Humming sound from immersion closet....

lewis

Alrite lads, I`m not sure if this is electrical or plumbing related but every now and again there`s a humming sound that comes from our immersion closet, I`m not sure where exactly the humming is coming from, so I took a few pictures to see if anyone could identify it, cause I`ve no clue what they are.

Sometimes the humming can stops, but when its not humming I do hear what sounds like something trying to start/whined up but fails, this is rare, now our water has some lime scale so we thought that maybe its the water and the lime scale is having an affect on something, I don`know, any ways here`s the pictures, sorry for the bad quality, its a small area.

Plentyofice

Do you have a pump for the water ? In my home I have a power pump and once the water goes below a certain level in the tank it kicks in. It was great for showers but when I got a tiny leak the fcukin thing would kick off at 3.00am and wake the kids, dogs etc etc. No pump for me anymore.!!

Merch

You seem to be focusing your pictures on thar motorised valve? is that where the sound is coming from?

maybe when the pump is on and you happened to be near the hotpress you heard the sound of the water under pressure, it could make noise when uts going around a bend or restriction such as a valve.

When is the sound occuring? what is happening at the same time? I see you have a motorised valve, are the rads on/are they being set to come on and dont or not set to come on and do?
Is there an immersion?
For a start I'd see what is happening, then Id see if that is something I am asking it to do. i.e. see above regarding rads

Also, see that red valve cap looking thing (its on the air bleeder above the motorised valve) in one of the pics (second last one I think)

I'd undo that a few turns (if it is not already open) and ensure you release any trapped air, you could leave it open so it bleeds air automatically, or you can reclose it (dont tighten it down mad tight) just finger tight.
If I was doing that I'd release air from rads too, start downstairs, then upstairs.

After doing that I'd look out to see if the noise still exists, maybe the motorised valve is going, see if all is doing as its meant to do.
i.e. turn on heating and ensure you request only hot water, and then confirm thats what you get.
then try that but request heating and check do you get that.

Can you demand heating give hot water or heating only or is it like mine hot water ot hot water and heating?

edit: Also, if you do bleed air from the system, try it again the folling week, you shouldn't really have to, if you do then perhaps it is leaking slightly somewhere?

lewis

@ Plentyofice : Honestly I could`nt tell you, I have`nt got a clue when it comes to plumbing.
The noise would be loud enough to wake us, like now I`m sitting here in silence and I hear a low buzz/hum, there was one shower had this morning at 7 that`s it.

@ Merch : Other than them things that`s all that`s in there apart from the immersion tank.
I can`t really localise the buzz/hum but it`s in or around that area.

We have the heating off as well, cause its been hot the last few days.

The sound occurs randomly, like when I went to bed last night it was there and was still there when I got up, I`m assuming it went on all night, I`m not sure.
Before we go to bed we leave the immersion on for about 40-60 minutes just for some hot water in the morning, that`s it.
Nothing else happens at the same time.
We have the timer switch for when we want the heat to come on, this motorised valve, is this trying to turn on the rads even tough we have the heat off?
Should it be set to manual?
The heat comes on no problem.

Granted we have`nt released any air that might be there in a good while, maybe I should give it a go and see if it makes any difference.

We have oil heating..

Can you demand heating give hot water or heating only or is it like mine hot water ot hot water and heating?

I`m not sure what to make of that question, lol.
When the heat comes on it heats the water, if that`s what you mean.
There a switch for each the sink hot water and the immersion, for baths/showers.

Edit: I just tried the air release red yolk/valve and nothing came out, buzzing/hum still there.
It does seem to be coming from that white box yolk....

Edit: I just heard it do that kind of whine/start up sound and now the light that was on the motorised valve is off???
Now everything is quiet....I`m confused..

Edit: I just turned down the thermostat all the way, the minute I turned it down I heard the humming/buzzing stop, I went up and the light is off on the motorised valve.
In what way are these to connected, or are they?
What was the motorised valve trying to do, since the heating was off?

Sorry for all the novice questions, I just want to get my head around this...

Diggerdunne

When you turn on your heating it opens the valve and turns the light on the valve. That's assuming that the temp is lower than what the stat is set to. So if you turn the stat down to zero then the room temp is above stat temp and so will not allow power to flow to the valve and so keeping it closed and off and no light. But if you dont have heating on then there shud be no power goin to stat or valve unless it's wired wrong as in the permanent feed is mixed up with the switch wire....

lewis

Diggerdunne wrote: »

When you turn on your heating it opens the valve and turns the light on the valve. That's assuming that the temp is lower than what the stat is set to. So if you turn the stat down to zero then the room temp is above stat temp and so will not allow power to flow to the valve and so keeping it closed and off and no light. But if you dont have heating on then there shud be no power goin to stat or valve unless it's wired wrong as in the permanent feed is mixed up with the switch wire....

Ok, so since our heating has been off then the motorised valve should`nt come on, regardless of how the temp is set??

About 3 years ago we had the boiler serviced and your man found that the wiring was back to front, e.g zero was max and max was zero, but this problem has only been happening the last week or 2...

yoshytoshy

The clock should power the valve ,with the thermostat in between turning it on and off.
But sometimes ,they are wired independently of the boiler and clock and this means they are always in use. It's not dangerous or anything ,but it will wear out the valve in no time.

lewis

yoshytoshy wrote: »

The clock should power the valve ,with the thermostat in between turning it on and off.
But sometimes ,they are wired independently of the boiler and clock and this means they are always in use. It's not dangerous or anything ,but it will wear out the valve in no time.

Ah, now I get you, it makes sense.

So I should look into getting them all wired together, would that be a big job for the sparky?
I don`t want to call one out just for a little job that will cost me an arm and a nut, I need a few other things that I could throw in for them to do, at least that way I might get it all for a good price.

yoshytoshy

It all depends on the layout of the house etc. You need to get a cable from your clock to your stat ,you should be able to use the cable between the stat and the valve thats there already.

I'm only a plumber ,but your valve sounds like it's on it's way out. It shouldn't be making any noise ,it's probably happened because the valve has been on for so long.

Diggerdunne

You cud get lucky and ya maybe able to use the wiring that's there already. Depends on where the time clock is and how many zones you have in the house. If it's a three zone time click you need a six core from time clock to the valves in the hot press I.e 3 switch wires, permanent feed, nuetal and earth. Then from there you can tie into your stat's and valves and then back to the boiler with a 4 core.... Permanent and switched live...

donegal noise

Humming sound is water starting to turn to steam, the banging sound is pressure, you got a steam engine!
Best thing you should do is get the pulmer that put this system in or put smaller fires on. You got a back boiler.
If the worst comes. and banging starts, turn on the hot water tap, that will cool down the system by replaceing the hot water with cold water, but your hot water will be lost and gone.
On the white box (thermostat) there should be a dial from 20-60 it is temp (move it from summer to winter). this should kick in at at what ever you set it, at and start the pump. That starts the water moving around the house heating taking the heat away from the Tank . This will get replaced by cold water that is ready to get heated, cycle.
Last option move the box to the hotest pipe, But the first steam engine went up in smoke, too much pressure. Call a plumber and you will save money in the winter, thats what i did and it helped my blood pressure too.

lewis

Ok,cheers for all your advice, I think the main thing for the moment is that I know how to turn the motorised valve off, cause I did`nt like it being on all the time, when usually it`s not.

So that will give me some time to make a decision, but I could just use the set up I have now, knowing that I know what needs to be done?

But you think I should look into getting the motorised valve looked at then?

yoshytoshy

It would be easier to get it serviced maybe and tell the guy you need the wiring checked.
Some service guys dont touch electrics ,so make sure to mention it before hand.

donegal noise

from what you say the "motorised valve" THE PUMP is working all the time. It is the thermostat tells the pump to go on or off. If anything it is that or that is not set correctly or faulty. If everything was OK at one stage(when you moved in) it must be in the correct place. The dial should be at 50ish. You also hade 2 more controlers, one on the oil/gas boiler and one in your house. All of witch affects the system and to get it in ballance it takes time and a bit adustment.

lewis

Now that its off for the time being, I will at some point get someone in and have a look at it.

Is it a case for a plumber or an electrician?