Plumbing Guru Required - Possessed House
Plumbing Guru Required - Possessed House
Author
Discussion

Efbe

Original Poster:

9,251 posts

182 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
Given that there is no exorcism section on this forum, GG will have to do.

A few days ago our hot water stopped, presumably due to freezing. Cold still works fine, as does the central heating.
We had a new combi boiler installed around 5 months ago which is another story, but basically to say two guys installed it, the one who was Corgi registered popped his cloggs before filling in the documentation, and I'm a bit stuck on how to get this sorted. Meaning I don't think the warranty will work on the boiler until we get it signed off. (If anyone knows how to sort this, please tell me!)

Anyhow, 4.30 this morning the wife woke me up saying that the house was playing music to us. Odd I thought so I listened in. A noise was coming from the loft which was either a naughty elf with a bassoon or the plumbing.
The best way to describe it is it sounded very like a bassoon doing one long lower b note, following by a higher c. A along drone note followed by a short high note. These two notes continued about every 30 seconds for half an hour before I got out of bed to check it out.

All taps were off, tried turning everyone on and off again. Pressure in the boiler did seem slightly lower than usual.
Couldn't work out what it was, so decided the best plan of action was to put the central heating on permanently at a low heat. Went back to bed and half an hour later the noise faded out. No idea if it fixed itself though or if I fixed it??


Cliff notes: Hot water frozen> Plubing making dual tone bassoon noises rhythmically> seem to stop half an hour after central heating put on

anyone have any idea whatsoever what this is? is it bad? will the boiler blow up? and do you have the number for the exorcist?

grgrgray

790 posts

184 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
sharp intake of breath... £200 to come out today mate, i'll have to charge out at bank holiday rates as its so close to Christmas.

soad

34,001 posts

192 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
Noise from the loft? That's where (cold) water tank is located, right?

Erm, yes callouts are costly, or can be. Best of luck!


Efbe

Original Poster:

9,251 posts

182 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
soad said:
Noise from the loft? That's where (cold) water tank is located, right?

Erm, yes callouts are costly, or can be. Best of luck!
well there did used to be a cold water tank up there, but with the installation of the combi boiler, the tank was removed. The pipes still go up there however, and it would seem all the pipes go up there from the boiler.

could get a plumber out, but i'd prefer to work it out myself :P

russ_a

4,705 posts

227 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
What make of boiler is it?

Efbe

Original Poster:

9,251 posts

182 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
a vaillant ecotec pro thingy. cant remember if we got a 18 or 24.

bought the boiler myself, then got the plumber to install it. didn't want to get ripped off with a rubbish boiler

russ_a

4,705 posts

227 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
I would give valiant a call and say it's broken - they will probably state it's not registered but I would just bluff them and say the plumber has sent in the card etc.

You will be able to get another CORGI/Heatsure plumber to sign off the boiler, our plumber can sign of Baxis but not Valiants - so he gets another plumber to pop round, check and then sign off any valiants he installs. Costs about £50ish - though this is mates rates.

I'm not a plumber though - in fact i'm rubbish at DIY!!


Efbe

Original Poster:

9,251 posts

182 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
russ_a said:
I would give valiant a call and say it's broken - they will probably state it's not registered but I would just bluff them and say the plumber has sent in the card etc.

You will be able to get another CORGI/Heatsure plumber to sign off the boiler, our plumber can sign of Baxis but not Valiants - so he gets another plumber to pop round, check and then sign off any valiants he installs. Costs about £50ish - though this is mates rates.

I'm not a plumber though - in fact i'm rubbish at DIY!!
yeah was planning to get a plumber to sign it off hopefully when the cold weather has stopped and plumbers are less busy.

was actutally hoping the noise wasn't something to do with the boiler at all, and just to do with the hot water pipes freezing at some point, possibly in the loft.

thing is though I don't know what would cause these sounds, escaping water, too much pressure in the pipres, or not enough pressure, or just freezing cold pipes next to hot pipes?

Edited by Efbe on Thursday 23 December 13:04

Deva Link

26,934 posts

261 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
Lots of weird things happen when it's very cold. If it's alright when it's left on then leave it on. Gas bill is cheaper and less hassle than dealing with burst pipes.

Efbe

Original Poster:

9,251 posts

182 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
agreed. a burst pipe would be the last thing we need for a christmas present!

will go up there tonight to see if I can see any leaks of frozen pipes.

Road2Ruin

5,945 posts

232 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
Do you get water out of the hot tap? If so, and it's cold, it could be the diverter valve is stuck or broken. Regards the interesting noises, good luck.

la fluer

319 posts

176 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
If vaillant are no use (which is doubtful!) I would give Trevor a call at Shoreheat. They are one of the main distributors and he is very knowlegable to the point where he knows pretty much every system ever sold regardless of make or model (he is rather old!).

dirkgently

2,160 posts

247 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
russ_a said:
You will be able to get another CORGI/Heatsure plumber to sign off the boiler, our plumber can sign of Baxis but not Valiants - so he gets another plumber to pop round, check and then sign off any valiants he installs. Costs about £50ish - though this is mates rates.
Me no understandy. He can ether sign off boilers or he cant.

Festive Ferg

15,242 posts

273 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
russ_a said:
our plumber can sign of Baxis but not Valiants
What an extraordinary claim!!!

russ_a

4,705 posts

227 months

Thursday 23rd December 2010
quotequote all
Sorry should have said he can install and sign off but you only get the standard 1 year guarantee, not the 5 year extended one that most now offer.




Simpo Two

89,245 posts

281 months

Friday 24th December 2010
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Efbe said:
Hot water frozen
Frozen hot water - that's surreal. Either your water has a much higher melting point than usual or your house is under very high pressure and your ears are making the bassoon sounds...

Globs

13,847 posts

247 months

Friday 24th December 2010
quotequote all
Have you checked in the loft for immigrants and santas?

Efbe

Original Poster:

9,251 posts

182 months

Friday 24th December 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for the input guys. glad i didn't listen you you :P

Turns out after spending an hour in the loft trying to work out where the sound comes from its actually the neighbours system thats making the noise, just the partition between the two houses in the loft is quite thin. looks like its had an access hatch through at some point.

Also managed to get the hot water pipes unfrozen by turning the central heating to full for a couple of hours yesterday.

unfortunately Most Haunted are already on their way over now to film a new episode, so if anyone would like to volunteer to play the ghost in the loft, drop me a mail...

Anthony Micallef

1,128 posts

211 months

Friday 24th December 2010
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Have you seen Paranormal Activity?

soad

34,001 posts

192 months

Friday 24th December 2010
quotequote all
Globs said:
Have you checked in the loft for immigrants and santas?
rofl