Hi, any advice would be appreciated please.
Got a Worcester 24CDi combi about 4.5 years old, regularly serviced (last service Oct 2004). Small house so only got five radiators, two in the downstairs lounge/diner, one in each of the bedrooms and one in the bathroom. The radiator in the smaller bedroom is rarely turned on because this is a warm room (only one outside wall) and the pipes seem to run under this floor (the floor feels warm). All the radiators are approx 14 years old.
The first problem I have is that the large downstairs radiator is only fairly hot at the top and luke warm at the bottom. It has been like this since Christmas, but we've lived with it until the recent cold weather. I'm thinking this may be caused by sludge(?) in the radiator - but I know very little. In the last few weeks there has been almost continual tapping/popping noises of one sort or another coming from the pipes upstairs. The tapping starts soon after the CH is switched on and carries on whilst it is running. It seems to be coming from the pipes in both the bedrooms (but mainly from the pipes in the large bedroom), but not the bathroom. The tapping noise often starts fast and gets slower. In addition to this, during the last week after the hot water has been running for a while and then turned off a banging noise comes from the boiler.
I'm wondering if there any connection with the cool downstairs radiator and the tapping pipes upstairs? or is it entirely unconnected. A mate has offered to take the radiator off and drain it out for me, but knowing absolutely nothing about CH will this solve the problem? As I said previously, these radiators were put in with the CH system we had installed in the early 1990s, we had the boiler replaced with a combi in 2000. We have had the occasion creak etc in the past but nothing like now.
Sorry for the long post, but any advice would be appreciated please.
Got a Worcester 24CDi combi about 4.5 years old, regularly serviced (last service Oct 2004). Small house so only got five radiators, two in the downstairs lounge/diner, one in each of the bedrooms and one in the bathroom. The radiator in the smaller bedroom is rarely turned on because this is a warm room (only one outside wall) and the pipes seem to run under this floor (the floor feels warm). All the radiators are approx 14 years old.
The first problem I have is that the large downstairs radiator is only fairly hot at the top and luke warm at the bottom. It has been like this since Christmas, but we've lived with it until the recent cold weather. I'm thinking this may be caused by sludge(?) in the radiator - but I know very little. In the last few weeks there has been almost continual tapping/popping noises of one sort or another coming from the pipes upstairs. The tapping starts soon after the CH is switched on and carries on whilst it is running. It seems to be coming from the pipes in both the bedrooms (but mainly from the pipes in the large bedroom), but not the bathroom. The tapping noise often starts fast and gets slower. In addition to this, during the last week after the hot water has been running for a while and then turned off a banging noise comes from the boiler.
I'm wondering if there any connection with the cool downstairs radiator and the tapping pipes upstairs? or is it entirely unconnected. A mate has offered to take the radiator off and drain it out for me, but knowing absolutely nothing about CH will this solve the problem? As I said previously, these radiators were put in with the CH system we had installed in the early 1990s, we had the boiler replaced with a combi in 2000. We have had the occasion creak etc in the past but nothing like now.
Sorry for the long post, but any advice would be appreciated please.
