Annoying droning noise from new Worcester boiler (updated)

[mreco]

yes flat on kitchen wall.
if you like i can do a little video of it going on and off, and email it to you, vid will have sound, end email it to you, show them that

 

[emsee]

yes flat on kitchen wall.
if you like i can do a little video of it going on and off, and email it to you, vid will have sound, end email it to you, show them that

Thanks, that would be useful
(my email addy is in my profile, or you could upload it to YouTube if you have a account there).

Maybe I'll take a video of mine & post it on YouTube which would help others hear what it is like and the quality of the installation.

 

[emsee]

OK, after some fiddling around, I found the noise was considerably reduced if I loosened the screws holding the bottom of the case in place.
It seems if the case is screwed or pushed tight against the wall the sound reverbarates more.

I also found that (probably not supposed to be doing this but...) if I remove the case and push the pump gently from the right side, the problem is eliminated completely.
I'm not sure how I could get a permanant solution from this though - I imagine the installer might object if I admitted to poking around inside the boiler.
I guess it does prove that the problem lies with vibration from the pump, not the noise of the pump itself.

I have to get them back in as there is a slight leak in the condensate pipe where it connects to the underside of the boiler so maybe I'll try and get them to sort something out then.

 

[patagonia]

You could print out the replies which say their Worcs boilers are silent and show them to your installer and also copy to Worcs customer service or as high up as you can get and say you want a visit from another engineer.

 

[Agile]

Emsee, do you listen to Radio 1 or Radio Four in the morning?

Do you have a clock radio in the bedroom?

What TV channel do you watch during the early evening?

Tony

 

[fazedup71]

do you know what Corrosion Inhibitor was putting in your system? I had few boilers where cheap inhibitor was used and the boiler sounded like it was howling, on one occassion we had to replace all orings on divertor and on anther the AAV, had 2 saunier duvals where bpth divertor valves where replaced and problem came back again but once system was drained down and o rings replaced never played up again, the problem on all these was Everad Er10, just an idea like am probably miles off

 

[Agile]

I also found that (probably not supposed to be doing this but...) if I remove the case and push the pump gently from the right side, the problem is eliminated completely.
I'm not sure how I could get a permanant solution from this though - I imagine the installer might object if I admitted to poking around inside the boiler.
I guess it does prove that the problem lies with vibration from the pump, not the noise of the pump itself.

Very laudable of you to try that!

It is quite common for this problem to be caused as a result of tension in the pipework within the boiler and in particular the connections to the pump.

To check, and perhaps to cure, it is necessary to slacken the union connections and then retighten WITHOUT allowing the connecting pipes to be turned.

That has to be done carefully when the system is pressurised as some leakage will occur. Not difficult for a competent boiler engineer though.

A DIYer would be advised to drain the boiler and disassemble the joints and dry and then cover all parts with silicone grease to reduce friction to enable them to be tightened without twisting the pipes.

Tony

 

[mosaix]

I had a 30CDi fitted in November 2005. It was very quiet until about a year later when it gradually got louder and louder on firing up. It was at its loudest as the boiler temperature went through the 50 to 60 degree range.

The installers said it was out of guarantee (which it wasn't) and weren't interested. I contacted a firm of local gas fitters who came out. They said it was far too loud and thought that the boiler was under a two year guarantee.

They contacted Worcester and described the problem. Worcester sent an engineer who I cannot praise too highly. He fitted a new heat exchanger FOC and that solved the problem.

As an aside the boiler failed to ignite about six months later. Again Worcester attended and diagnosed the fan not coming up to speed - fitted new fan FOC. I cannot fault Worcester's promptness at diagnosis and repair but I am a little worried that the boiler has failed twice in 2 years. My previous boiler - a TI / Glowworm - performed for well 29 years, only needing the thermocouple replacing twice. Mind you it used nearly twice as much gas!

 

[Agile]

The primary HE that he changed was not covered by the guarantee as it was as a rsult of calcium scaling as a result of incorrect commissioning or water treatment.

However Worcester have a policy of being kind to poor installers which greatly exceeds any other manufacturers.

I do not like their attitude because at the end of the day its the good installers who are subsidising the cowboys like yours!

Tony

 

[patagonia]

So if the boiler is kettling or making banging noises and the HE is calcified, is there no alternative to replacing it, which is presumably expensive? I thought chemicals could deal with this problem but interestingly one engineer I spoke to the other day said they don't work. He was supposed to ring me back to discuss further but didn't do so.

 

[Agile]

Chemicals do work but they require considerable skill in knowing what to use and how to do it and its messy too.

Few boiler engineers seem to have learnt much chemistry and just try using propriety products which are sold to the public and therefore too weak to be of much use!

If you want to dissolve CaMg(CO3)² then what do you use?

Tony

 

[clf-gas]

Vinegar.

 

[emsee]

The Worcester engineer came to fix the leak I had this morning.
It was a different engineer from last time & I finally got one who knows his arse from his elbow joint

He fixed the leaking condensate pipe (even though strictly speaking it was the installers problem as the leak was where their pipe joined onto the boiler) using a generous amount of silicon glue.

I mentioned the pump noise and he was much more sympathetic than any previous engineer, he even finished off my sentence when I was about to say that the noise reverberates around the house.
He said he had a similar problem with his own boiler which he improved by lowering the pump speed.

He said that the CDi boiler is one of their most powerful boilers & can supply a lot more radiators than I have connected (larger capacity models are basically the same apart from a larger heat exchanger & different code plug) so running it at a lower speed shouldn't make any difference to my small system (hot water is not effected by the pump speed setting).
The pump was previously set on auto-modulating which means if all the radiator valves were closed or on low it would show down the pump speed automatically (though I can't say I ever heard it operate on the lower speed, but the radiator in the lounge is always on with no TRV).
The engineer changed it to the lower setting using the engineer programming mode on the panel.

Hopefully, I can now finally get a decent night's sleep without either the boiler waking me up or me waking before the boiler wakes me up worrying if the boiler is going to wake me up
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Halley]

I too have a Wocester Bosch boiler that makes a lot of noise and the pipes under the floor too make a lot of noise. Bosch came to look at it and said that the pipes under the floor are banging against one another when steam goes into them and told me to ask the people who put it in to come back. The boiler too makes a noise and there is a vile smell from the steam that comes from the flue which I can smell in my bedroom even when the window is shut. I am very unhappy about the steam that goes past my windows from the flue and spoils what is a beautiful view and forces me to keep the windows shut but even then there is a terrible smell in the room from the steam that comes from the flue. Even vast amounts of steam go past my windows from the neighbour's flue which is very annoying.

 

[tahirramzan]

We have had a boiler installed about 14 months ago. Now when it come on, with the central heating and the hot water, it seems to vibrate and resonate, then stops. It does this quite often but randomly. What could be causing the vibrations. It has recently started to do this, it did not do it when it was installed