Boiler Making Odd Noise

Joe Elliott

Hello again, for the past month or so our Boiler has been making weird noises while the burners are running. It sounds like their are rocks rolling around when it it cycling. Basically is a dull thud sound which occurs every few seconds. Boiler is a Wheil-McClain put in around 1980. What is the average life span for a residential use boiler used between October-April. Could this boiler be on its last leg?

KCA_2

Rocks?

> Hello again, for the past month or so our

> Boiler has been making weird noises while the

> burners are running. It sounds like their are

> rocks rolling around when it it cycling.

> Basically is a dull thud sound which occurs every

> few seconds. Boiler is a Wheil-McClain put in

> around 1980. What is the average life span for a

> residential use boiler used between

> October-April. Could this boiler be on its last

> leg?





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KCA_2

Rocks?

I'm not sure what kind of boiler that you have but the Copper tube ones are more prone to "boil" with insufficiant GPM through the exchanger. The boiling could sound like rocks. I guess it would be hard to determine you GPM unless you had pressure guages on either side of the primary circulator. The DP would show you the GPM.

I've also heard a kinda "airplane" noise come from the gas valve or the gas flex. To determine if thats the issue, while the boiler is making that noise, slowly shut down the gas cock on the boiler until it stops (probably 50 or so %) Nothing happens, probably not the issue.

Check the manifold pressure as well as the incomming gas pressure.

Let me know

:-) Ken

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Timco

noises

My boiler was making the same noises but just when one zone was on, but that zone was installed by some DIY guy years ago. He ran 1/2" pipe, which it turns out was insufficient flow, allowing the water to boil. I had to replace the entire run to 1" for better flow and that solved the problem.

Dale

Oil or gas

Fuel is nice to know, also what is the temp set at and what temp is read at the gauge? What is the pressure, high temp and low pressure can equal spot boiling. As the other post suggested so can low flow, you may have a pump that's not pumping enough flow, or that low flow small zone. Fuel type and design can effect spot boiling because the flame may not still be hitting where it's designed to hit, oil or gas. A wet base boiler could have shmutz clogging flow at the bottom.

t. tekushan

water or steam?

Its not clear to me from your post whether you have a steam or hot water boiler. If Hot water, I have no idea.

If steam, W-M suggests that popping or percolating sounds indicate excessive boiler scale. If this is the case, you must use a chemical descaler, neutalize after cleaning, and find out if there are any leaks in the system creating the need for excessive make-up water. The risk of leaving this problem go is that boiler scale is a great insulator, causing the cast iron sections to overheat and crack.

Proper cleaning will extend the life of the boiler and reduce fuel consumption significantly.