My son recently rented a very nice apartment in an older building. The problem is when the heat goes on the pipes start with this banging, thumping and ticking noise. So far they've bleed the pipes a couple of time but that didn't help. It's radiant baseboard heat, any ideas or knowledge of this.
Heating, pipe noise question, HELP.
- Thread starter The Boys
- Start date
My first advice would have been to also bleed the pipes. It could be the pipes expanding as they get hot. They could be binding where they are fastened to the floor joists or where they come thru the floor. A 3/4 inch copper pipe will expand and contract a 1/2 inch or more. Try spacers or something to reduce the friction at the contact point. Hope this helps.
Head down to Michigane Ave and Junction and Pick up a crackwhore who can blow the pipes clean!!
:mj07: :mj07:
That was your pipes backing up right Boys???
What can go wrong with a baseboard heating system?? The major failure modes are:
1. Pump failure. Normally the bearings in the pump fail and the pump becomes noisy.
Replacement is usually a fairly simple task since most systems have isolation valves on both sides of the pump so that it can be removed with little loss of water from the system. Pump seals also develop leaks.
2. Boiler failure - just as a water heater can fail, the boiler can also develop leaks.
The good news is that since the water is enclosed in the system and is typically not replenished on a regular basis, there is not a significant build-up of calcium in the tank as there is in your hot water tank which continually brings calcium into the water heater.
That calcium settles in the bottom of a water heater and causes hot spots and eventual failure of the water tank - not so with the heating system's tank.
3. Leaks in the system - normally obvious in the form of wet floors or carpets underneath the baseboard units.
4. Air trapped in the system - causes a gurgling sound in the system when the circulator is pumping water.
Most systems have a small "tire valve" at the high points in the system which can be "bled" until all the air is removed and water starts flowing from the valve.
5. Overpressure valve blows off - caused by the air being removed from the expansion tank.
Not a normal failure unless there is a leak at the top of the air (expansion) tank.
The leak must be repaired and the system drained until the air is replaced in the expansion tank.
6. Dust in the radiator units - the radiator units are typically made up of copper tubes with fine sheet metal fins attached.
These fins get clogged and need to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner.
One of the major shortfalls of a baseboard heating system is that there is no way to install central air conditioning systems, air filtering system or whole house humidifiers.
The upside is that they are quiet, and clean since they don't blow air all over the house.
1. Pump failure. Normally the bearings in the pump fail and the pump becomes noisy.
Replacement is usually a fairly simple task since most systems have isolation valves on both sides of the pump so that it can be removed with little loss of water from the system. Pump seals also develop leaks.
2. Boiler failure - just as a water heater can fail, the boiler can also develop leaks.
The good news is that since the water is enclosed in the system and is typically not replenished on a regular basis, there is not a significant build-up of calcium in the tank as there is in your hot water tank which continually brings calcium into the water heater.
That calcium settles in the bottom of a water heater and causes hot spots and eventual failure of the water tank - not so with the heating system's tank.
3. Leaks in the system - normally obvious in the form of wet floors or carpets underneath the baseboard units.
4. Air trapped in the system - causes a gurgling sound in the system when the circulator is pumping water.
Most systems have a small "tire valve" at the high points in the system which can be "bled" until all the air is removed and water starts flowing from the valve.
5. Overpressure valve blows off - caused by the air being removed from the expansion tank.
Not a normal failure unless there is a leak at the top of the air (expansion) tank.
The leak must be repaired and the system drained until the air is replaced in the expansion tank.
6. Dust in the radiator units - the radiator units are typically made up of copper tubes with fine sheet metal fins attached.
These fins get clogged and need to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner.
One of the major shortfalls of a baseboard heating system is that there is no way to install central air conditioning systems, air filtering system or whole house humidifiers.
The upside is that they are quiet, and clean since they don't blow air all over the house.
