Whistling Radiator

Masango

Hello everyone,

few months ago I changed a very old radiator installed in my house with a new one. the new radiator is Milano Aruba - Luxury White Vertical Designer Double Radiator 1600mm x 472m, material is steel new valves have been installed, only copper pipes coming from the floor are the same. As the winter is kicking in I started to use it more often but it makes whistling noise only when it gets hot. If I turn the valve from fully open on 5, to 4 the noise end but of course radiator is less hot. It seems noise is the water flowing into the radiator, the radiator was bleed already, no air in it now. The radiator is leaking to from pipes connection, leaking happens even when boiler is off and radiator is cold, when radiator is on and hot I don't see it leaking, it might be because water evaporates. I don't know if both issues are connected but how can I stop the radiator whistling without having to reduce the water flow via the valve please? Is it something I can do easily by myself or shall I call a plumber in please? Boiler is combi Worcester GreenStar 24i natural gas Best regards, Davide

TheCyclingProgrammer

What do you mean the radiator is less hot? Rad temperature is controlled by the temperature set on your boiler, the TRV controls how long it stays on for.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Have you tried nipping up the valve nut to see if that stops it leaking?

Le_Kirk

Yep, TRV controls the flow not the temperature as stated above. Is the TRV uni-directional, i.e. does it have little arrows on it? If so, it may be that it is installed on the wrong end of the radiator.

EssexExile

I had whistling radiators after I had TRVs put on those upstairs. I was about to get my tame plumber to change them to a brand I've heard of (the old Honeywell ones don't whistle) but then the heating went wrong, he had to do some repairs, & now they don't whistle. If I knew why I'd tell you but I don't so I can't.

Horizon81

It's a dark art. You may find slightly opening/closing the lockshields on the rest of your system moves the noise somewhere else or eliminates it.

Masango

Thanks to all of you for the reply. I believe the valve hasn't been correctly fitted because when it's on 5 radiator is really hot but noisy when reach temperature but if I set the valve to 4 the noise disappear but the radiator temperature decrease a lot, radiator is almost cold it is like the valve is close when it's on 4,furthermore the copper pipe that goes into the valve is hot. Surely it shouldn't be so much temperature difference between 5 and 4. The valve is new, it came with the radiator. Can I do something to check if the valve is really close please?

TheCyclingProgrammer

As I said before, a TRV doesn't control the radiator temperature. It simply closes off the valve when the room reaches a certain temperature. You aren't actually adjusting the radiator flow, you need to adjust the lock shield for that.

If you've got your room stat set really high then it's possible that setting the TRV to 4 is enough to make it close.

Le_Kirk

If the main thermostat is in the same room as your troublesome radiator it should not have a TRV fitted as (indicated by the cycling programmer) they will fight each other.

Masango

At the end I fixed it unscrewing the valve cap a bit