (for when we need to replace the boiler and need a new flue).

Would changing the flue on a boiler give a new certificate?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Whats wrong with moving the soil pipe and air brick? Would be far less contentious (and cheaper) than having a convoluted flue arrangement.
Don't get worked up about 'when we need a new boiler', unless the existing one is on its last legs you'll be replacing it in 2040 with ASHP or cold fusion or god knows what...

 

[lucluc]

You know what, you're right. I didn't know we could move the soil pipe.

But, looking again at the bathroom, we'd hoped to re-do it in a few years to replace the bath with a shower cubicle (due to various reasons).

So, perhaps we could block up half (or all) of the single-glazed window and replace it with a double glazed window or just a fan. This allows us to fit the boiler on the party wall in a cupboard so the flue is far enough away from the window opening. Then have a shower cubicle also on the party wall with the door away from the boiler. Not yet sure where the sink will go, but, details...

And no-one cares about boiler noise in a bathroom.

(Based on a post elsewhere that says a boiler in a boiler cupboard is deemed zone 3 if it is adjacent to a shower/bath and has a positive closure mechanism such as latch/bolt, and is hinged towards the shower and impossible to reach from shower; so this gives us more than enough room along the interior party wall).

Thanks for increasing my budget

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Try not to hang the boiler on a party wall with a bedroom, keep a window of some sort if possible.
EDIT Not 100% on flue regs but a snorkel flue (out, up, out) would move the plume away from the window....