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We have installed a Well-Mclain boiler in our new 22oo sq. ft. home. All is well except for the high-pitched whine that is heard in part of the first floor. This is not heard in the crawl space where the boiler is installed.
Please help before I throw myself through a window.
Amy
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Amy-
Post this on the under the "Energy, Heating, Insulating and Venting" portion of this site. You may get more answers there. Also check http://www.heatinghelp.com and post your question on their board if you don't get any answers here.
Is the boiler feeding hot water baseboard or radiant in-floor? When is it making the noise- is it when the boiler and pump(circulator) are running together, or only when the pump runs? What do you have for mixing valves, zone valaves, etc? What is your operating pressure at? Need more info...
If all else fails make sure you open the window before you jump thru so you don't break the glass.
-Brian
*Brian,thanks for taking the time! posting it where you recommended. Just in case you are really curious about this one:many things i don't know, and my husband who sort of knows is out fishing/working. The noise bothers me more than it does him, thus my feeble attempt at this.we have radiant heat. I do know that all valves are open. The noise comes on everytime I also hear that low hum of the boiler. operating pressure @20 psi (i think)if it is just a vibration problem, how does that get fixed?-Amy
*I installed a Weil McClean boiler years ago. The technical support folks at Weil McClean were extremely helpful. Might be worth a try....
*Hi Amy-I'm not a heating contractor, (mechanical designer here) but I am familiar with some of this stuff, so I can make some guesses.The funny thing is you can't hear the whine in the crawl space. Where do you hear it? In the floor? Where is it coming from?? Normally I might say it is the circulator (pump), perhaps a bad bearing that is causing a squeal of some sort when the unit kicks on and begins to circulate the water.What type of floor is the tubing run thru- is the tubing buried in concrete or is it stapled to the underside of the floor? Is the circulator variable speed? You may be hearing "velocity noise" of the water flowing thru the tube when the system is on, but I doubt it. Perhaps the water is circulating thru the tubes/pipes at too high of a speed.Is it a whine or squeak like when a garden hose has a tiny leak at the faucet? See any small amounts of water anywhere? Make sure the water supply from the street to the boiler is off, and if the pressure drops to zero after some time there is a leak. (Incidentally your supply should always be off so that if there is ever a leak it doesn't flood part of your house...)Try closing zones down (off) one at a time by cranking the thermostat at each zone down or turning it off. See if the noise goes away when one particular zone is off. You could 'carefully' take a long handled screw driver and gently hold it to any components that you think may be making the noise. It will act like a stethescope when the doctor listens to your heart, and may help you track down the noise. Stick your ear to it and it will magnify the noise.Good luck- let me know if you find anything.
*holy crap--thank you for your time! Here is what I know...I can hear that noise all through the first floor and outside by the oil tank. The tubing runs through gypcrete. No on the variable speed circulator.The best way I can describe the noise is---it is like you are in a small room with a hundred computers on. I tried the screwdriver trick, and no luck on that. I am really starting to believe the vibration theory. Hope we can find the source, and soon. Most grateful,Amy
*Hmmmm...the oil tank... I think I would start snooping around out there, especially if you can hear the noise outside. Is there a small pump or is the oil gravity fed to the boiler? That tank can act like a big resonator or snare drum if something is making noise. Not too familiar oil tanks... If there is in fact a pump or oil circulator out there, is there any electrical or relay device (this might look like a small box or somthing-kinda like what is by your outside air conditioner) near the tank that might be humming? This could essentially vibrate that whole tank and oil line causing the noise you hear...I once had a leaking toilet valve, just a really tiny leak in the tank that caused water to seep out just enough that it shook the plumbing under the whole floor and sounded like a small airplane getting ready for take off...woke me up out of a sound sleep one night...I swore there was a Cessna in the driveway...Good luck...
*An ear on the oil tank might determin this. Also, the noise would change (or go away) if the tank was newly filled vs mostly empty.may try bleeding system to get rid of trapped air in one of the 1st floor zones?perhaps a SLIGHT change in operating pressure would be enough to modify the sound if it's a harmonics issue. The suggestion above re. shutting off zones and systematically checking for the noise is a good one. This kind of thing wil drive you bonkers if you let it. It's rewarding once you got it licked though! good luck.
*amy - I suspect a bad circulator and/or poor mounting condition of circulator-to-pipe/structure. The old type of circulator (Bell & Gosset) were generally painted red, had lower RPM (thrum, thrum), needed oil added, and in some circles were/are regarded as more reliable. Today, more often you see the higher RPM (3,000) sealed-type (TACO). The higher RPM type produces a different, higher-pitched sound. You ought to be able to locate the source of the sound more precisely and you can test for vibration transmission due to poor mounting technique by touching pipe/components by hand to see if the sound changes. A bad bearing is certainly a possibility. Factory defects due to (?) increased production volume are showing themselves these days in the industry - let us know.Jeff
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We have installed a Well-Mclain boiler in our new 22oo sq. ft. home. All is well except for the high-pitched whine that is heard in part of the first floor. This is not heard in the crawl space where the boiler is installed.
Please help before I throw myself through a window.
Amy