Noisy Radiators! Please help!

[Brian0782]

Hi

I'm new to this forum and the only reason I've joined is so somebody can help me with noisy radiator issues!

We moved into this house in March and we've been experiencing issues with two radiators in the upstairs bedrooms ever since.

We can hear the sounds of water sloshing and some other weird noises.

We have an Ideal Atlantic 24 boiler and these two radiators are brand new. TRVs have also been replaced recently.

Our system has been power flushed after we moved in.

My OH thinks it's to do with the pipe work whereas I'm thinking it's the boiler.

It could also be air in the radiator but would it make these sounds?

Also we have a radiator in our house that doesn't even get any heat. Engineer said its a dead pipe. Wondering if it's related to that?

I'm at my wits end here.

I've uploaded videos to help.

Can some please help! Thank you

 

[SJB060685]

Have you tried bleeding the radiators first? Air can cause similar sounds to that, it could also be the cause for the radiator you say doesn't heat up at all.
@ShaunCorbs they look like designer rads. Do they need the baffle/tube thingy installed?

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Those don’t sound good, and could be trapped air, and with some radiators they have to be fitted the correct way around, so could be this as well (I have no experience of those types of rads though).

The radiator that doesn’t heat up, do you get water from the bleed vent? It could be a balancing issues, stuck/faulty TR pin (if it has a TRV), piped up incorrectly.

I personally don’t think it’s the boiler making the noise.

 

[Brian0782]

Have you tried bleeding the radiators first? Air can cause similar sounds to that, it could also be the cause for the radiator you say doesn't heat up at all.
@ShaunCorbs they look like designer rads. Do they need the baffle/tube thingy installed?

We were experiencing the same issue with previous radiators which were just standard ones:

 

[SJB060685]

Ah, so that rules out my question to Shaun. Sorry I'm a burner service and repair technician, I'm not overly familiar with designer radiators.
Have you tried bleeding the radiators, have you had air problems before?

 

[Brian0782]

Those don’t sound good, and could be trapped air, and with some radiators they have to be fitted the correct way around, so could be this as well (I have no experience of those types of rads though).

The radiator that doesn’t heat up, do you get water from the bleed vent? It could be a balancing issues, stuck/faulty TR pin (if it has a TRV), piped up incorrectly.

I personally don’t think it’s the boiler making the noise.

I'm not 100% sure what the issue is but I think the engineer said it's because no water is reaching that radiator. Could perhaps be because of a collapsed pipe but really can't say

 

[SJB060685]

I'm not 100% sure what the issue is but I think the engineer said it's because no water is reaching that radiator. Could perhaps be because of a collapsed pipe but really can't say

Do you have an open vented system (Tanks in the loft) or a sealed system?

 

[Brian0782]

Do you have an open vented system (Tanks in the loft) or a sealed system?

Sealed system. We have a combi boiler

 

[SJB060685]

Sealed system. We have a combi boiler

Ok. With the boiler off. Try bleeding the radiators first. This should be the first thing to check. If you manage to get air out you will need to top the pressure up again.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

First port of call would be to delete the rads and radiators valve eg trv and lockshield on the worst one to prove either pipework issue or trv / rad

Eg with 2 elbows and a piece of 15mm tube

 

[Brian0782]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will try the above and provide an update soon

 

[Brian0782]

Hi everyone

So I made quite good progress with this. I ended up buying some Aladdin auto-vent valves and installed them on the two noisiest radiators

Now whilst the heating is on there is very little noise!

However I'm not sure it's completed fixed the issue.

When the boiler comes on and off I can still hear water gurgling in the rads. So when the boiler comes on, I can hear the radiator filling up and when it goes off I can hear the sound of water again - almost as if the rad is emptying. I don't think central heating works that way

I've done some research and it could be the pump speed on my combi boiler is too high and causing the rad to fill up too quickly. I have an Ideal Atlantic (installed by the previous owner).

Would adjusting the pump speed help with the noise?

 

[Sparkgap]

Hi everyone

So I made quite good progress with this. I ended up buying some Aladdin auto-vent valves and installed them on the two noisiest radiators

Now whilst the heating is on there is very little noise!

However I'm not sure it's completed fixed the issue.

When the boiler comes on and off I can still hear water gurgling in the rads. So when the boiler comes on, I can hear the radiator filling up and when it goes off I can hear the sound of water again - almost as if the rad is emptying. I don't think central heating works that way

I've done some research and it could be the pump speed on my combi boiler is too high and causing the rad to fill up too quickly. I have an Ideal Atlantic (installed by the previous owner).

Would adjusting the pump speed help with the noise?

Does the noise vary depending on how many TRVs are open? Your pump is probably on full speed and depending on the size of your system you could get away with a lower speed but the combi may require full speed for hot water production. Give it a try and turn down one speed to see if it makes a difference and if it's okay go one more (assuming 3 speed pump). Check in case the hot water flow is reduced.

 

[Brian0782]

Does the noise vary depending on how many TRVs are open? Your pump is probably on full speed and depending on the size of your system you could get away with a lower speed but the combi may require full speed for hot water production. Give it a try and turn down one speed to see if it makes a difference and if it's okay go one more (assuming 3 speed pump). Check in case the hot water flow is reduced.

I have an Ideal Atlantic 24 and can't see how to adjust the pump speed using the controls. Could it be behind the cover? In which case I'd need to get an engineer in

 

[John.g]

Have you any link to that particular boiler as I don't seem to be able to find it on the Ideal website.

 

[exedon2]

Atlantic is yet another logic copy as always small differences.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Try opening the lockshield a 1/8 of a turn more

 

[Brian0782]

I couldn't find anything on the Ideal website but there is a manual available on Google

For some reason I can't post the link - getting an error saying I'm spamming lol

 

[John.g]

What is the boiler pressure when cold/hot with CH on?, you might try increasing it by 0.5bar with the filling loop but not above 2.5 bar with CH system fully hot.

 

[Brian0782]

It's running at 2.0-2.2 bar when off and 2.6-2.8 when the CH comes on

I probably need to release the pressure a bit but not sure if that's the reason for the radiator noises

 

[akkeosflomdis]

Ah, so that rules out my question to Shaun. Sorry I'm a burner service and repair technician, I'm not overly familiar with designer radiators.
Have you tried bleeding the radiators, have you had air problems before?