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Banging Pipes (Plastic) - Advice


ph5172
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A quick one for all the plumbers / builders.

 

I have a new(ish) build (7/8 Years) and for teh last 18 months have had a problem with pipes banging in the wall everytime the heating starts, the pipes (i assume) will bang and tick for a good 40 seconds then silence down and occasionally gently click every now and again. this usually happens everytime the heating comes on.

 

The build consits of radiators all with TRVs and Plasic (20mm??) pipe, the banging is on the top floor (of 3)

 

The plumbers have said that plastic pipe should not expand / contract like copper so it shouldnt make a noise, (but it def does!!) i have had all new TRVs fitted last week and 1.5L of fluid added to the system (i dont recall what it is but it is mean to silence banging pipes? (it was red?)

 

I cant see any of the pipes moving at the joins to the valves and teh banging is def in the walls / floor

 

None of this has worked, does anyone else have any ideas?

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A quick one for all the plumbers / builders.

 

I have a new(ish) build (7/8 Years) and for teh last 18 months have had a problem with pipes banging in the wall everytime the heating starts, the pipes (i assume) will bang and tick for a good 40 seconds then silence down and occasionally gently click every now and again. this usually happens everytime the heating comes on.

 

The build consits of radiators all with TRVs and Plasic (20mm??) pipe, the banging is on the top floor (of 3)

 

The plumbers have said that plastic pipe should not expand / contract like copper so it shouldnt make a noise, (but it def does!!) i have had all new TRVs fitted last week and 1.5L of fluid added to the system (i dont recall what it is but it is mean to silence banging pipes? (it was red?)

 

I cant see any of the pipes moving at the joins to the valves and teh banging is def in the walls / floor

 

None of this has worked, does anyone else have any ideas?

 

Ticking pipe will definately be expansion. You said it yourself, it only does it when the heating comes on then quietens down. It probably doesn't do it as much as copper would but it would still do it. Red one is sentinel X200 Noise reducer. Only good if your boiler is 'kettling'. Yours probably isn't.

 

Banging could be zone valve having been put in back to front. Unlikely to be TRV' as all modern ones are bi-directional. This means they can go on eitherthe flow or the return. it used to be the thing that they were directionally orientated. If you got them back to front then the rad either wouldn't work very well of would bang when the valve shut down. what else do you have on the third floor? Cylinder? Controls?

 

Just reread your post. Ifthe pipes have been run vertically in the wall, which it sounds like they have been, then there's probably not much you can do as they need to be adequately fixed to prevent movement. But then you shouldn't have excessive movement in them anyway.

 

A little bit tough without being there to go through it but I hope that helps.

 

Doc.

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You could knock three times on the ceiling.

 

On a serious note, plastic pipe expands more than copper and other than open up the walls there is nothing you can do to stop the noise.It could also be down to air in your system rising to the top floor rads causing the baning try venting the radiators when the system is turned off.Plastic barrier pipe is generally a lot quieter than copper piping, but they all expand and contract making some noise, your joists and flooring next to the pipes tend to make more noise aswell.If your getting banging that is usually down to the pipe being held by friction in a pipe clip untill the expansion over comes it and it jumps a bit causing the bang, none of the noises are anything to worry about. You could also try turning your boiler temp stat down a bit.

 

Figgy

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Plastic heating pipes don't normally creak, generally when they expand it just sags a little more. Are you sure you don't have any copper sub floor? Would be unusual in a plastic system though. Another possible is that it could be behind the plasterboard walls, if it was dot and dabbed then it's possible for longer sections to end up encased in adhesive and I have heard these make expansion/contraction noise.

 

Another possible would be the first few metres from the boiler, these must be in copper to comply with regs so it's a possible. If it's multiple knocks it's not the zone valve, they clonk once as they shut.

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A quick one for all the plumbers / builders.

 

I have a new(ish) build (7/8 Years) and for teh last 18 months have had a problem with pipes banging in the wall everytime the heating starts, the pipes (i assume) will bang and tick for a good 40 seconds then silence down and occasionally gently click every now and again. this usually happens everytime the heating comes on.

 

The build consits of radiators all with TRVs and Plasic (20mm??) pipe, the banging is on the top floor (of 3)

 

The plumbers have said that plastic pipe should not expand / contract like copper so it shouldnt make a noise, (but it def does!!) i have had all new TRVs fitted last week and 1.5L of fluid added to the system (i dont recall what it is but it is mean to silence banging pipes? (it was red?)

 

I cant see any of the pipes moving at the joins to the valves and teh banging is def in the walls / floor

 

None of this has worked, does anyone else have any ideas?

 

Wrong - full plastic expansion is several times that of copper which in turn is greater than steel, there is also a problem with oxygen diffusion so the pipes get full of gas. The only one with no problems is pex/al/pex multilayer but even that has a slightly higher rate of expansion than copper but not enough to cause problems.

 

So the banging is expansion at a high level possible combined with "gas bubbling". This if the pipe is "fixed" at both ends will cause stress hardening and in time possible cracking.

 

D

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  • 6 years later...

I have similar problem in my flat,we lived in it for 18 months and its still got warranty,now i have got holes in ceilings  where the plastic pipes run,all been lagged and its still making noises,i dont know what to do anymore as the plumbers been here many times and couldnt stop noise,comes up when heating comes on and then stops then on again.System has boiler and water cylinder,plumbers said it could not be air or anything else,but what do they know they useless company,all neighbour's know that.Any advise?

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Mine was lagged across all joists but i eventually tracked the knocking to inside the walls, the only option was to have holes cut everywhere and the pipes clipped.

In the end i removed the cover where the pipes came out the wall behind the radiator and managed to remove the internal box enough to pull the pipes to recreate the banging, i got some pipe cheap lagging pushed it over the pipe and fed it into the cavity, trying to keep the pipe inside, luckily it was only 1 radiator (the first in the system) and it sorted it.

 

The only other option was to fit a surge arrest 

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If it’s noisy enough to make a banging sound (and knowing the build quality of “new builds”) it sounds as though the vertical runs haven’t been clipped at all.

You could try to pinpoint the location of the pipes, locate the studs either side and cut a couple of holes at skirting level (after whipping off the skirting board). You might be able to access the pipes and slide lagging onto them and slide it up over the pipe behind the wall by working it through the hole. Then attach the skirting board again to hide the holes.

Might be worth a try before making any holes that are trickier to hide.

Edited by Munzy
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