Hello all, been awhile.
Was wondering if you could offer some insight:
Just installed a new water heater. Electric. 4500 watt elements high and low. Copper fittings feeding and going away. I offer these details because…
wait for it…
It sings!
When the elements come on to do their job, it seems as though the elements have gone sort of harmonic in nature. Almost sounds like that ringing that accompanies the interruptive voice on your telly that has just come on to tell you about the “emergency broadcast system”…if this were a real emergency…” You know the one I mean? That is what it sounds like, only….like its coming from the television set down a long hallway. Anyway, does anyone have any ideas on how to get this harmonic to cease? I mean besides the obvious one of tripping the breaker…
Hunts319
Replies
Just to be clear.... you HAVE filled it with water, right? And you are getting hot water from the tap(s)?
If so, I wouldn't worry too much, unless you've installed it beside the sofa and it's bothering you while you watch TV. The process of heating water can produce some acoustic consequences.
Better have your crew lash you to the mast.
Could be a half-dozen things.
You sometimes get a sort of "singing" in situations where the water is quite hard and hard water deposits have built up on the elements. But generally this would develop over time -- at least a few weeks -- and it sounds like this unit is newer than that.
You can get "singing" in the pipes adjacent to the heater, as they heat up and slide in their supports. More often this is a creaking sound, but "singing" can occur when conditions are just right.
And you could get "singing" from a similar mechanism inside the unit itself as some part slides against another.
When the "singing" occurs will be bit of a clue. The elements will only "sing" while they are actually heating. (Of course your heater probably doesn't have neon indicators on the elements like mine does, so you likely can't tell when it's heating unless you use a clamp-on ammeter in the breaker panel.) Though it's a bit of a bother and expense (especially for a brand new unit) to do so, you can possibly improve if not fix this case by replacing the elements with "Sand Hog" elements designed for hard water.
If the "singing" occurs when hot water is drawn, then that points to the pipes adjacent to the heater. Using plastic bushings on the pipes (or simply loosening the clamps a bit) can fix this.
If the "singing" is very pronounced and long-lived from a "cold start", but you don't notice it nearly as much when the unit is, say, just "recovering" from someone taking a shower, then it's more liikely to be something in the heater sliding against something else in the heater. It might be that the sliding is occurring between the pipes exiting the top and the shell of the unit, and a very few drops of oil along the pipes would fix things, at least temporarily. (Or the sliding may be occurring against interior braces that you can't reach.)
If this were a gas unit you'd also have the possibility of a singing burner. You can get situations where the burner acts like a flute as the gas exits and some very loud tones are produced at certain points in the warm-up of the burner.
And then there's ear plugs.
Thanks so far...
Everything is brand new. As I write this, its a day old now. So, no deposits for sure. The cold start you mention may be very significant, as I have not heard as significant a ringing since-as you say-it only has to recover now. It is in the basement...but so is the rest of the project, such as a theatre. Oh brother...
Its not the pipes and it isn't the pressure relief down tube, although that is a dandy place to get in the first row for the concert that is going on inside. Kind of like using a stick onto the valve cover of your engine and then holding the other end to your ear to find that pesky valve tap....ever done that?
A close posture to that down tube is one of the best places to get the harmonic.
Stay tuned....
Get it?
:)
I'm remembering when I was a kid (it's a very hazy memory) that my grandfather, a machinist, had a bar of metal that he used for a sort of parlor trick. Place the metal bar on one of the gas burners of the stove and it would "sing" for a minute or two.
Have no idea what the bar was made of or what made it sing (only saw the thing a few times when I was about 6), but I suspect it was either something you could buy back in the 20s or 30s or it was something that his machinist buddies found out about and made them up in their shop (Henry Vogt Machining in Louisville).