Noisy Hydronic Baseboard Heat Diagnosis
I’m looking for someone with expertise to troubleshoot and fix my three zone circulating hot water heating system. It was running quietly for years and now is generating lots of noise.

bk2000
in Heating and Cooling 7 years and 8 months ago
3
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bk2000 | 7 years and 7 months ago
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Zones 1 and 2 are quiet, but those floors are an open layout, and there aren’t many bends and turns. The top zone is cut into bedrooms. When the system turns on there are loud snaps/bangs/knocks in the walls. As it runs, the knocks move through the individual registers, ostensibly following the flow of the water. Once the system is running for a while there is what I consider normal ticks from time to time. At the top of the system there is a panel in the wall allowing access to a vertical pipe with a thumb valve that releases air. When I open it after a while I do get some air out, but it doesn’t affect the knocks. My current plumber thinks that it is possible that a pipe has become loose behind the wall, but that doesn’t account for the knocking sound traveling through the zone. Many years ago they installed a Spirovent on top of the expansion tank and it seemed to do the trick. Do these fail or need to be cleaned? Also, the zone valves were replaced recently.

Master Plvmber | 7 years and 8 months ago
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What kind of noise?

eman134 | 7 years and 8 months ago
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I install and service steam and hydronic heating systems…probably air entrapment. Might be a failed expansion tank, a relatively cheap repair. You can contact me at errol832000@hotmail.com