Boiler is banging (or pipes around boiler)

[Seregwethrin]

Hi,

Firstly, I've looked into a few existing topics but they looked a bit different.

My boiler Flexicom 18sx, or the pipes right around the boiler is making banging sound. This started to happen more now when weather got colder, if this is not a coincidence.

I was able to capture a sample here: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDAOzYskzY
(more clear if you have earphones/headphones)

It happens when boiler is running and right after it runs like every few minutes.
At nights it's less frequent, a few times at least, if not every hour or so, but still waking me up multiple times every night.

Pressure is at 1.6 bar at rest and 2 bar when running. I tried to lower the pressure to 1.2 at rest but it's still happening.

I am trying to get my boiler servicer in but in the meantime I also want to ask here if there is anything I can do DIY to mitigate this to get undisrupted sleeps.

Thank you

 

[Seregwethrin]

So I called in a plumber and...
He sees the fuse box and says there is no on/off switch on it with fancy name, he has to disconnect the boiler tells me, in the middle of the winter, he disconnects the boiler and goes to B&Q to buy a fuse with switch and installs it and tells me the banging on the boiler is just pipes contracting...
70 euro for fuse switch!!!

I really like DIY because difficult to find trustworthy "professionals".

 

[john the plumber]

So I called in a plumber and...
He sees the fuse box and says there is no on/off switch on it with fancy name, he has to disconnect the boiler tells me, in the middle of the winter, he disconnects the boiler and goes to B&Q to buy a fuse with switch and installs it and tells me the banging on the boiler is just pipes contracting...
70 euro for fuse switch!!!

I really like DIY because difficult to find trustworthy "professionals".

This so called professional did a job because he is trained to do it. This makes me mad when people assume us professionals overcharge people. Your paying for his experience in identifying a problem (that you didn’t know what it was) He fitting you in to his busy day potentially putting off jobs where he could have earned more money. He also had to travel to and from you property and to the wholesalers. He also had to purchase the part needed to fix your problem. He also has to pay extortionate prices for his insurance policy to run his business, there is also the fuel costs. He spent years training on a pittance of a wage to be able to help people. I also like diy as it helps my business as I can then go and correct the jobs DIY,ERS have done wrong because they don’t have the knowledge or experience to carry out certain tasks. If you sit down and pick apart that £70 and work out ,the fuel costs,the cost for the part,the time from which he left his last job or home to drive to your home,the time it took to identify the problem,the time it took to drive to the wholesalers,the cost of the part,the time it took to drive back to the property,the fuel cost of that journey and then the time taken to fit the new switch you will see where that £70 goes. We don’t work for free. Personally if it was me and you had that attitude I would walk off the job and tell you to get someone else. You could have always have done the job yourself with your diy skills. Apart from that if your pipes are still banging call him back to tell him that that side of the problem hasn’t been rectified.

 

[Seregwethrin]

I didn't call him to disconnect my boiler to replace the fuse, he was not even servicing the boiler. I called to look into the sound boiler making which he did nothing to mitigate.

He was almost going to leave me without heating and hot water in this cold winter if shops were closed.

I don't think he has the responsibility to fix every single plumbing issue he saw around which other qualified professionals did. You can find issues on any person's work, nobody is 100% perfectly correct. Maybe the fuse should have had a switch but he did not install it that way and he was not servicing it.

He says fuse needs a switch because when someone working on the boiler it needs to be turned off so they don't get electrocuted. The electrician who installed the Nest just took the fuse out while doing the work to disconnect the electricity, so simple. But the plumber wanted to press a button.

Literally madness.

 

[john the plumber]

I didn't call him to disconnect my boiler to replace the fuse, he was not even servicing the boiler. I called to look into the sound boiler making which he did nothing to mitigate.

He was almost going to leave me without heating and hot water in this cold winter if shops were closed.

I don't think he has the responsibility to fix every single plumbing issue he saw around which other qualified professionals did. You can find issues on any person's work, nobody is 100% perfectly correct. Maybe the fuse should have had a switch but he did not install it that way and he was not servicing it.

He says fuse needs a switch because when someone working on the boiler it needs to be turned off so they don't get electrocuted. The electrician who installed the Nest just took the fuse out while doing the work to disconnect the electricity, so simple. But the plumber wanted to press a button.

Literally madness.

Then you are well within your legal rights to not pay so don’t understand why you handed over payment.I would have said that’s not the job I employed you so I’m not paying you ,simple.

 

[Seregwethrin]

I didn't know that! I am a new home owner, I am learning. Next time someone tries to be smart like that I will say that I am not going to pay for any job other than what I am asking for.