Dripping sound immersion heating?

on_my_oe

Apologies as I'm clueless, but here goes.

Our boiler is situated in the kitchen - it's brand new and is a Vokera boiler.

The water pump, water tank and hot water is upstairs; it is heated by the radiator/ boiler with a booster switch.

When the heating is on, we can hear a dripping sound when in the living room. Originally we thought it was related to the upstairs neighbours soil pipe which runs down past the water tank/ hot water and into our living room before going underground. We removed the boxing, but couldn't see a leak and the inside of the boxing is bone dry.

We have removed various floor boards in the cupboard upstairs around tank/water pump etc, and nothing visible there either. We left newspaper out just incase it was a slow drip but again nothing.

The drip is driving us crazy, ideas?

Dtp1979

on_my_oe wrote: »

Apologies as I'm clueless, but here goes.

Our boiler is situated in the kitchen - it's brand new and is a Vokera boiler.

The water pump, water tank and hot water is upstairs; it is heated by the radiator/ boiler with a booster switch.

When the heating is on, we can hear a dripping sound when in the living room. Originally we thought it was related to the upstairs neighbours soil pipe which runs down past the water tank/ hot water and into our living room before going underground. We removed the boxing, but couldn't see a leak and the inside of the boxing is bone dry.

We have removed various floor boards in the cupboard upstairs around tank/water pump etc, and nothing visible there either. We left newspaper out just incase it was a slow drip but again nothing.

The drip is driving us crazy, ideas?

Is the dripping nose happening only when the heating is on?

on_my_oe

Yes

And the upstairs neighbours is unoccupied

on_my_oe

Yes

And the upstairs neighbours is unoccupied

Dtp1979

on_my_oe wrote: »

Yes

And the upstairs neighbours is unoccupied

I'd nearly bet it's the condensate pipe from the boiler.

on_my_oe

Is that bad, good, or normal?

cocoman

It might not be a leak. When our heat is turned on i can sometimes hear a clicking sound which i think is just the pipework vibrating against the floor timbers.

Dtp1979

on_my_oe wrote: »

Is that bad, good, or normal?

If it's the condensate then it's perfectly fine. Go to your boiler. There should be a white pipe leaving the the boiler. Follow this pipe. See if the sound comes from this

Dtp1979

Post a pic of the underneath of the boiler if your not sure

agusta

If its a consistant tapping noise it Sounds to me like a qualpex heating pipe expanding between upstairs and downstairs and tapping against the ceiling plasterboard

Dtp1979

Any result on this?

on_my_oe

Ok, so to recap, the boiler is in the kitchen. The hot water tank and the water storage tank are upstairs above the living room, and the noise we hear is when we are in the living room.

The soil pipe you can see in the picture with the water pump goes down into our living room.

The strange image that looks like the door to the cave, is the plasterboard wall around the soil pipe in our living room. I know it's had, but there is a small tube pipe at the very top that looks like it might rest across the ceiling.

(Sorry, we got caught up with other house issues, and now returning to this one)

on_my_oe

agusta wrote: »

If its a consistant tapping noise it Sounds to me like a qualpex heating pipe expanding between upstairs and downstairs and tapping against the ceiling plasterboard

The noise is only present when the heating is on, and my ears are so paranoid it could be a tapping sound.

Occasionally I'm sure I'm hearing the same sound at the other end of the living room, which would have a bedroom directly above it.

But again I could just be going crazy

salmocab

The heating system might need more water in it, you have just reminded me to top up mine, my one has a valve for doing it in the hot press but don't know enough to tell you how to do yours.

Dtp1979

Did you check the condensate line like I suggested 2 weeks ago?

on_my_oe

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Did you check the condensate line like I suggested 2 weeks ago?

Sorry, the reason why I posted the photos was because I couldn't identify the condensate pipe. Also the boiler is at the front of the apartment, while the noise is at the rear of the apartment.

on_my_oe

agusta wrote: »

If its a consistant tapping noise it Sounds to me like a qualpex heating pipe expanding between upstairs and downstairs and tapping against the ceiling plasterboard

We removed the boxing around the soil pipe, and OH reached up and found there was a brown coloured tube/pipe that had come off a clip, plus there was pipe clips lying on the ground inside the boxing. He has reattached the clips, and slid the pipe into the clips. We are hoping this solves our problem.

Before we reattach the boxing, we are thinking of putting some insulation in the boxing as it contains the upstairs neighbours soil pipe, and we can hear it everytime they flush. We don't have a big budget but saw some insulation for about €20 a roll in B&Q - is it worth doing?

on_my_oe

Just to update, the tapping sound has stopped. YAY!

We used 100mm loft insulation and went around the soil pipe twice, and it's definitely quieter too.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions, much appreciated!

Dtp1979

on_my_oe wrote: »

Just to update, the tapping sound has stopped. YAY!

We used 100mm loft insulation and went around the soil pipe twice, and it's definitely quieter too.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions, much appreciated!

Has it stopped or you just can't hear it anymore?

on_my_oe

It's stopped

We pressed down on the plasterboard, and noticed the sound stopped, so we removed the boxing to get access to the pipe (tube?). Then we put the pipe back into the clips, and added two small dots of Tek7, and then closed it up for a couple of days - nothing heard.

We added the insulation yesterday evening, and it's helped soften the sounds from the adjacent soil pipe belonging to the upstairs apartment.

Hopefully this is a win, but we don't plan to redecorate our living room for another 5/8 weeks, so if we are proven wrong, hopefully the problem reoccurs quickly.