New fire tube boiler installed January 13 shaking pipes, unacceptable noise levels

cobnashine · January 30

Old house ( built 1935, 3 floors + basement), 9 radiators, circulating hot water. When the unit is running the copper pipes connecting the unit to the plumbing vibrate strongly. The result is that every pipe in the house (that carries hot water to the radiators) is vibrating. So the vibration is transmitted to support beams, floors and walls. The noise throughout the house is unbelievable. When it is running the vibrations are strong enough that the new copper piping can be observed to vibrate. And also felt. There is no way the force causing the vibration can be "contained". The previous unit was silent. Couldn't even hear the Taco circulation pumps. I think the source of the vibration must be the fan that pulls combustion air into the unit and propels the products of combustion out of the house.

Does anyone have any idea what needs to be done? If I can't make it quiet I'll have to rip it out and replace it. The previous unit was silent. It never occurred to me that I would need to specify "a quiet furnace".

jesmed1 · January 30

It sounds like you're the homeowner and you just had this new boiler installed, yes? Did the installer do a combustion analysis on the exhaust gas and verify the exhaust gas composition was within range as required by the mfr for new installs? Have you contacted the installer and asked them to troubleshoot? What did they do/say?

If you search this website you'll find a number of noise complaints for Lochinvar Nobles. Unfortunately there can be several different causes. But there's no way every pipe in the house should be vibrating. With a vibration that bad, it could well be an unbalanced blower. If the installer can't figure it out, he needs to call Lochinvar tech support.

GGross · January 30

While there could be something wrong with the boiler… The pipe all needs to be supported properly so it doesn't shake like crazy and what you have there for support is basically nothing, it's not adequate enough. If the unit itself is shaking, like coming off the wall etc, you need to first start with a combustion analyses and tuning, gas pressure checks, check the venting etc. but that pipe will also need supporting.

STEAM DOCTOR · January 30

What was there before the new boiler?

Gabriel82 · January 31

not to be funny or make fun of a problem ,but maybe some flexible joints were good between boiler and the rest of pipes.

like in a car exhaust.

since it works there too.

other possible causes are every rotating thing like centrifugal fan, water pump(s).

The burner can't possibly be "that temperamental" or potent...

or maybe it's the date 13...

🙄

Mad Dog_2 · January 31

What does the installer have to say about this? Mad Dog

hot_rod · January 31

The piping matters also. In some cases that boiler can be direct piped if you can assure adequate flow. Without adequate flow they can make some rumbling noises, maybe enough to rattle pipes. In some cases they need to be piped primary secondary.

Someone needs to be there and eliminates the variables until the noise stops.

It could be air, lack of adequate flow, out of balance fan, broken impeller vane in pump, combustion noise.

tim smith · February 6

There also could be crap in the Pumps impellar. Causing unusual amount of vibration. A possibility.

GroundUp · February 7

I have installed several hundred of these Nobles, and zero of them have had any sort of vibration as you describe. The piping looks awful so we can only assume that whoever installed it was not a professional and did not perform a combustion analysis/adjustment. It also appears as though they did not connect a combustion air pipe, which will create a significant amount of noise inside the room due to air velocity and also allows a path to suck debris into the inducer fan, which could damage the fan and create a vibration. Get the installer back to fix their mistakes and diagnose the issue. Lochinvar tech support is generally very knowledgeable but a vibration of this magnitude should have been noticed and remedied at commissioning by the installer. In conclusion, installer error- get them back and make them fix it.

HVACNUT · February 7

@cobnashine, post more pics panning left to show all the near boiler piping.

pedmec · February 7

The Noble, like most mod/con boilers, should have been piped in a primary secondary piping arrangement. Judging by your picture it looks like the that part of the install The was missed. You can clearly see that there is a coupling on one and a tee used as a coupling on the side. So it looks as if it was just cut into the existing supply and return. without a wide view pic its hard to tell. So you might be "kettling" in the boiler.

The other issue that is my initial thought and most likely and mentioned by others is your combustion is out of calibration. I would not bring the installer back. He obviously doesn't know how to correctly install a Mod/Con. Pay a professional to perform the boiler start-up. He will tell you what is wrong.

This is one of the installs that we always say that the installer is more important than the boiler. The tech performing the start up might find things wrong with the install that the installer would not. The installer will not admit his faults on the install so its best to have another set of eyes. This way you don't spend the next i don't know how many years blaming the boiler.

New fire tube boiler installed January 13 shaking pipes, unacceptable noise levels

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