Our old boiler was actually in the middle of the house. It broke all the latest rules. We could have put it back in the same place. However the cost of a new flue, forced ventilation and a way to drain off the water was just so costly. We were lucky enough to have a cupboard in the hall next to the bathroom. The flue goes straight out of the wall, the water runs into the sink waste, all pipes in the bathroom were hidden behind a dummy wall and we were able to bring the gas straight into the cupboard. Infact this was all my idea. Seemed to be beyond anyone we saw to come up with a neat solution. The first quotes were pushing £10K!!! After my reading up about what is allowed and telling the Corgi man what I wanted I got the price down to £2,900 including all new controls, thermostatic radiator valves and a power flush. I feel a bit of an expert now! lol! Just need to practise sharp intakes of breath! lol!

Hi there, yes paid some time ago upon completion of job as the noises weren't there initially. Also, it was at the end of summer so there was no need to have the central heating on and the noises aren't there with just the hot water circuit running. None of the firms we had in to quote the job (including British Gas) suggested that the boiler would need to be moved upstairs, how come they had to do this?

Thanks,

Hi dslawton, We had a similar job done in our home. However we had to move the boiler boiler from a cupboard in the middle of the hall downstairs and relocated it upstairs. Lots of pipework, moving gas supply etc, 14 radiators all bar 1 with thermostatic valves. No problems, no noise and the only way you know its on is that the radiators start warming up. However, I do not linger in the airing cupboard to see if it does. No doubt you didn't start lingering in the cupboard until you heard it. Ask them back to check the system again. Have you paid all the money? I think it should be very quiet, our boiler is an Alpha CD24R. Our old system did have a pump.

Hi all,

I have a query that may or may not be a major problem but I'd very much appreciate some expert advice to be sure.

I recently had my central heating boiler replaced. As it was previously an old gravity fed system it was also converted to fully pumped with the pump and electrics moved upstairs to the airing cupboard. Also had thermostatic values fitted to all rads except for bathrooms and hallway, where the wireless room thermostat is sited.

Some extra info :
• New boiler is a Potterton Promax HE Plus condensing boiler, fitted downstairs in kitchen (same site as old boiler)
• Boiler thermostat set to almost max
• Hot water tank stat set to 60 deg
• Motorised 2-way valves fitted on each of radiator and hot water circuits below pump in airing cupboard
• Pump speed on max (engineer said to leave this way)
• Gate valve in between motorised valve and hot water tank (turned about half way on/off)
• Heating system is microbore (house is late 70's build) with rad feed pipes under floorboards upstairs and in concrete floor downstairs
• 6 rads upstairs 5 downstairs
• System had full flush prior to new boiler install

First of all the good news. The effectiveness of both the central heating and the hot water is excellent. Certainly radiators are much hotter and heat up much more quickly than with the old system. All radiators get hot and there aren't any cold spots. Hot water also fine. So I have no complaints with this at all.

My query is with the noises, of which there a few which may or may not be related :

1. When the boiler fires upon timer coming on and request for heat from the radiators, there is what I can best describe as a gushing and gurgling of water from all around the pump area. Now I know the pump will obviously make a noise when it starts up but it seems to be all around the piping gurgling for quite probably 10 seconds. Can be quite loud. No banging just gurgling and glugging. Noticeably worse on initial morning start up from cold when the odd glugging sounds can go on for half hour or so. Eventually goes away once warmed up but also then gurgles, albeit less, when boiler kicks in again when further request for heat.

2. Trickling water sound down the radiator hot feed pipe from pump leading to downstairs radiators. Can get quite loud (like tap running). Only makes noise when downstairs rads are warming up (i.e. no noise until upstairs rads are hot and downstairs rads then get heat. No noise when heating switches off)

3. Water trickling sound coming from pipes going in/out boiler, again like a tap running slowly

I only get the sounds when the heating circuit is running (i.e. it's fine when just hot water cirtcuit)

So my obvious first thought was air in rad cirtcuit so bled all the rads (with pump off). Which were fine. Tried isolating to a single rad and bleeding. No air all fine. Bled pump by loosening screw in centre, also fine. Also checked header tank in loft to make sure it had water and water was on. Fine again. I also tried different pump speed settings, no change.

So I called the company who fitted it, who have been helpful and came out to inspect right away. They checked various things but pretty much said its working fine and that the noises would eventually go away.

I guess my expectation was for a system that was quieter than the old one rather than noisier, but this isn't the case.

Any advice very much appreciated. Thanks!