Floor mounting Wall mounting Boiler (Combi)

[John]

Thinking ahead to replacing my floor standing boiler Worcester...................... It sits in an upstairs airing cupboard with plasterboard sandwich walls (no decent noggins).

When I come to change, in order to widen my choice of boilers - but to avoid trying to get a good fixing onto the plasterboard I wonder if it would be permissible to make up a sort of angle bracket which would enable the weight to be taken by the airing cupboard floor (above the stairs and about 18" above the hall floor. I would have something welded out of angle steel so it would be strong. Perhaps something like a pipe jig (which comes with some boilers) with feet to make it "L" shaped.

Any thoughts?

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've seen such brackets in plumbers merchants. They are mainly aimed for mounting boilers in lofts, where there are usually no suitable walls (gable-ends are not suitable for heavy loads unless mounted some distance below the top).

[John]

Great tip. Many thanks.

[Dave Osborne]

Might be easier/cheaper though just to cover over the plasterboard at the back of the airing cupboard with a piece of 12mm WBP plywood (the width of the cupboard if possible, resting on the floor and as high as the top of the new boiler) and fix it to the plasterboard with sticks-like-shit/a bunch of whirlies/screws into studs or noggings as appropriate. Paint the plywood with undercoat and gloss. Mr boilerman can use spring toggles for the boiler.

[YAPH]

... and ride away into the sunset with his spurs jangling.

Not this boilerman thank you. Secure, non-combustible surface please.

[John]

Any suggested board?

[Dave Osborne]

If you did it properly, there's no question it would be secure. The weight would be on the floor. Bonding to the plasterboard would only be required to stop the plywood from pulling away and the spring toggles would prevent that all on their own. So the no-more-nails, screws etc would be largely redundant anyway.

You could add another layer of plasterboard over the top of the plywood if the gas regs require a non-combustible surface.

[John]

However - another consideration could be the noise transmission into the adjoining bedroom. Having it on the floor makes sound transmission less likely.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Surely the boiler casing and design provides the second function? After all plenty of floor standing ones on wooden floors.

[YAPH]

All depends on the MIs: if they say non-combustible surface (whether wall or floor) then dat is de law.