Baseboard sounds like babbling brook

Steve Polley

When I turn my thermostats up at night water babbles through my baseboard heating for an hour or more. This cannot be normal? My guess is there isn't enough water in the system, but how do I check this, and how do I correct it.
Thanks

ScottMP

Paul

Thsi is very simple but for someone with no experience, it can open a can of worms. Unless you feel very comfortable working on your heating system, please call a pro.

Now the problem is that the preasure in your system is low and you have air gurgling around the system. The pressure needs to raised in the system to match the altitude of the hieght of the home. When that is done the air can be purged out and the pressure again corrected. A properly designed system will have no sound when it come on.

The problem Paul is if the system has not been worked on recently, valves and controls can be defective and not do what there supposed to. You wind up scratching your head, cause the system is'nt doing what you want, or worse !!

A good service man can fix this and check the system out.

Good Luck

Scott

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hr

the air purger

could be plugged, improperly installed or non existent. If you have trapped air it may be the cause of the noise. Fill valve, backflow device, expansion tank, and accuracy of the temperature/ pressure gauge are some of the items to check. Probably best to call a contractor with the tools and skills to troubleshoot this one

hot rod

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joel_14

and..

Another common malady is a bad expansion tank which will put the air from the tank in the system where it doesn't belong. As you can see lots of different reasons as to why but all should be pretty easy to fix. Tough part is narrowing it down. If you DIY and buy lots of stuff you don't need it would cost you more than getting a good pro who should be able to nail it for you pretty quick.

Steamhead

I agree

this is probably an air problem, and you definitely want a good contractor to straighten it out! Use the "Find a Contractor" page of this site to find someone who is familiar with all the latest techniques (and there are quite a few) for quieting your baseboard. One of us can do it right, the first time!

If you're in the Baltimore area, just e-mail me.

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Big Ed

Check

You think you don't have enough water in the system ? Check the gauge on the boiler and make sure you have enough pressure on the boiler.... Between 10 and 20 pounds is normal for a two story home .. Pressure down ? Check the shut off valve before the boler feed or"pressure reducing" valve to let in water . The valve looks like a "bell" or it could be a set of "bells" (a dual valve )**** ... If both seem fine you need to purge or bleed out the air which is trapped within your system...... My guess you have baseboard heating. You should have a set of purge valves on your baseboard loop , and most likely they are down near the boiler above the circulator on the loops return pipe. Shut off the shut off valve and draw off the the draw-off valve... A hose attached to the draw-off works best....


**** A added note.. Most fill systems use a pressure reducing valve shaped as a bell .There are other boiler fill systems that were used over the years , but are not the norm.

Mark Eatherton1

I suspect you have numerous things wrong...

like the pump pumping towards the PONPC, low pressure, old expansion tank, auto vents where they should be none, none where there should be.

If you're not comfortable with these terms, click on Find a Contractor and see what you can find. If you can't find one, find one who is internet capable, send them here and we'll tell him what to do.

Got pictures?

ME

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