Right now I am not a happy bunny.

First off I hate the cold.

My problem is my combi boiler is in the bedroom next door to mine in a little airing cupboard.

Every morning when it starts up I wake up from the noise.

No chance of a lie in, im so tempted to take a sledge hammer to the damn thing.

Any one have any surggestions of how to stop this?
Would moving it to the loft be any better for the cost which im sure will be an arm and a leg?

YQUSTA

What sort of noise? Surely not just the firing up. Is it a kind of juddering noise??

well it's hard too say as im asleep at the time but it seams to have a few thuds as it starts up.

YQUSTA

plugs

have thought about it but being on call 24/7 sort of screws the idea

is it perhaps that you have airlocks in your water system?

or some of the metal casing isn't screwed on properly?

or i've no idea

(i just remember when i flushed my system mine made a huge noise when first fired up due to airlocks)

I cheked all the rads the other day they seam fine and its a self bleeding system (if thats the correct term) the casing seams fine too.

I must admit the guys who installed it were to say the least idiots imho

Maybe it's failing to fire early and the thuds are due to a late ignition?

Has the burner been cleaned recently?

Maybe the gas pressure isn't correctly set on the burner.

If it's the above, get somebody properly qualified to clean it/set it up.

Could be solder grinding away the pump?

[Edited on 13/12/08 by Litemoth]

Yep I'd agree most likely the ign events they cause a shock wave of sorts that rattle the tin sides of the boiler. My BIL had a neighbour complain about his outdoor boiler doing the same especially on a windy night. seems there was a problem with the flame (was an oil burner though).

Check the fan. We once had a glowworm boiler as the bearings in the fan were failing it sounded like a helicopter. It gave ignition problems too. If you are not getting the correct extraction the boiler will fail to ignite.

Good luck.

Hows about lining the cupboard with rockwool (or similar). It should help with the noise. Just make sure that the insulation isn't interfering with the boiler operation!!

Combi boilers have a big frying pan on the back with a shrieder valve in it, these should contain pressurised air @ around 1bar when cold.

As its a sealed system this then takes up expansion of water in the system when hot, if the air pressure has leaked out the system will bang and groan and bang a lot as it warms up.

My combi also makes a lot of noise when the pressure in the system's gone down... mine has a couple of taps underneath to recharge the system from the water main.

thanks for all the advice guys will have a look at it

YQUSTA

Call the fire brigade!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7781379.stm

Could be kettling if the system needs a descale. Insert ferrox descale stuff and run for a week and then drain and refill including anti-corrosion stuff. Both available from Homebase etc.

This means you get to bleed the rads at least twice so giving you something to do all through January

I vote for low pressure in the system. There should be a pressure guage on the boiler that should show between 1 and 2 bar. You should be able to top up the system by a link to the water main. If the system won't keep a stable pressure then the expansion vessel is either flat or leaking. you can try and re pressurise with a car tyre pump, if that doesn't work then it is new pressure vessel time.

best of luck

Caber

If you do decide to repressurise from the water main, just be careful not to over-pressurise! On mine, I have to turn everything off, then put 1 tap fully on and then gently crack another tap open while watching the gauge. I usually take it up to somewhere between 1.5 and 2 bar.

If you go too high, it gets 'exciting' when the system restarts and warms up! It's nowhere near as easy to get rid of excess pressure as it is to put it in...