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Central heating shouldn’t be noisy – here’s what you need to do

You come home from work, stick the heating on and relax with a good book in your favourite armchair. You should be at peace but unfortunately you’re disturbed by a constant banging noise, despite being alone. What is it? Well, if there’s no one banging around in your house, it’s likely to be your central heating!

Central heating shouldn’t be noisy, so if your heating is creating a banging noise or any sort of humming, tapping, clicking and gurgling noises then you need to investigate!

What’s causing the noise?

There are a number of reasons why your central heating could be making a noise but if you’ve just had a new combi boiler installed; this is likely to be the culprit. Whilst combi boilers shouldn’t make any noise whatsoever, if they’ve not been installed correctly, they’ll chime out all sorts of strange sounds.

Other problems can include poorly maintained heating systems and limescale build-ups.

Identifying the noise and problem

Before calling a heating plumber, we recommend doing a little investigating so you can get an idea of the type of noise and where it’s coming from. This is likely to be something the heating plumber will ask you when you phone them up. Here we’ve provided a quick guide to some of the sounds you are likely to hear and what they mean.

Banging in the pipes

If you can hear a banging or clanging sound, it’s likely to be coming from your pipe work. Check that they have all been fitted and tied down properly. If you can see that they are loose or not screwed down, then that’s probably what’s causing the disturbing sounds.

If the pipes appear to be screwed down correctly, there may be a pressure problem inside the pipes. The best thing to do is drain them out and refill the system again. If the banging persists, you will need a heating plumber to install in wider pipes for your new boiler.

If your heating elements are set at the wrong timing or pressure, they may cause your boiler to create a humming sound. To stop this from happening, we recommend checking that your thermostat is working correctly. If it is, it may be a cause of needing to slow down the speed the boiler pumps heat into the water.

Keep in mind that if the pressure is set too high, it can cause damage to your pipes, which is likely to result in them banging and clanging. If you are unsure what settings are best for your boiler, get in touch.

Gurgling and tapping radiators

If you can hear a gurgling or tapping sound coming from your radiators, there’s likely to be a build up of air inside them. The solution to this problem is pretty simple – you just need to bleed the air out of the system.

To do this, loosen the corner screw (ensuring you’ve got a tub underneath) and wait for water to appear. Once it does, you can be sure that all of the air has gone.

Tapping sounds can also be caused by lime scale in your radiator pipes. To resolve this issue, you will need to buy a descaling solution to pour into your expansion tank. Just make sure your central heating system is turned off beforehand.

Call in a qualified heating plumber

If you do not feel confident in investigating noisy central heating problems yourself or cannot resolve the issues, it’s highly recommended that you get in touch with a Gas Safe heating plumber like Priory Gas Heating. Simply give us a call; let us know the problem and we’ll send someone out to fix it!