Noisy pipes aren’t just a nuisance – they could be a sign of a serious problem with your heating system. We here at No1PHD believe that you shouldn’t have to live with either the annoyance of the sounds or the uncertainty of not knowing what is causing them. Below are a few of the most common reasons why your pipes might be making unusual sounds and what we can do to fix each of the root issues.
If you live in an area with hard water, you may experience a problem known as boiler kettling. This common heating headache is the result of mineral build-up on your boiler’s heat exchanger. Over time, this build-up will grow from a barely-noticeable rough covering to a larger mass that is hard to miss. Once this chunk gets big enough, the heat exchanger cannot distribute the hot water properly and may begin to overheat, causing it to expand and make loud banging sounds as it does. As you can imagine, your heating system is being subjected to intense stress every time this happens, so it’s important to put a stop to it as soon as possible.
This build-up can be removed with mechanical scraping or chemical solutions, but it can be difficult for a homeowner to be certain that they have removed all of the residue left on the surface. If any gritty areas remain, they will be more susceptible to developing this problem again. It is safer to have this done by a plumbing and heating services provider like No1PHD so you know that the job has been done thoroughly. We can also install a water softening system for you so that the mineral content of your water will fall, drastically slowing down the rate of limescale accumulation in the future.
If you’re using a water-based heating system, you have to be very careful to keep the water-to-air ratio consistent to get your pipes to run as efficiently (and by extension, quietly) as they can. If some extra air gets trapped inside somehow, it will form bubbles and burst when heated, throwing off the pressure in your pipes and making noise. This sound tends to be quieter than the banging described above – it’s closer to a clicking noise – but it still indicates that a problem might be developing and that you should resolve it as soon as possible. Pressure anomalies can easily cause pipes and their fittings to break, potentially causing massive amounts of avoidable damage.
To fix your air bubble problem, someone will need to reset the air pressure in your pipes through a process known as bleeding. This is a systematic process that needs to be done piece by piece at each radiator in your home, and it can prove messy and frustrating to untrained individuals. Furthermore, once all of the air has been cleared out of your pipes, you will still need to identify how the extra air got into the system in the first place. This could be due to a pressure leak, a broken valve, or even a previous repair that was poorly done.
Noisy pipes can also happen for exactly the reason you’d expect: simple movement. Pipes are meant to be accessible if they ever need to be worked on, so they aren’t completely fixed building elements like walls and windows. They often have a lot of space around them, and if that space is large enough to allow them to shift significantly and make contact with a hard surface while in use, you will hear rattling, scraping or banging coming from them often. This is particularly true with underfloor heating systems because of how little they sit between you and those pipes.
If all of the pipes are properly secured with things like soft insulation, metal pipe clips or specially constructed supports, they will not be able to shift as much when they are in use and should be much quieter as a result. This must be done carefully, however, or the fix may not last long or might develop harmful mold. We can make sure that this time-consuming job gets done without requiring any physical labour on your part and that the final result will be safe to use for years to come.
No matter what might be causing your noisy pipes, we here at No1PHD can fix the issue promptly. Our extensive heating system expertise allows us to easily diagnose your pipe problems – no guesswork or second tries involved. We also act fast and can provide same-day service to make sure that you are inconvenienced for as little time as possible. Don’t keep on worrying about what might be going wrong with your pipes every time you turn on the heat; call No1PHD today on 08006906777 and let us help get rid of those troublesome pipe sounds for good.