Thread: Boiler Noise
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Ed Sirett
 
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On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 13:09:10 +0000, Conrad wrote:


Recently our Thorn Apollo copper boiler (30/50) - 23 years old - had
started making noises. The best I can describe is to say sounds like
'fluttering' just short of the banging which I know as 'kettling.'
This builds up from none to noisy enough to be heard in other rooms
than where it is located in the kitchen. In the early days we had
banging and adding Fernox solved it - but over the years has probably
become very dilute.

As we are covered by West Midlands Gas maintenance contract - I asked
them to visit. The Gas Fitter/engineer said that it was due to a build
up of solids on the heat exchanger and that it would need to be
replaced. For this to happen the system would have to be drained down
and on filling 500 ml of Fernox boiler noise silencer added, at the
time it sounded logical. He said this is not covered under the contract
and that I would have to pay. He left me a quote of £564.83 - this seems
an awful lot of money. This does not include a system flush - and
radiators are uniformly hot anyway.

If this work is considered necessary I aim to get a quote from an
independent Central Heating company - though expect I will have to pay
for them to come out and assess the situation anyway.

However since I made the call for the visit the noise has been getting
less and was not at its worst when the engineer called. For the last 3
days there has been absolutely no unusual sound whatsoever. This leads
me to think that his diagnosis may be incorrect.

I would be grateful for any views, suggestions.

For this age of appliance you are probably looking to make a good medium
term repair.

Firstly the sudden increase in kettling might be due to pump problems
especially the pump cutting as the boiler warms up? (failing overrun
thermostat?).

Secondly a tube of boiler noise silencer is about £30 and is injected
directly into a radiator - really anyway it can be put directly into the
circuit.

If I were in your position I would not be looking to spend more than £50
quid on the system given its age.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
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