Whistling TRV

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hi,
i have one radiator with TRV that starts to kind of whistle after about 2-3 hours when heating is turned on . if i turn the trv either way it stops . but the noise starts again when it stays on for a while (could be an hour to say 2hours then noise starts).

i checked the valve pin and its not stuck. i pushed it down and up a few times with no resistance. i unseated the TRV and reseated. the issue is still there. anything i can do to stop this noise or is this a case of replacing the TRV/valve. thank you
 
Update- it’s on the flow side. I changed the valve to a new Drayton on and it still whistles. Could the pump be running to fast and needs turning down or should I be looking somewhere else

Thanks
 
Update- it’s on the flow side. I changed the valve to a new Drayton on and it still whistles.

You changed the entire valve, not just the head?
Could the pump be running to fast and needs turning down or should I be looking somewhere else

It could be a sympathetic vibration, just try changing the speed, and see if it makes a difference.
 
When was the circulation water last changed? The sound could be symptom of a general level of sludge that the water's having to pump through.

Bleed a bit, see how disgusting it looks and smells. If so then empty, refill with a cleaning additive, fit a magnaclean and refill with some decent additives. If it doesn't cure the whistling then at least it will preserve the system and enable it to run more efficiently, repaying the cost. It's all DIYable.
 
What we are thinking, is that the pump pressure is so high, it is forcing the TRV to lift of it's seat slightly, making the noise. Dropping the pump speed, might be all it needs, to fix it.
That was my thought, although was going to point at the by-pass valve. I know with TRVs we should have a by-pass valve, and I also know I can't find one on my own system.

The basic system is flawed in many ways. The idea is the return water is monitored and when it gets hotter the boiler output is reduced to keep it cool enough to gain the latent heat. To do this it needs a by-pass valve, so when the TRVs close, there is a route for the return water.

But before the condensing boiler, we did not require the return water to be cool, so neither did we require TRVs nor by-pass valves, so we often end up with a compromise system where some but not all bits have been updated. Some boilers have the pump and by-pass valve in the boiler, and some they are external, so mother house I found had two by-pass valves, one in the boiler and one outside.

To be frank there were a load of errors made fitting her central heating, it was done under a government scheme, and it seemed the installers did not have a clue.

I look at my own central heating, the boiler is clearly far too big to heat up one radiator, but if I have Wiser heads on every TRV then at some point, it must have heated every other room, so there is only one TRV calling for heat. So I have not fitted Wiser heads on every radiator, and I have the non-linked TRV heads set a little higher to the linked head (Wiser) so it does not end up only heating one radiator. And in the living room, my TRV heads are set higher than the wall thermostat. Same with hall, TRV is set higher than the wall thermostat.

It is tempting to say there should not be a TRV in a room with a wall thermostat, but that is no longer true, it depends on the type of TRV head used, some heads are designed to work with wall thermostats, like Wiser and Kasa, so can't make a sweeping statement like that any more.

However, it may also be as simple and the lock shield valve not set correctly. The correct way to set uses a differential thermometer which most people do not have, however half of my TRV heads show both target and current temperature, and the current should not, unless there is another heat source, exceed the target, if it does, the lock shield valve needs closing a bit.

TRVs take time to open and close, and without the lock shield valve, the radiator would get stinking hot, before the valve has time to close, so we need it to take around 15 minutes for the radiator to fully heat up, as every Saturday when my TRVs exercise to stop them sticking, at midday, I hear the motor run for around 5 minutes fully opening then fully closing the valve then returning to the setting, it also recalibrates the head as well as exercising the valve to stop pin sticking.

Since I use programmable wall thermostats, as the room temperatures change through the day, clearly also need programmable TRV heads, and the old wax head is not programmable so is no good for me. I have a mixture, eQ-3, Energenie, Kasa, and Wiser, each slightly different. And I will admit the cheap bluetooth eQ-3 heads only show target temperature, what can one expect at £15 each? But to set lock shield valve, I just swap them with one that does show both current and target, then once set, swap it back.
 
That was my thought, although was going to point at the by-pass valve. I know with TRVs we should have a by-pass valve, and I also know I can't find one on my own system.

Only really necessary, where every radiator is fitted with a TRV. Normally the room stat, is co-located, where the radiator has no TRV fitted, and that acts as a bypass.
 
There are exceptions, my oil boiler is not a condensing boiler, so return water is not so important, but with a modulating condensing boiler, water must return when all TRVs are closed, by-passing all radiators so it will cause the boiler to modulate (turn down). If one tries to use one radiator without a TRV, that radiator must be very close to the boiler, so return water is hot enough to cause the boiler to modulate, and it must only allow a small amount of water to pass, so it does not starve other radiators, so in real terms, we need a by-pass valve.

As each TRV closes, the pressure increases, so more water is pushed through the ones still open, but well before the last valve has started to close the by-pass will open, which causes the boiler to modulate, and in some cases the pump to slow down.

The condensing boiler turned the plumbing of boilers upside down to what it had been before. Before we often had the pump on the return, and one radiator often the towel rail with no TRV.

However, speed is important, or we get a hysteresis, and in most cases, leaving one radiator with not TRV does not work. I may with a small system with only 5 radiators, but in a house like mine, with 15 radiators, if a lock shield is set correct for start up, so all radiators get a share, then by time it is down to 1 radiator nowhere near enough water will pass to ensure the pressure is kept low enough, it relies on the by-pass valve.
 
However, speed is important, or we get a hysteresis, and in most cases, leaving one radiator with not TRV does not work. I may with a small system with only 5 radiators, but in a house like mine, with 15 radiators, if a lock shield is set correct for start up, so all radiators get a share, then by time it is down to 1 radiator nowhere near enough water will pass to ensure the pressure is kept low enough, it relies on the by-pass valve.

9 radiators here, with a constant head pump - all works absolutely perfectly.
 
9 radiators here, with a constant head pump - all works absolutely perfectly.
Interesting, I had not considered a constant head pump. I wish I could say all works absolutely perfectly, but my central heating is near enough, but not perfect. Perfect would cost too much.

Even with perfect, I would assume no wall thermostats, all linked TRV heads, and say those 9 radiators at 2 kW each, so maximum boiler size required is 18 kW, but what is the minium? Maybe two radiators working together, so just 4 kW required, can you find a 4–18 kW boiler?
 

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