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becci747 · Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 1

Every morning / evening 20minutes to half an hour after the heating in my house comes on one or two of the radiators start rattling like mad. The noise is loud, and continues for about 5 minutes. It's not a banging as such, more like a marble or something is rattling around the system. The noise is loud enough to be heard around the house, and comes from the downstairs radiator in the rooms next to the boiler.

Please help.

ChrisR · Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2003 12:50 pm Post subject:

The cause could be thermostatic radiator valve(s). Do the offending rads have them? Too much flow can make them do it.

Other end of rad from TRV is the Lockshield valve. Remove plastic cap, use spanner to close the valve, then undo just half a turn.
There will probalby be an uppermost nut, turning it will grip the centre shaft. So you may have to undo it a bit to be able to turn the shaft, and you may have to do it up a bit to stop any slow leak.

Half a turn will be about right, probably, for a rad near the boiler. Monitor it to see if it needs any more water letting through.

If you don't have TRV's, it could just be some unfortunate happenstance causing a resonance. Could be that the rad is rattling cos it's a bit loose on one of its 4 mounting points, which are probably just hooks. Try whacking it to find theloose one. With help you may be able to lift the rad slightly, and poke in a stiff bit of plastic covered wire, at the bottom of the hooky bit.