3 flat owner with noisy vertical riser in interior wall from 1st to 2nd fl

podgo111

I have a 3 flat brick in Chicago.  Recently a riser in the interior wall of a bedroom  of the 1st floor has started to make a loud clicking noise (rubbing on nearby electrical conduit? or the

drywall - was re-drywalled in the 1990's but no insulation)   which wakes up the rent

paying tenant.   I have sprayed 8 cans of "great stuff "into the wall from the closet side.

Debating on spraying foam from the good side of the wall (makes a mess-drill a hole and spray it in) The tenant seems to think the noise is inside the verticle steam riser which ultimately goes to a 2nd and 3rd fl identical bedroom above.  No one else in the building has this problem.  The radiators are sloped properly,   this is inside the bedroom closet/ 1st floor bedroom interior  (near electrical conduit pipe and wall switch- installed in the rehab in the 1990s)

wall which gets very hot from the pipe heating up.   Could there be something inside the

pipe causing this noise or should i use 4 more cans of "great stuff large gap foam" to insulate the wall from the bedroom good side of the drywall wall.???

sincerely... 1911 3 flat owner who loves the warmth of steam heat  (weil mc lean boiler) vs modern system but

is going nuts trying to track down the clicking  noise ?? help ???

al podgorski ph 312-566-1547

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

Other possiblities

Sometimes noise can begin inside the pipe if the boiler is too big for the system or the vent is too big on the radiator.  This can start at anytime if someone begins shutting off radiators and/or the boiler is too big in the first place.  Typically steam boilers in Chicago are at least 60% too big, so you are probably in a bad place to start with.  In addition, very, very few are piped correctly, which can also contribute to noise in the pipes.  The noise that can develop is caused by the failing condensate of the radiator being kept in suspension by the steam moving too fast up the pipe.

Or, it may just be the pipe rubbing against something.  Spraying in foam probably will not help this.

nicholas bonham-carter

early riser upset by noisy riser

something must have changed to start this noise. have you changed vents on any radiators served by this riser? what is your system pressure in ounces [requires a gaugestore.com 0-3 psi gauge]?

possibly the pigtail under the pressuretrol has plugged, and the pressure is shooting up, or agressive venting may be allowing too much wet steam at one time into the riser.--nbc

podgo111

early riser upset by noisy riser

Thanks , i checked the PSI gauge this afternoon, when the heat came on this cold winters' day, the psi gauge gradually rose from 0 to almost just reaching 4 PSI and then immediately shut down the furnace when it just nearly reached 4 psi.  I have emails into the 2nd and 3rd floor tenants to find out if they have the radiators on in that same bedroom.   If they do , maybe I can have them turn them off or at least put on a very slow vent on the steam radiator in their apartments to slow the rattling of steam in that radiator. 

podgo111

Other possiblities

Thanks , boiler pro.  I know a lot of the radiators are probably running in off mode but most still heat up anyway  because the rubber gaskets inside the shutoff valves no longer stop

the steam from heating up the radiator even if the tenant turns them off.   Could excessive venting be  causing the noise inside the pipe.   I keep thinking that if I foamed the front of the bedroom wall cavity that that might muffle the pipe sound???

nicholas bonham-carter

high pressure effects

the pressure of your system is more than twice the maximum. check the pigtail for obstruction.

get a good low pressure gauge, and look at it occasionally.--nbc