Why steam radiators banging

Taking care of the problem early could save you bigger headaches by preventing property damage, intensive repairs, and time spent without heat. Share on facebook Facebook. Share on twitter Twitter. Share on linkedin LinkedIn. Share on pinterest Pinterest. Privacy Policy.

Let it sit overnight. Doing so may help dissolve any calcium deposits that have gradually accumulated over time. Finally, a friendly reminder regarding the use of steam radiators, in general. The intake valve should be either fully open or fully closed. Leaving the valve partially open can result in leaks and damage to floors. Disclosure: BobVila. You agree that BobVila.

All rights reserved. Try opening the valve fully. You can regulate heat among steam radiators using a different method: timing how quickly individual radiators get hot, using adjustable steam radiator vents.

A second cause of banging steam pipe or radiator noises can be a worn or damaged radiator valve seat. Your heating service technician can remove, disassemble, inspect, and replace the valve or valve parts if necessary. A third radiator valve problem is actually broken parts: Sometimes we find that the valve internal parts are actually broken inside, perhaps by someone forcing a valve that was corroded into a stuck position.

Watch out : a valve stem can become broken and fool you. You may feel that the valve knob turns and you think you are opening or closing the valve, but actually the valve knob and stem are just spinning freely. Hissing sounds from the steam radiator's steam vent are normal as heat is rising in the building, but the hissing should stop when the radiator is hot. See these steam vent articles for details:. Banging noises at the steam boiler may be occurring in the steam boiler itself or in its controls, especially if the boiler is not being properly maintained.

Typically the low water cutoff control includes a drain valve that is opened weekly to spill hot dirty sludgy water into a bucket. About a week or so ago, we discovered a weird banging sound that sounds like metal on metal coming from our steam boiler.

Sure, we get lots of small bangs in the pipes throughout the house, which we had always assumed to be just air in the pipes. But this sound is different. It doesn't come from the pipes--it seems to be just in the unit in the basement. It only makes the noise when the boiler fires up and the flames turn on. The sound is always louder in the beginning, and it gets slightly quieter over the following minutes.

The speed varies--sometimes it is an irregular rhythm, and sometimes it is very steady. The banging goes off when the flames turn off. The banging appears to be coming from one specific corner of the unit. I'm worried that it is a pump or fan of some sort. I took a video in one of the quieter moments and uploaded it to Youtube [ Often steam boiler noises showing up as banging pipes or radiators are traced to a condensate return problem.

Please take a look at the suggestions on this page. Watch out : ask your heating service technician to show you when and how to safely flush the steam boiler. Failure to perform this step can lead to loss of heat; doing it wrong can lead to scalding or even boiler damage.

Details are. Watch out : If your heating boiler does not have an automatic water feeder and you've been putting makeup water into the boiler manually, a blocked condensate line and low water in the boiler will eventually lead to total loss of heat when the low water cutoff switch , a key boiler safety device, simply shuts down the boiler.

Hot water heating pipes that distribute heat through a building often make creaking or even clanking sounds at the start and again at the end of a heating cycle. These sounds are usually due to expansion of the piping and movements as the piping shifts, especially where it passes through an opening in building framing, floors, or walls. Clanking heating system pipes or sharp snapping noises may be heard as a normal consequence of expansion of metals during the heating cycle.

These noises can often be eliminated or reduced by careful routing of piping and by allowing room around heating pipes for expansion, but probably not eliminated in the case of hot water baseboards. Bubbling or rumbling heating system noises in hot water heating piping can be caused by air in the heating lines.

If the amount of air becomes excessive the heating system may be unable to circulate hot water and extra steps to bleed unwanted air will be required.

David, Thanks for that detail - I didn't even know that WD40 made a silicone product. The silicone spray quieted the banging noise, as you said.

My only concern is the hot pipe may burn it off or it may oxidize over time. Any thoughts? David, Thank you for the follow-up confirming that using a spray lubricant diagnosed the noise of "banging" or other sounds from steam pipes - thermal movement. But in my OPINION spray silicone is closer to colorless less likely to leave a light tan stain on a light-painted wall or ceiling and may remain in place longer when dry. Absentee ballot totals dwarf previous municipal election. Highlights: Fitch 42, East Lyme Federal judge refuses Trump request to block Jan.

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