Ticking central heating pipes

[SS]

Hi all,

When my gas central heating fires up or switches off I get an annoying ticking sound for a couple of minutes, I am sure it is expansion and not from the grooves the radiators sit in as it appears to come from under the floor. The pipe on the system is micro bore. I have a general idea where it is coming from and eventually I am sure it will get the better of me and I will start to try and cure this. I am not too sure of exactly what route the pipes take under the floor, I believe there is one of those `distributor` points near this location where all the pipes come off to the various radiators. (manifold?) Is there a way to confirm this is what it is and is there a way to try and find the exact location before I lift carpets and flooring? Or indeed is there anything I can try to reduce the noise without accessing the pipes?

Its more annoying and irritating than anything else.

thanks

[Bruce]

I don't think I have ever lived in a house or flat where there wasn't some noise or other from the central heating system caused by expansion and contraction of the pipes. And I have lived in many different houses and flats over the years because I have travelled extensively in the construction industry.

Short of PTFE sleeving around pipes where they pass through slots in joists and experimenting with removing and/or repositioning pipe brackets, I feel sure that the best thing is to live with it.

Or if you cannot live with it, replace it with underfloor heating or even storage radiators.

[Usenet Nutter]

Or turn up the telly :-)

[Bruce]

Indeed. ;-)

[RobertL]

In teh 1980s they used to use tufts of glass fibre wrapped round the pipe to 'lubricate' it where pipes go through notches. the pipes then expand smoothly, not in little jumps.

You'd think someone would sell special clips that allow smooth movement, perhaps with ball bearings...

Robert

[PeterC]

and WD40

[newshound]

I was going to say that too....

[Harry Bloomfield]

SS wrote on 25/02/2010 :

They all make some noise as they expand and contract, you get used to it and learn to ignore it. You can locate the pipes by lifting the carpet and feeling for the hot spots, but probably the locations of pipe runs will be obvious from the floor boards if it was retro fitted.

[SS]

It looks like a job for when the wife decides on new carpets then. been in the house 20 years but for some reason it beginning to annoy me (the ticking, Victor Meldrew) Installed when the house was built not retro. It maybe more noticeable as the old type boiler was replaced with a combi a year ago.

[RobertL]

Maybe the flow tempertaure of the boiler is set hotter than it needs to be (and hotter than it used to be) hence more ticking.

In any case for efficiency it should be set a low as possible, but still hot enough to heat the house of course.

Robert

[RobertL]

A further thought: some newer boilers allow you to set the "rate of rise of flow temperature" so that the pipes come up to tempertaure more slowly. perhaps this would help as well (if yours has such a feature).

Robert

[SS]

A further thought: some newer boilers allow you to set the "rate of rise of flow temperature" so that the pipes come up to tempertaure more slowly. perhaps this would help as well (if yours has such a feature).

Thanks for info Robert will look into that.