Loud whistling when running the shower

[Pin Pin Poola]

Hi,

Our heating system has started whistling very loudly when the shower is being used.

If I run a cold tap, the whistle stops immediately.

If I run a hot tap, the pitch of the whistle changes.

The noise is not coming from the boiler (Ideal Icos) which is in the kitchen, it is coming from the 'tank' (A-Class BoilerMate OV) in the upstairs airing cupboard.

The heating system was installed 12 years ago ('new' build), but the shower which is a bar-type, was only installed about year ago (replacing a previous bar-type shower)

It only seems to happen first thing in the morning.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Pin

 

[Harvest Fields]

Possibly the ball valve and float in the hot water tank in the loft?

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Possibly the ball valve and float in the hot water tank in the loft?

Hi,

I don't have a tank in the roof/loft, but there is a small tank in the airing cupboard on top of the main tank. It looks pretty grim inside.

Some pics:

Thank you.
Pin

*edited pics*

 

[Harvest Fields]

Pictures do not work

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Pictures do not work

Pics should be fixed. I deleted the originals as they had my GPS coordinates in the EXIF data. #schoolboyerror

 

[Burger]

It’s a thermal store unit, I’m not up in these, so maybe someone else?

https://hinchliffeheating.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/BoilerMate.pdf

 

[Burger]

Pics now work.

 

[Harvest Fields]

Does the sound come from inside the boilermate?

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Does the sound come from inside the boilermate?

Yes, as far as I can tell.

 

[Harvest Fields]

Possible squeaky pump? They are quiet loud when running though.

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Possible squeaky pump? They are quiet loud when running though.

I have lived here for 12 years and I have never heard it until recently.

We are in a hard water area, could it be a build up of limescale?

Really appreciate your help. Thank you.

 

[Harvest Fields]

Probably just the bearings on the pump. Can you video the noise.

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Probably just the bearings on the pump. Can you video the noise.

I will try to record it tomorrow morning.

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Morning,

In true style it did not make a sound during the first shower use, but it did on the second.

I recorded it with my iPhone microphone pointed at the base of the BoilerMate, near all the pipes.

0-10 seconds is normal/background. No water running.
@ 11 seconds: I ran the bathroom sink hot water tap.
@ 55 seconds: I turned the shower on.
@ 5 min 31 seconds: I turned the shower off.
@ 5 min 57 seconds: Something ?pump? switches off.

Looks like this site does not support uploading audio file formats, so I have renamed the .mp4 to .pdf in order to upload it. To replay the audio download it to your PC and rename it back to .mp4.

Thanks
Pin

 

[Harvest Fields]

I cannot do that as I see this site from my phone only sorry.

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

I cannot do that as I see this site from my phone only sorry.

I have put it on my OneDrive - try this link - Hot Water Whistle 150519.mp4

 

[Harvest Fields]

Hard to say. It could still be a pump problem but Personally I would be looking at getting a pro in.

 

[Pin Pin Poola]

Hard to say. It could still be a pump problem but Personally I would be looking at getting a pro in.

Thanks for your help so far. I will get someone in to take a look.