Soundproofing a boiler room

someone · February 2014

hi

I had a buderus boiler installed in my new being built home. It ended up right under the front entryway and the living room (because of the location of the chimney/fireplace). It is louder than I like and I want to soundproof it.

I was going to have aosundproofer give me a consul but it was pricey.

I am looking for advice on the best way to soundproof it

I found some options (I want to figure it out and then my builder will install it)

<a href="http://soundproofing.org/infopages/flooring.htm">http://soundproofing.org/infopages/flooring.htm</a>

<a href="http://soundproofing.org/sales/ssp.htm">http://soundproofing.org/sales/ssp.htm</a>

<a href="http://soundproofing.org/infopages/greenglue.htm">http://soundproofing.org/infopages/greenglue.htm</a>

Can someone please adivse m on how to use these and other products for the most successful soundproofing? thanks

Rich_49 · February 2014

Roxul

Safe and sound insulation will provide fire protection also . You may also want to sheetrock below that using 1x lumber perpendicular to the framing , this will lessen the contact area between the surfaces and cut down on vibration which is where your sound transfer comes from .

Jamie Hall · February 2014

Soundproofing

is a real bear, and a fine art. I'm not a bit surprised that the consultant you talked to was pricey -- never mind whatever he or she had in mind as solutions.

What you are trying to do, though, is fairly simple: stop the transmission of sound from the source to the rest of the building.

In practice, what this means is that first there can be no air passages from that room to the rest of the building. None. Not even the tiniest gap where a pipe or a wire goes through a partition or floor. For that, you will need one of the flexible acoustic caulks; there are different makes. This also means that if there is an access door to the space from the rest of the building, it has to have seals on it which are absolutely air tight when it is closed. it would be better if there were no access from the rest of the building, if that can be arranged.

Any pipes which penetrate the partition/ceiling must have flexible (really flexible; I don't mean PEX, I mean something like braided hydraulic hose) on both sides of the wall and through the wall. Same for electrical conduit (which must also be caulked inside).

Second, any partition -- wall, floor -- has to be built so that there is no rigid connection between the two faces and, if possible, there is a sound absorbing blanket -- such as the mass loaded vinyl in one of your links -- between the two faces. A typical arrangement is a wall with two sets of studs (or a ceiling with two sets of joists). The interior wall covering -- in your case, fire rated plaster board -- is attached to one set of studs. The other set of studs is offset an inch, and the other wall covering attached to it, with the flexible sound absorbing sheet between the two walls (for a ceiling, the treatment is the same -- you're talking ceiling and flooring here). Doors are a real headache, although in most cases a really good fire door -- two hour rating -- is also pretty soundproof if the seals are good.

The resilient clips in one of your links may work; I have no experience with them. The principle is the same: no rigid path from one side of the wall (or ceiling) to the other.

You probably don't have to worry about sound transmission through the basement slab, although it wouldn't hurt to have the slab in the mechanical room isolated from the rest of the basement with flexible expansion joints under the soundproof walls.

You may still have to contend with airborne noise from the air intake and exhaust for the burner. Acoustical liners on the air intake ducting, as well as making sure that there are offsets in the ducting, may help.

In closing this, I make absolutely no guarantee that any of the above measures will reduce the noise to a level which is satisfactory to you; no conscientious person would.

nicholas bonham-carter · February 2014

Noisy boiler

Can you describe the sound a little more for us:

Water rushing through pipes?

The burner combustion and fan? An improperly adjusted burner can be noisy.

Expanding pipes rubbing against wood?--NBC

Zman · February 2014

Sound

Jamie makes some excellent points.

I would add that anything mechanical (boiler,circulators, ect) that is fastened to the framing of the building need special attention in the form of isolating mounting hardware.

You are on the right in your quest for a silent heating system.

Carl

ChicagoCooperator · February 2014

How far along in construction process?

How far along in construction process is the house? In other words, do you already have finished floors, basement ceiling, basement partitions, etc, installed? If they aren't already in, noise will be a lot more than once they are, as well as furniture, ambient noise of people, tv's, etc and final adjustments of boiler. Not, of course, suggesting that you shouldn't sound proof - always a good thing to do (though, of course, if your boiler goes out, you won't hear it's lack of noise).

Jamie Hall · February 2014

Chicago has a very good point --

If you do manage to really soundproof that space, you should have a remote status panel installed, a remote CO detector, and a remote fire alarm (overheat and smoke).

Otherwise, you will have no way of knowing that something is going amiss until it has really gone west. The status panel should have indications for boiler demand vs. boiler running, all zone valve demand vs. zone valve open, all circulator demand vs. circulator run, as well as temperature in the space -- as well as the fire and CO alarms.

All remoted to somewhere where they can be and will be monitored regularly.

unclejohn · February 2014

What Kind

Of noise? What kind of boiler. I installed a Buderus atmospheric last week and found it to be nice and quite.

someone · February 2014

l

thanks everyone. I am sure I will be back w- more specific questions once my builder and I have a closer look.

nicholas bonham-carter · February 2014

And once you have had a listen

Don't forget that only you can do the listening in this case, and that your contractor may not hear things as clearly as you.

Checkout the system with the stethoscope to find the offending source yourself.--NBC

Gordy · February 2014

Isolation

Isolation is the key.

Narrow down the sounds.

Piping expansion / contraction ?

Circulator noise transfer?

Burner noise?

Fan noise if there is one?

US Gypsum website has information details for constructing sound proof wall details. All though I can't imagine a residential boiler would need such detail.

The attached photo is extreme. This is a dog house for two commercial kitchen exhaust fans which decibels will be such as two lawn mowers running inside the enclosure.

Wall detail is 2 layers 5/8 densglass, 3 5/8 metal studs with sound batt insulation, 5/8 sound proof drywall, and 5/8 cement board. The exterior will be finished with 2" EFIS.

This whole dog house is isolated at the floor frame to building attachment with 3/4" waffle isolation membrane. None of the vertical back wall will touch the building.

The fan units will sit on a platform with isolation springs along with isolators on the units frame.

M Lane · February 2014

Combustion air

Reminder that if you seal off the boiler room with soundproofing, you have created what we call 'tight' construction and will need to make sure adequate combustion air is delivered in.

But if your boiler is noisy, something is not right.

Soundproofing a boiler room

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