radiant heater noisy

I just moved into a 5yr old house that has radiant (floor) heating.
It uses red waterpipes.
My concern is that the heater is noisy. It sounds like an eerie, (halloween) howl and I can hear it even from upstairs (it's situated underneath the staircase).

I'm fairly certain this is abnormal as I've never such noise from a heater before. Any ideas and solutions?

most likely air in your system, you need to bleed the radiator.

frodo said:

most likely air in your system, you need to bleed the radiator.

Click to expand...

There are no radiators with radiant heat. It sounds like it may be a circulator problem.

johnjh2o said:

There are no radiators with radiant heat. It sounds like it may be a circulator problem.

Click to expand...

In the machine or the pex pipes? How should I go abouts checking, or call a pro?
Thanks for the prompt replies.

I've located the source of the noise to what appears to be a "regulator/flow valve" with a number of wires attached (from the thermostat I presume), when the thermostat turned the "regulator/flow valve" off the noise stopped. Different regulators/flow valves made different noises. At least two make noise.

yogopo said:

I've located the source of the noise to what appears to be a "regulator/flow valve" with a number of wires attached (from the thermostat I presume), when the thermostat turned the "regulator/flow valve" off the noise stopped. Different regulators/flow valves made different noises. At least two make noise.

Click to expand...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE1wa033USA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE1wa033USA[/ame]


if you have a honey well zone valve, most common valve used.

your system makes noise 2 ways. 1 is air in your lines
you need to bleed the lines to get the air out
air is a wooshing sound

the other, is valve chatter, or knocking due to zone valves installed backwards.

you need to ck if the arrow on your valve is pointed with the flow.
to bleed infloor tubing.

crack the valve on the return side of the loop [zone] open to bleed air

Awesome thanks Frodo, I'd assume all systems work similarly.
Aside from water heat and electrical dangers is the system at high pressure etc?

yogopo said:

Awesome thanks Frodo, I'd assume all systems work similarly.
Aside from water heat and electrical dangers is the system at high pressure etc?

Click to expand...

it should only be 10-15 psi. look at the gauge,should be one

look on the boiler, wher it is marked outlet. that is supply

inlet is return bleed the return side, off the zones

One of the best option is to replace it or if you want to continue with this only then repair it.

robert123 said:

One of the best option is to replace it or if you want to continue with this only then repair it.

Click to expand...

Hi robert123 I'm not sure why I would need to replace the valve when I just need to bleed air from the system to resolve the issue. Could you please clarify. Thanks!

So I manually turned on all zone valves and opened "A" to drain the cool water, a couple bubbles came out and during the drain the howl noise came back. I also opened up "H" to drain some hot water. After all was finished the howl sound still persists.
I have a feeling I was draining the wrong pipe? but there isn't any other faucet.
"K" is the only other place I see that would let something out but it's likely air not water.
For reference all yellow valves were found to be on the open position.

Second issue: I found that one of the zone valves does not stay at the manual open position- the spring does not function but the zone still heats up properly. What does this mean?

I had a bypass valve that was near the off position. I turned it back on as recommended by a forum member and the noise has disappeared.
Thanks all.
Case closed.