If your boiler is doing its best to keep you up at night, then it’s best to approach this problem straight away. Because if you boiler is making noises it shouldn’t be then the longer you leave it the worse the problem will get.
Now a word of warning – Fixing your boiler is not something that we would ever suggest fixing yourself, in fact we would always recommend claiming your boiler cover or getting a fully qualified Gas Safe Register engineer.
However there are a number of safe and easy checks you can carry out without endangering yourself or your neighbours.
Scale in the heating system
If your system starts to develop a build up of scale it can start to cause ‘hot spots’ which in turn cause steam bubbles can make a loud bang when burst. The good news is that this problem is easily treated by using a chemical de-scaler that you should be able to find in any good DIY store.
This process will require the following steps:
1. Shut down your heating system.
2. Add your de-scaler to the feed and expansion tank.
3. Leave the de-scaler to work for a couple of days.
4. Drain, flush and refill your system.
The Boiler thermostat is set too high or is faulty
The easiest way to check this is to try turning down the boiler thermostat. Now the thing worth noting here is that whilst the noise may stop the temperature of your radiators will also lower. If there are any faults with the thermostat your will need to activate your boiler cover or call out a Gas Safe Register engineer.
The boiler is not receiving enough water
Well there are a couple of reasons that can result in this problem, so to try and figure it out we would recommend checking the following:
• Check the water flow rate
With today’s, wall mounted, light-weight gas boilers, the water flow rate is really important. Check to ensure that the mains water is turned on. If it is, next thing to check is your feed and expansion tank these are usually found in the attic/loft..
• Other causes
1. First things first, shut down the central heating boiler.
2. Find your tanks and double check that the float valve isn't stuck. If you find it is stuck, then you'll have to move its metal arm in order to release it.
3. Another common cause of a noisy boiler is that the open safety-vent pipe is not correctly installed. If this is the case, air often gets into the system, causing noise in the boiler. If this is the cause, then you'll need to enlist the help of a professional heating engineer.
