Thank you. Here's what I did:
- Cranked all the TRVs upto maximum (either 5 or 6 depending on TRV manufacturer)
- Set the thermostat to 20 to ensure it stayed on for a while
Here's what I observed:
- All of the radiators were quiet
- The noisy one downstairs (probably furthest from boiler) was much quieter but when I put my ear to the radiator I could hear the noise a little bit (I could live with this)
- The boiler was still cycling. The blue light is always on but the temperature drops to about 50C, the boiler makes a noise for a few seconds, and then the temperature gradually falls back down to about 50 over the course of ~5 minutes.
** UPDATE **
I think we might have solved it. For now, the boiler has stopped cycling and the noise has completely gone in all radiators.
Heres what I did:
- Set the boiler temp back to 70C
- Set the maximum output from the default 30 down to 21
Here's what happened:
- The temperature slowly (extremely slowly) climbed from 48C to 70C.
- The temperature then stabilised sometimes going up to 71C, then dropping down to 69C and back to 70C.
- Now it stays within the range of 69 - 71 which seems healthy/normal.
- I went to listen to all of the radiators and they all sound deadly silent
I next looked at the boiler settings. And the maximum power was 30 for CH and DHW. So I turned it down to 21 and I put the heat back to 70C.
This all seems to fit a pattern:
- the gas engineer also left the default settings for the pump at 4 (constant/high) which was making my pipes bang like crazy. When I turned it down to 2, that problem went away and the radiators still heated up nicely.
- I think the engineer hasn't set the boiler and heating system up properly
- He installed a Greenstar 30i (30kw) in my house with only 7 radiators (and only 2 are at full)
What next?:
- I'll keep monitoring the situation. It's only been 5 minutes so far, so I don't want to get too carried away (well I already have)
** UPDATE 2 **
Spoke too soon. The problem came back. Radiator downstair noisy and boiler temperature fluctuating again from 60 - 75.
** UPDATE 3 **
- I've turned 3 of the TRVs to the maximum (altogether 5 at maximum and 2 at half).
- The boiler temperature has now stabilised at a constant 70C.
- The noise has reduced a little, but I can still hear it when I'm next to the noisy radiator and when I put my ear next to 2 others
Now I'll see what happens when I turn down the TRVs one-by-one.
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* UPDATE *
I give up.
I've had to increase the TRVs to 4 in all of my rooms to minimise the noise in the hallway. But now I have to choose between hot bedrooms or a cold hallway.
I can leave the windows open a little bit in the hot bedrooms during the day which has some advantages anyway.
I think the problem might be that the hallway is cold because there is no radiator in the kitchen where the thermostat lives. So the hallway radiator is trying to heat the hallway and the kitchen. It needs to do more work and be on longer than all the other radiators.
Any suggestions for a small heating solution in my kitchen? A radiator is not possible.