Radiator Ticking

[glasuni03]

Hi folks,

I am new to this forum and hope that some good person out there can stop me from being admitted to a mental asylum!

I recently had a new Grundfos Alpha 2 pump fitted by British Gas and now all the rads upstairs tick and wake myself and family up once the GCH comes on. I called out BG and they said it was expansion and that the pipes had probably moved when the engineer installed the new pump

Could anyone help me to resolve this as my wife is pregnant as well and the noise is driving us mad!

Thanks

 

[Dan Robinson]

it is unlikely problems caused by british gas. pipes moving moving across the joists could cause the problem.


I suggest you and the missus have become hyper aware of the problem.

Try adjusting the pump speed down a tad.

 

[Terry lambert]

The Alpha two from memory has auto speed setting. It could be starting at a high speed to get your heating going and the noise you hear could be the velocity and the metal expanding

I can't see how it has anything to do with the installer.
If it is that bad, I would suggest changing back to a standard pump

 

[glasuni03]

it is unlikely problems caused by british gas. pipes moving moving across the joists could cause the problem.


I suggest you and the missus have become hyper aware of the problem.

Try adjusting the pump speed down a tad.

Hi Dan - I tried turning the pump speed down to one and the rad that was switched off in our bedroom still ticks away?? As I say it is only the rads upstairs that have this problem nowhere else in the house. Is there anything else that I can try?

 

[danechip]

Earplugs/Muffs

 

[Terry lambert]

If you have adjusted the speed, I take back what I said about changing the pump, I havnt fitted one of these.

I can only think to play around with balancing, ie opening up rad valves more or closing them down a bit to see if that helps.

Turning down the thermostat on the boiler a little may help

Did you not have this problem before, at all, if not I will have a read of the pump spec when I get a chance later

 

[gavinda]

i suggest dan is probably on the right path here. i have so many customers who, after a previously successful repair, call me back out to investigate a noise that 'has only just started after you fixed the boiler'.

like the pump, of fan, or the clicking of a rad.

the chances are that the old pump was circulationg the heat so much slower that the expansion of the rad was not so prominent and now theres a nice shiny new one, the heat gets dumped in that much quicker.

turning the boiler stat down may help, but make sure its still at least 1/2 way on as the house may not warm enough and you may struggle to heat the water.

failing that, by all means call the engi back out to investigate, but give it 2 weeks so as to not earn him a 'recall' against his performance as this does not seem to be an engineer error.
be prepared though as he may just have to say thats just how it is.

ask him to check also if its possible to fit nylon spares to the rad bracket as that may help, but you would have to pay for that, even if you are on homecare.

 

[ALEC1]

me too... I agree with dan on this...I installed a boiler in a flat and the customer noticed ticking and clicking there after, but we had not touched anything other than the boiler some 10 meters away... the only explanation is that people become more critical after spending money...

 

[doitall]

Could be the heating is working better with the new pump. hotter pipes and rads could = bigger and better clicks.

Has any radiators been removed for decorating

 

[glasuni03]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for everyones imput it is most appreciated.

It most definately is not a problem with the installation as the central heating works great and the guys from BG have been great.

I also too dont doubt that with the new pump it is circulating the water roud quicker.

I just cant quite understand why the rads tick when the TRV's are shut off. Also why only in the upstairs rads too as I would have expected this to happen in all rads?

I should say that my system is a conventional system with Cyliner/water tank etc. Oh and even after a powerflush the cold water feed pipe was blocked and the engineer has to use a piece of cut hose pipe to blow through to clear the block?? has this anything to do with it?

 

[gavinda]

if the trv's are juddering when off, they may be on the wrong end of the rad.

if the cold feed is blocked and needed blowing through, maybe he should just cut out and replace the blockage.

sounds like they do have to come back

 

[Dan Robinson]

Only that it (as said) will make everything work much quicker due to the clearing of crud.

Radiators may be turned off, but the pipes feeding them are still warm and expanding/contracting. Noise in heating systems has a habit of projecting itself to places other than the root cause.

You omitted to tell us about all the other work that had been carried out .

But again, unless they changed sections of pipes under the floor, the responsibility lies solely with the house builder and original heating installer.

Radiators should have plastic lugs on the brackets to reduce the chances of them ticking at that point. It is worth having a look to see if they are there.

If not - take the offending rads off the wall and fashion some plastic to go in between the bracket and rad.

 

[glasuni03]

Only that it (as said) will make everything work much quicker due to the clearing of crud.

Radiators may be turned off, but the pipes feeding them are still warm and expanding/contracting. Noise in heating systems has a habit of projecting itself to places other than the root cause.

You omitted to tell us about all the other work that had been carried out .

But again, unless they changed sections of pipes under the floor, the responsibility lies solely with the house builder and original heating installer.

Radiators should have plastic lugs on the brackets to reduce the chances of them ticking at that point. It is worth having a look to see if they are there.

If not - take the offending rads off the wall and fashion some plastic to go in between the bracket and rad.

Hi Dan - All that was installed was a new pump and the system flushed. No new pipes under floorboards etc. There are no plastic rad clip as the radiators are 20 years old and only metal clips. Could you tell me where to get plastic rad clips that will prevent metal - metal contact?

 

[gavinda]

its a diy job, i dont think you can get them apart from when you buy a new rad, as said, make somethink youself, think ptfe take on the brakets may do it.

of course you'll have to drain and remove the rads to do it