Noisy older boiler

[SteveGiles]

Hi, I wondered if anyone can help?

We have a boiler that is probably 25 years old - it is on the kitchen wall, with the flue going straight through the wall behind it. It is Potterton. Flamingo II.

It is working OK and has been brilliant, we get hot water and heating fine.

The problem is it makes quite loud noises, like banging noises, not all the time, but randomly, and it seems more so when the boiler first comes on in the morning or in the evening.

The noise is coming from the boiler, and we've had it for years but I'm not sure if it's gradually got worse or not, but it's quite loud at times really.

Is there anything obvious causing this or anything I can do personally to
quieten it? I have seen a product in B A Q called Boiler silencer, or noise reducer, but haven't tried it yet as I wasn't sure if it was OK for our system.

We are thinking of getting a modern boiler without a pilot light in the next year or 18 months but would be appreciated if we could fix this for the time being if possible?

Thanks for your help

Steve

 

[Agile]

Its probably a pump or flow problem.

The pump may be slow to start sometimes.

You could check this by feeling the two pipes from the boiler, they should both be warm with only about 11 C temp difference.

Tony

 

[SteveGiles]

Hi thanks for your reply Agile.

The pump is about 10 years old, it's a Grundfos (red casing). It seems OK to be honest, all the radiators are getting hot as normal as is the hot water tank. The pipes from the boiler are very hot to the touch.

 

[Boilerman2]

Old cast iron boilers like yours are renowned for this problem called "Ketltling", the rough surface inside the boiler has sludged over water gets trapped under the sludge layer untill it boils which is what the "bang" is - of c ourse the whole process continues,

adding "Boiler Noise Silencer" such as Fernox F4 can help, and even stop the problem, but it will come back again after a year or so!

TBH the Flamingo has probably had it's day!! (I do not miss my old Cast iron boiler one bit - the nice new Stainless Steel type I have now is virtually silent in operation even after 5 years!

 

[SteveGiles]

Thank you for your reply I appreciate it Boilerman2. I will give the fernox f4 a go and hope it quietens it until next year when we have a nice new boiler fitted The potterton flamino boiler has been great, we have had a few things go, 1 pump about 10 years, 1 3 port valve was replaced and 1 part inside the boiler about 8 years ago.