Water hammer and other radiator problems...

[funkadelik]

Most I'm just looking for a good bitch session with people who also have VERY noisy radiators in their homes, but advice would be totally welcome, too.

My radiators make insanely loud noises. Usually it's just a loud whining or whistling - nothing too alarming, but last night I woke up when the radiator near my head was making the loudest banging noise imaginable. It sounded like someone was taking a sledgehammer and crashing down on it repeatedly. For hours in the middle of the night.

I'm going to call the landlord today about it, but it looks like (the so aptly named) water hammer problem is not an easy fix.

So...anyone else with noisy radiator stories?

 

[Ponyboy]

Make sure the radiator is tilted slightly toward the supply side(the side with the control wheel). Alot of times just giving it a little wiggle(don't force it!!) back and forth and then toward the supply will help the problem. If it keeps happening then get some small wooden shims and place them under the legs of the drain side. Again, it should just be a slight tilt, like 1/8"-1/4". Hope that helps

 

[93JC]

That's not water hammer. Water hammer is a pressure wave caused by closing a valve suddenly.

What you're describing sounds like a condensate drainage problem. As Ponyboy describes above, make sure the radiator is tilted toward the supply side. This will ensure water drains back to the boiler, as it should.

 

[funkadelik]

That's not water hammer. Water hammer is a pressure wave caused by closing a valve suddenly.

You're totally right. Didn't really look into that enough.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try it out tomorrow.