Recently, our Central Heating has been waking us up in the morning when it
comes on. It makes a "wailing banshee" kind of sound. Before I call the
elders of the chuch to exorcise the house, I though I'd see what you all
might recommend.

I checked the header tank about a month ago had found it to be empty, the
ball valve stuck closed. That's fixed now, but clearly there was more water
needed in the system - I have been bleeding our bathroom radiator regularly
over the last few months.

We had a British Gas engineer round the other day who replaced the main CH
pump. He said that was (most likely to be) the problem, having worn itself
out when there was no water available to pump, but we still get the banshees
coming back. The boiler itself sounds a bit like a kettle when it starts
(high-pitched hissing) - it never used to. Typically, when I tried to show
the engineer, there were no noises. I don't mind the usual
expansion/contraction tapping sounds, but I don't like being woken up with
the CH coming on!!!

I'm not entirely sure where the noise is coming from - it usually only lasts
about 2 minutes, and I haven't crawled out of bed to listen to each and
every part. I am pretty sure that the noise is being sent round the system
and that it's not the radiator in my bedroom that is at fault.

Any ideas?!
Thanks,
Aelx

Sounds like air in the system to me.


"AlexL" wrote in message
...
Recently, our Central Heating has been waking us up in the morning when it
comes on. It makes a "wailing banshee" kind of sound. Before I call the
elders of the chuch to exorcise the house, I though I'd see what you all
might recommend.

I checked the header tank about a month ago had found it to be empty, the
ball valve stuck closed. That's fixed now, but clearly there was more
water
needed in the system - I have been bleeding our bathroom radiator
regularly
over the last few months.

We had a British Gas engineer round the other day who replaced the main CH
pump. He said that was (most likely to be) the problem, having worn itself
out when there was no water available to pump, but we still get the
banshees
coming back. The boiler itself sounds a bit like a kettle when it starts
(high-pitched hissing) - it never used to. Typically, when I tried to show
the engineer, there were no noises. I don't mind the usual
expansion/contraction tapping sounds, but I don't like being woken up with
the CH coming on!!!

I'm not entirely sure where the noise is coming from - it usually only
lasts
about 2 minutes, and I haven't crawled out of bed to listen to each and
every part. I am pretty sure that the noise is being sent round the system
and that it's not the radiator in my bedroom that is at fault.

Any ideas?!
Thanks,
Aelx

PJO wrote:
Sounds like air in the system to me.

So what's the best way to get rid of it!? If the air isn't getting to a
radiator, bleeding won't help....

Alex

"AlexL" wrote in message
...
PJO wrote:
Sounds like air in the system to me.

So what's the best way to get rid of it!? If the air isn't getting to a
radiator, bleeding won't help....

Alex



If you're only bleeding the system from one radiator, then you're not
bleeding all the systems properly. You will have to bleed everything on the
system to make sure you're getting all the air out, and that includes the
boiler itself. You will find the boiler has, or better have, a bleed point
on the highest part of the pipework for this very purpose.

"AlexL" wrote in message
...
Recently, our Central Heating has been waking us up in the morning when it
comes on. It makes a "wailing banshee" kind of sound. Before I call the
elders of the chuch to exorcise the house, I though I'd see what you all
might recommend.

I checked the header tank about a month ago had found it to be empty, the
ball valve stuck closed. That's fixed now, but clearly there was more
water
needed in the system - I have been bleeding our bathroom radiator
regularly
over the last few months.

We had a British Gas engineer round the other day who replaced the main CH
pump. He said that was (most likely to be) the problem, having worn itself
out when there was no water available to pump, but we still get the
banshees
coming back. The boiler itself sounds a bit like a kettle when it starts
(high-pitched hissing) - it never used to. Typically, when I tried to show
the engineer, there were no noises. I don't mind the usual
expansion/contraction tapping sounds, but I don't like being woken up with
the CH coming on!!!

I'm not entirely sure where the noise is coming from - it usually only
lasts
about 2 minutes, and I haven't crawled out of bed to listen to each and
every part. I am pretty sure that the noise is being sent round the system
and that it's not the radiator in my bedroom that is at fault.

Do you have thermostatic valves on the radiators, these can whissle and moan
as they close.
It may be that the pump speed is too high, sending the water round the
radiators too fast,
try turning the speed down one notch and also balalancing the system, see
the FAQ for this group.

"James Salisbury" wrote in message ...
"AlexL" wrote in message
...
Recently, our Central Heating has been waking us up in the morning when it
comes on. It makes a "wailing banshee" kind of sound. Before I call the
elders of the chuch to exorcise the house, I though I'd see what you all
might recommend.

I checked the header tank about a month ago had found it to be empty, the
ball valve stuck closed. That's fixed now, but clearly there was more
water
needed in the system - I have been bleeding our bathroom radiator
regularly
over the last few months.

We had a British Gas engineer round the other day who replaced the main CH
pump. He said that was (most likely to be) the problem, having worn itself
out when there was no water available to pump, but we still get the
banshees
coming back. The boiler itself sounds a bit like a kettle when it starts
(high-pitched hissing) - it never used to. Typically, when I tried to show
the engineer, there were no noises. I don't mind the usual
expansion/contraction tapping sounds, but I don't like being woken up with
the CH coming on!!!

I'm not entirely sure where the noise is coming from - it usually only
lasts
about 2 minutes, and I haven't crawled out of bed to listen to each and
every part. I am pretty sure that the noise is being sent round the system
and that it's not the radiator in my bedroom that is at fault.

Do you have thermostatic valves on the radiators, these can whissle and moan
as they close.
It may be that the pump speed is too high, sending the water round the
radiators too fast,
try turning the speed down one notch and also balalancing the system, see
the FAQ for this group.

I had a whistleing noise from the rads and did the above and that
sorted them fine. However, that was only once the heating had been on
for a while and the TRV's were closing, if the noise it at the start
then it's probably something else like air in the boiler.

Big Phil wrote:
"James Salisbury" wrote in
message ...

Do you have thermostatic valves on the radiators, these can whissle
and moan
as they close.
It may be that the pump speed is too high, sending the water round
the
radiators too fast,
try turning the speed down one notch and also balalancing the
system, see
the FAQ for this group.

I had a whistleing noise from the rads and did the above and that
sorted them fine. However, that was only once the heating had been on
for a while and the TRV's were closing, if the noise it at the start
then it's probably something else like air in the boiler.

No TRVs on the system. This morning, I jumped out of bed to investigate. The
boiler itself was making some noise, and I discovered that it stopped and
restarted 3 or 4 times in a row. After it stopped, changing the boiler's
thermostat made no difference whatsoever, so it had probably cut out. My
guess is that there is an air lock in the boiler that causes problems at the
start - after a while, the pump has managed to push enough water into the
boiler for it to work properly... I now have to work out how to get the air
out of the system. There is a valve directly above the boiler, on the "flow"
side - I twisted it this morning, but there was just water coming out. I
will have to check for any other valves...

I would love to know how the air gets to the boiler that causes these
problems - which are only when the system starts up in the morning. Perhaps
there is some problem with the boiler itself??

Alex

PS Where's the FAQ for this group located, please?

No TRVs on the system. This morning, I jumped out of bed to investigate. The
boiler itself was making some noise, and I discovered that it stopped and
restarted 3 or 4 times in a row. After it stopped, changing the boiler's
thermostat made no difference whatsoever, so it had probably cut out. My
guess is that there is an air lock in the boiler that causes problems at the
start - after a while, the pump has managed to push enough water into the
boiler for it to work properly... I now have to work out how to get the air
out of the system. There is a valve directly above the boiler, on the "flow"
side - I twisted it this morning, but there was just water coming out. I
will have to check for any other valves...

I would love to know how the air gets to the boiler that causes these
problems - which are only when the system starts up in the morning. Perhaps
there is some problem with the boiler itself??

Alex

PS Where's the FAQ for this group located, please?

You could try turning the pump speed up to max for a couple of hours.
This might help shift any air.

I would love to know how the air gets to the boiler that causes these
problems - which are only when the system starts up in the morning.
Perhaps
there is some problem with the boiler itself??

Over the past year, my central heating was also making a real racket when it
started up causing the vertical pipes to rattle. I thought the pipes had
just come loose from their fixings (which they had).

However, last October the pump failed. The engineer came to replace it and
the new one is perfectly silent. He said that the pump failed due to air in
the system and that the central heating piping was incorrectly installed
causing air to be pulled into the system. This is maybe how air is getting
into yours. I'm afraid I can't remember which pipes were incorrect. He did
say that the pump's life would be reduced unless the fault was remided.

Regards, Rob.