Same here, insulation didn't really cut it for me either. I spent way too many weekends chasing down creaks and pops in my heating pipes (old copper lines from the 70s...fun times). A couple things that helped:
- Switched out some metal hangers for rubber-lined clips—made a noticeable difference in vibration noise.
- Adjusted spacing so pipes weren't jammed tight against joists or studs. Giving them a bit of breathing room seemed to help with expansion noises.
- Added a couple flexible connectors near the boiler itself. Honestly, this was probably the biggest improvement overall.
I mean, insulation's great for efficiency and keeping heat loss down, but sound-wise it's more like icing on the cake rather than the cake itself. Still get the occasional creak when temps swing dramatically, but it's nowhere near as loud or frequent as before.
Totally agree on the flexible connectors—those things are lifesavers. Did you notice any difference when adjusting water temp settings on your boiler? I've found slightly lowering mine reduced pipe expansion noises quite a bit...just curious if anyone else had similar results.
I've actually noticed something similar with my boiler. When I first moved into my place, the pipes would creak and pop like crazy every time the heating kicked in—honestly drove me nuts for weeks. I tried insulating pipes, checking brackets, nothing really helped much. Then one day, my mentor suggested lowering the boiler temp just a bit. I was skeptical at first, thinking it wouldn't make much difference...but surprisingly, it did. Dropping the temperature by just a few degrees seemed to ease the expansion and contraction enough to quiet things down significantly.
I still get occasional noises, especially on colder mornings, but it's nowhere near as bad as before. Flexible connectors definitely help too, but tweaking the temp settings was the real game changer for me. Boilers can be finicky beasts sometimes, can't they? Glad I'm not the only one who's had luck with this trick.
I had a similar experience when I first switched to a more eco-friendly boiler. Initially, I assumed the noises were just part of the adjustment period, but like you, the constant popping and creaking quickly became frustrating. I tried insulating everything I could reach and even considered replacing some pipes entirely (thankfully didn't go through with that).
Lowering the boiler temperature seemed counterintuitive at first—I was worried about losing heating efficiency—but after reading up on it a bit, I realized a small adjustment wouldn't significantly affect performance. Surprisingly enough, it did reduce the noise considerably. Still get those occasional cold morning creaks, but it's manageable now.
Glad to hear someone else had success with this method; boilers really can be temperamental at times. It's reassuring to know that simple adjustments can make such a noticeable difference...sometimes solutions really are simpler than we expect.
Interesting to hear lowering the boiler temp worked for you—I actually had the opposite experience. When I tried dropping mine a bit, the noise did quiet down slightly, but I noticed the house took noticeably longer to heat up, especially on colder mornings. Might just be my older radiators or something, but it wasn't really worth the trade-off for me.
Eventually, I ended up installing an automatic air vent on the highest point of my system, and that actually made a bigger difference than fiddling with the temperature settings. Apparently trapped air can cause a lot of those popping noises too. Still get some creaks here and there, but nothing like before.
Guess boilers really do have their own personalities...what works perfectly in one house can totally flop in another.
