Noise Issues with our Ecodan 8.5kW WM85VAA air source heat pump
System:
Ecodan 8.5kW ASHP
250l WH Cylinder
Ground level - UFH - Zone 1 ( 5 rooms with Heatmiser Stats )
Upper floor - 4 radiators and 2 towel radiators ( 1 Heatmiser Stat )
FTC 6 control panel
Issue we have is the noise generated by the system calling for heat ( DHW and CH on either zone ) We have now lived in our newbuild for 2 years and we still have issues of noise generated by the system coming on.
HW tank and Buffer tank are in the loft with the majority of pipework, control panel etc.
Two pumps - one for each heating zone and a third pump ( I guess is a main pump to push water around the system )
The noise is hard to describe but the original installers have been back several times including a new refit of the loft pipework to take it off the loft floor and run along boards fixed on the roof trusses. The pipework is fixed with rubber sleeves to limit vibration. The installers say this is normal noise yet in the dead of night it's loud and causes sleep deprivation.
Our only way to describe it is like the conventional CH noise you hear when it comes on but louder, no fluctuations in tone, always the same, no banging, knocking, screeching, whistling.
Our temporary solution was to turn everything off at night and then back on when awake. Not ideal when we are advised to keep the whole system on running at a comfortable constant temperature.
The noise is not coming from the ASHP, that is super quiet outside. This internal noise is constant and will without doubt be the noise generated from water flowing through the pipes in our two storey house.
The flow rate was initially set at 24l/min, but with advice we lowered this a bit at a time until we felt the noise was not causing us issues with sleep. We definitely had resolved the sleep problem as the noise wasn't that noticeable but them came the obvious issue of flow rate error's. We were dogged with L9 errors often ( about 20 in two years ). Those have stopped now we have set the flow rate to 24l/min which as we have been advised should be around 3 times the kW of our ASHP.
Is there anything I can look at to supply further information for anyone to help with the problem?
Is this water flowing around bending pipework? I would assume most if not all homes pipework bends to get to the various rooms.
The noisiest area is the internal cavity wall that runs from the ground level where the ASHP pipes enter the house and travels up a floor in between two bedrooms. They appear in the loft and have two air valves at the top. However that noise does carry into the third master bedroom and maybe only 80% as loud.
I wasn't able to upload a video but I hope the images help with thinking of any answers.
@athlonoc You don't need 24L/min for an 8.5kw heat pump, Mitsubishi's own manual states 15.2L/min, 24L is the absolute maximum so i'm not surprised its making a noise.
I sounds like you know how to change the speed on the controller, there are settings for 1-5 and check the flow rate, enter code 540 in the running information menu.
I would reduce this till you get close to 15L/min, I run at pump speed 2 and that gives 14L/min and that works fine.
If any of the main circuit is smaller than 28mm F/R you will get a fair bit of noise above 15 l/m, once the circuit has dropped off to a couple of emitters you would be ok on 22mm there after, many installations now have a split ring, this is where they find the old 22mm circuit, cut it and attach with 28mm tee to allow the flow to run in both directions, this making the flow even in both directions, for example if evenly split, 24 l/pm split is 12 l/pm in each direction both from and to 28mm main F/R which is fine at the flow.
Please see attached, hope this helps.
AAC Group Ltd covering the Kent Area for design, supply and installation of ASHP systems, service and maintenance, diagnostics and repairs.
Professional installer. Book a one-to-one consultation for pre- and post-installation advice, troubleshooting and system optimisation.
Thank you
Just a couple of points to note. When I reduced the flow rate I did it by reducing the speed on the pump in the loft and didn't change the settings on the FTC6. That pump being the Wilo pump as in the above pictures. Would I be right in thinking the pump speed control on the FTC6 controller would increase the speed of the Wilo pump?
Also the issue I then found with reducing flow rate eventually I had L9 errors. I think I went as low as 9l/min but kept it steady at 17l/m. We almost believed we could handle the noise at that speed but the system just wasn't happy.
I'll have a little play around.
Just a further note. Is it common to have to put pressure in the system almost once a month? It's set to around 1bar but after a few weeks it drops considerably. I've checked all air valves, and checked for any leaks at both internal filter and the outside filter
@athlonoc you don't have a mitsubishi preplumbed cylinder so the FTC probably can't control the pump speed but that is easy to check on the FTC go to service, code is 0000, then down till you see pump speed, note what setting its on and then change it up or down. You should be able to here the change in pump speed if its controlling it but I doubt it is.
If it doesn't change speed then you will need to manually change the speed on the pump as you did before.
You just need to work out what setting on the pump gives you around 15L/min on the FTC.
To check flow rate on the FTC then you go to same service menu, then go to running information and enter code 540, this then displays the flow rate through the system.
@athlonoc Its unlikely the FTC is controlling a 3rd party pump (Wilo) so thats just on the pump control, you will need to run this system at least 15l/pm. if your system looses pressure you will get additional turbulence within the water circuits. It is not normal to loose water even over a year. My house was filled to 1.5 Bar 2 years ago and is still at 1.5 Bar and had no top ups.
If you cannot find a leak anywhere then I can point you in the right direction for a couple of places.
1) Inside the condenser cover of the Ecodan is a pressure relief valve, if this lets by you would not notice it as this water would mix with the condense drain, we noted that all the Ecodan PRV's seem to not seat correctly after discharging and drip slowly over time. (its worth checking but note, you should not take the cover off unless you are competent at isolation as you will be exposing the electrical connections)
2) If you have rads, there could be the smallest leak during heat mode as the pressure rises slightly, the small amount of water evaporates as it touches the warm pipe never to be noticed. If you suspect this you can tape white clean tissue to each rad's connection throughout the home and remove in 1 month time, the connection thats leaking will discolour the tissue with a brown or rust looking deposit.
AAC Group Ltd covering the Kent Area for design, supply and installation of ASHP systems, service and maintenance, diagnostics and repairs.
Professional installer. Book a one-to-one consultation for pre- and post-installation advice, troubleshooting and system optimisation.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for this info. I had done this without realising to a degree as I had noticed that when I looked at the commissioning wizard during the pump speed changes on the FTC6 it remained at 24l/min. So I guess it conformed then that it wasn't having an impact.
Its been very easy to control the speed down to 15 or 17l/min as I've done that in the past using just the Wilo pump speed setting, but the inevitable happens and within a few weeks at most the system then crashed with a flow rate error ( L9 ). So we feel trapped with high flow rate.
Hi and thank you for this advice. I'll get that done today and see what comes from it. With it being a new system I guess the discharge water might not be brown / rusty. However I think the inhibiter that is used is blue and i remember when they drained the system for another issue they drained buckets of a water that had a bluish tint. Great idea and do that now.
Report back. Thanks
Hi, I know it's been a year since I put this thread on. I thought it would be nice to share my findings with losing pressure on a constant basis. I had two leaks which have most probably always been there since the installation now 3 years ago. I decided to strip back as much of the insulation cover in the whole system indoors and out to see if i had any leaks and there they were. The picture with the plastic bag is what the system was losing every 24 hours.
What concerns me is that I had two services from two different companies, both local and neither spotted them during the service.
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