Electric baseboard radiator makes noise
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum — you were highly recommended to me by the friendly folks at www.houseinprogress.net .
My house was built in 1869 and refurbished in 1986. At that time, electric baseboard heat was installed in all the rooms. One radiator (of course it has to be the one in the bedroom) makes all sort of knocking noises. This is the only radiator in the house that does this.
I’ve searched online and found lots of information about steam radiators making noises, but not electric baseboard ones. Any suggestions as to what might be causing this, and how easy it would be to fix?
Thanks!
Replies
It's due to expansion/contraction of the heating element in the baseboard. Some units have nylon or teflon bushings to help prevent the noise, while others just have sheet metal supports with holes in them, and the metal goes "scritch, scritch" as the element moves.
First remove the cover and make sure nothing has become dislodged -- a nylon bushing out of place, eg, or some piece of sheet metal that is rubbing against the element. Identify the places where the element slides, and do what you can to make the elements move smoothly. Bending the supports slightly may help.
Thanks -- I will open it up and take a look. With these baseboard heaters, is it the type of thing where it's worth replacing them every once and awhile, or once they are installed they are good to go (with a little fine tuning now and then)? Are newer ones more energy efficient? Any idea how much it runs to replace them? Thanks again!
All electric baseboards are "100% efficient", meaning that they turn 100% of the electricity into heat.Nothing in them to wear out, really. Probably some brands are junk and will go bad quickly, but in general they should last 20-30 years no sweat.No maintenance needed other than the occasional vacuuming.
They are also not suppose to be screwed tight to the wall. Not loose mind you but something in the neighborhood of tight minus a turn or so. With the element heating up the housing will also expand and contract and needs to be able to move. DanT
Great -- thanks guys!MM
I have seen the porcelin or ceramic insulaters also do that. When they dislodge, the element wire (ribbon) can short against the grounded sheetmetal..nice fireworks.This may not be the same type of unit, but bears watching.
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I bet that would be some fireworks! Especially a 30 amper 240v. It would take a few seconds for that to blow the breaker. DanT