QUESTION FROM Brent

My baseboard radiators make a loud bang when the heat comes on in the bedroom. I suspect it is like water hammer. How do I fix it?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Brent:

You say that you hear the bang noise when your baseboard radiator turns on. As such, the noise is probably not coming from a water hammer (which more typically occurs when a valve suddenly closes).

Here are some potential causes of the bang noise that you are hearing:

1) A pipe to or from this baseboard radiator that is running through a hole in a wall, etc. that is too tight, which doesn't allow sufficiently for the pipe's thermal expansion.

2) Pipes not supported properly, such that when they turn on, they bang into one another or into other things.

3) The zone valve is installed backwards.

4) Air is trapped in the line, which needs to be bled out.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com