Q: Our neighbour recently installed a boiler in her back garden right next to our house. Our house is small and we can hear the boiler throughout our house all the time. It’s driving me crazy. Do you have any advice for dealing with this situation, please?
Oil boilers are notoriously noisy because the combustion blower forces air through the flame in the boiler which then vents that sound with the burnt gasses to the external air often with a roaring noise. If the boiler is positioned in a semi-enclosed space then that noise can be amplified or reverberate off hard surfaces and possibly cause a nuisance to neighbours. Most competent installers are aware of this problem and will advise the homeowner of the risks when installing the unit. External or cabinet boilers usually emit sound at around or above 55 decibels which is well above ambient sound levels, particularly in a rural situation. In some instances excessive noise can indicate a failure of the boiler itself or a mismatch of the internal components which could also cause excessive nitrous oxide gas (NOX) to be emitted which is a potential health hazard.
Externally located boilers are a waste of energy because the heat emitted from the unit itself isn’t used in the building and the extended external pipe runs, unless very well insulated, bleed heat into the ground. So unless there are very good reasons for it being outside, your neighbour might consider on energy grounds alone relocating the boiler inside. SEAI provide good information on saving energy.
The normal advisory rules for locating an external boiler state that no window on adjacent premises should be closer than 2m and no amenity areas should be closer than 1m. This is based on the average noise level measured at 1m and corrected, if necessary, for tonal or other characteristics. The flue outlet should be positioned to avoid focusing effects of the sound such as between two walls which are angled to each other, unless the minimum distance to the windows or amenity areas, eg, from 1m to 2m or 2m to 4m or unless a sound absorbing barrier is introduced to reduce the noise, provided that this does not increase the noise significantly in another direction.
You could speak to your neighbour about your concerns and ask them to have the unit checked by a competent heating engineer. If they are reluctant to relocate the boiler, won’t acknowledge a problem or refuse to do something about the nuisance caused then you might consider using a free mediation service run through your local council. Mediation is impartial, confidential and voluntary and could lead to an amicable solution to the problem.
Fergus Merriman is a chartered building surveyor and member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie
