Creaking pipes

[TomLane]

Have had a call from a customer to say that they are experiencing a creaking noise from there central heating pipe work.

Initially I suggested as I haven't been to see it yet that the likely cause is the pipes expanding when the heating is on & also that they are touching joists/floorboards, hence the creak.

However, the customer has said that they have been creaking even now that they have had the heating switched off for 2/3 weeks!

My next suggestion was that perhaps it was hot/cold water pipes causing the noise, but they say that they don't have any running through there.

The noise can be heard from the room below. The room is carpeted & they don't want the floorboards removed to investigate further. The last plumber they had installed an automatic air vent & this seemed to resolve the problem for a short while. It's a 3 storey house, with a combi system.

Suggestions welcomed.

 

[leethegasman]

Run hot water from all out let's then cold may be the soil pipework expanding and contracting.

 

[Centralheatking]

Check if the combi is really turned off and not being pressurised by a slightly on valve.

Then pressure test the mains incoming - it maybe too high (lucky people) bang on
a pressure limit valve.

After that let us know your findings - or call Derek Ackorah the ghost house fella

centralheatking

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

Run hot water from all out let's then cold may be the soil pipework expanding and contracting.

had similar problem, soil stack expanding when hot water run, sounded like a leak

 

[TomLane]

Thanks all, will investigate the suggestions & update the findings & progress.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

have you actually heard the noise your self ?

 

[TomLane]

No, not been there yet Stan!

I did make the suggestion that it might be neighbours or they were imagining it.

I asked if its any particular time of day & what sort of creaking noise it was, as in a creak of pipes rubbing on floorboards being walked over or slow creak from pipes expanding contracting. The response I got was..... Yes. Which obviously helped.

Guess I'm going to have to go & take a look at it.

 

[plumber0808]

Customers can tell you symptoms but until you get there you can't take there word for it, most haven't got a clue and it ends up being something different all together.


If you go round and don't know what it is tell them you can't hear anything.

 

[Resolute]

It's probably a big rat under the floor boards!

 

[Mike Jackson]

Had a customer years ago complaining of whistling coming from her heating pipes. Turned out she had tinnitus.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

I changed a boiler about 2 years ago , and had a MASSIVE problems with NEXT door neighbours accusing me for installing a condensing boiler and all the plum going in to there property .....
Long story short , the hall terrace was HA but the house where I fitted the boiler was a privet customer and had the property rented to the HA .
So there was loads of abuse towards me and my competency and how after I fitted the boiler they were smelling gases product of combustion in there bedrooms and how they were suffering from a head ache and all the symptoms from CO poisoning ,
I visit property and did retest with analyser and boiler was pluming out about 20ppm so there was no chance they were getting high for free from the boiler I fitted .
After calles to me by them for letting me know I was going to prison and all the bad words you can imagine I agree to revisit job and do one last check to make sure that I was right .
I went back to the job did the analyser and it was still 20ppm co when I come out of the house there was about 20-30 neighbours there wanting to kill me because I have toxicated her ,
I then went to her house to see what was it like to live in a house full of product of combustion ......10sec after I was in I discovered they had over 10mbar drop of gas pressure on there gas pipe , Nothing to do with the fact I fitted new boiler to her neighbours , I then made safe and she called HA to send some out
She did not even apologias to me but some of the people who was out did say sorry for been abusive to me for no reason .
So lesson learn NEVER ever trust a customer until I/You have checked it