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Heating and cooling: Noisy Hot Water tank when heating is on

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  1.  
    Haven't posted on here for a while...
    but have been busy as we've sold up and bought a smallholding 2 years ago. There's so so much that could be discussed regarding the new place but -
    the problem that's bugging me at the moment is the noise of running water from the hot water tank when the central heating is on.
    We recently had the system drained down in order to have a new immersion element fitted (it was completely shot and was tripping the electric), and a leak fixed on a radiator pipe on the ground floor.
    The immersion now works fine and provides hot water when the oil boiler is not in use, so there was no problem for the first few weeks
    When I came to put the heating on now that the weather has gotten a bit cooler (just for an hour morning and evening to take the chill off), there is a lot of noise from the hot water tank, gurgling and such but mainly sounds like running water. Only when the pump is running. Pump seems to be working, can get heat to all radiators.

    When the heating (timed) goes off the noise stops.

    It didn't make this much noise before all this.
    I had been using the oil boiler for hot water only for a while until I got the plumber in to do the immersion, and it wasn't making all this noise.

    Bog standard Hot Water tank is on the first floor, indirect heating coil (I'm guessing) nothing fancy. woefully under-insulated of course, but that's another story for another day...

    Been up in the loft and there doesn't seem to be any sign of boiling or bubbling in the expansion tank.

    Any thoughts or suggestions?
    I could probably bleed all the radiators again to be certain, but I can't help thinking it is something else, maybe an airlock or something? The system is quite old and has been extended/added to over the years.
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2016
     
    My initial guess would be same as you, air in the system, esp. as you say it's only when the pump is running. As fast as you're bleeding rads. etc. it could be sucking more in from somewhere else in the system.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2016
     
    Air in system for sure
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2016
     
    Isn't there a bleed valve by the cylinder for the indirect coil? There is on the house I'm in now and I seem to remember it from other set ups I've looked at. Distinct from the drain valve by the inlet at the bottom of the cylinder.
  5.  
    Thanks for the comments, up early as it has woken me up again from the other end of the house!
    I'll see if I can resolve it.
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeNov 5th 2016
     
    If you fail to resolve the problem Dominic, and perhaps even if you do, it might be worth while looking at installing an AAV somewhere high up in the system. Finding air locks is never easy and often in my experience it's a slow eliminating slog, isolating rads one by one. You could also put the pump on highest speed too, whilst your doing it.
    • CommentAuthorPeterStarck
    • CommentTimeNov 5th 2016 edited
     
    I've had some success at dislodging air locks in pipework by turning off all the rads and putting the pump and stat on max.
  8.  
    Thanks again for the tips - there's more to try now.
    Went round all the rads and got some air out of a few on the ground floor, quite a bit of air out of a couple upstairs, and then loads out of the one that's in the same room as the hot water tank.
    Just as the last bit of air was expelled from that one I heard a satisfying "glug" from the tank!

    I felt quite chuffed thinking that would have solved it.

    However it was still noisy this morning. Hence I'm up early again. This is becoming my nemesis....

    I'll go round again and maybe have a look at the pipes in the loft to check there's nothing obviously wonky.
    • CommentAuthorringi
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2016
     
    Airlocks stopped being part of my life when I fitted a Spirovent on the flow pipe from the boiler.

    It is a microbubble deaerators that continuously remove free air and microbubbles from the system fluid. As the water can hold the least air when it is hottest, by removing the microbubbles, the water then absorbs air from the rest of the system.

    However I think you may have a small leak somewhere in the CH pipework.
  10.  
    I'm sure its to do with the recent drain-down and refill. There's been no such problem for the last 2 years.
    We had a bit of trouble getting it to refill easily via the feed&expansion tank. It involved going up into the loft and blowing down a pipe with a length of hosepipe. We could have dislodged or bent a pipe somewhere while we were up there (its tight for space as it is a sort of half-loft because of skeilings in the bedrooms).
  11.  
    The heating has come on again (one hour at teatime setting, one hour in the morning)
    I've just tried turning the central heating pump down to 1. It was on 3 (to try and push all the air out).
    I can't remember what it was on before all this, but this seems to have made a massive difference to the noise level.
    I might see how this pans out before I get the ladders in and tackle the loft unnecessarily.
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2016
     
    Be mildly amusing to see how much less electricity the pump uses on the low setting.
  13.  
    Being slightly serious - have you considered a sealed system - no F&E tanks in the loft? It does work a lot better if you can. The reason I suggest it is that my neighbour had a 5 year nightmare as he had a small leak under his floor but never noticed because it always topped up automaticially. Long term damp problems etc...
  14.  
    Posted By: dimengineerBeing slightly serious - have you considered a sealed system - no F&E tanks in the loft? It does work a lot better if you can. The reason I suggest it is that my neighbour had a 5 year nightmare as he had a small leak under his floor but never noticed because it always topped up automaticially. Long term damp problems etc...


    Yes this is a bit of a concern as some of the pipes go under the floor and the plumber also pointed this out. As we make our way around renovating (very slowly) and insulating, we will probably try and address this.

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