Evohome is Noisy - please help me

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  • The EVOHOME Shop
    Site Sponsor
    • Dec 2014
    • 483

    Originally posted by Arrghh! View Post
    Well, today I tested 4 of my HR92s (ST2) on one of my mum's radiators and compared it with two of her HR92s (ST3) and much to my surprise, both ST3s were indeed quieter than any of my ST2s.

    It's hardly an exhaustive test with many samples, but maybe there is something in it, or maybe it's just coincidence. Perhaps Richard can cast some light on it?

    What I was able to say for certain is that her valves (with plastic adapters) don't make the actuators any quieter as I thought they might and I feel the difference between the 3 types of valves I've now used is quite small.

    I'll await Richard's response with interest.
    I am not aware of any 'improvements' made to the HR92's but I have many date codes and ST generations here - when I have 5 minutes to spare I will rip them apart and have a look at the differences (if any). Like any product, there will always be improvements made to the product when there is a need for it and it is not often necessary to pass this information on.

    @Sentry1 I have asked for the product back so I can definitively tell you if it is faulty or not (in which case if you are a customer of mine I would replace them) but without my input the matter of whether it is noisy/faulty or not is speculative. Legally after the 6 month period of ownership the onus is on you to prove you have not caused the device to become faulty. Therefore if there is any doubt to the integrity of the product, I suggest returning the HR92(s) for my inspection as soon as possible (please email me for return details). I will not accept any HR92's that have been tampered with through your own investigations, so I recommend the course of action I have suggested is the course of action you take rather than investigations of your own which may invalidate any warranty you have.

    Comment

    • Sentry1
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Oct 2016
      • 43

      Originally posted by The EVOHOME Shop View Post
      I am not aware of any 'improvements' made to the HR92's but I have many date codes and ST generations here - when I have 5 minutes to spare I will rip them apart and have a look at the differences (if any). Like any product, there will always be improvements made to the product when there is a need for it and it is not often necessary to pass this information on.

      @Sentry1 I have asked for the product back so I can definitively tell you if it is faulty or not (in which case if you are a customer of mine I would replace them) but without my input the matter of whether it is noisy/faulty or not is speculative. Legally after the 6 month period of ownership the onus is on you to prove you have not caused the device to become faulty. Therefore if there is any doubt to the integrity of the product, I suggest returning the HR92(s) for my inspection as soon as possible (please email me for return details). I will not accept any HR92's that have been tampered with through your own investigations, so I recommend the course of action I have suggested is the course of action you take rather than investigations of your own which may invalidate any warranty you have.
      Hi Richard.

      Thanks for the note. I hope you understand that my reasoning for stating that it may not be worth sending one of these back: I was hoping that I may save you the bother of replacing them by finding out If I could fix the issue by changing the valve bodies that are in use in my house first. Please note that, as stated in my previous posts, when not attached to a valve the units are pretty quiet. Following your note I will definitely return one of the 10 noisy HR92s back to you so that you can have a look. I am pretty certain that you will not deem them "faulty" (All 10 having the same defect would be pretty unlucky especially as they clearly came from different sets), however I appreciate your efforts in helping us out. Perhaps ST3s are the way forward - that would be a great result. Expect an email in your inbox.

      Comment

      • Sentry1
        Automated Home Jr Member
        • Oct 2016
        • 43

        Originally posted by Arrghh! View Post
        Well, today I tested 4 of my HR92s (ST2) on one of my mum's radiators and compared it with two of her HR92s (ST3) and much to my surprise, both ST3s were indeed quieter than any of my ST2s.

        It's hardly an exhaustive test with many samples, but maybe there is something in it, or maybe it's just coincidence. Perhaps Richard can cast some light on it?

        What I was able to say for certain is that her valves (with plastic adapters) don't make the actuators any quieter as I thought they might and I feel the difference between the 3 types of valves I've now used is quite small.

        I'll await Richard's response with interest.
        Very interesting Arrghh! Thank you for checking this out. Perhaps all I need to do is replace my HR92 ST2s with ST3s and we'll have the minimal noise that others seem to enjoy!

        Comment

        • paulockenden
          Automated Home Legend
          • Apr 2015
          • 1719

          Just a reminder that some of us who don't find the noise obtrusive have st2s...

          Comment

          • Sentry1
            Automated Home Jr Member
            • Oct 2016
            • 43

            Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
            Just a reminder that some of us who don't find the noise obtrusive have st2s...
            Yup. Thanks for that. There could be any number of reasons for that and again, please remember the primary reason for my original posting: Evohome is waking my kids up.

            Anything I can look into to keep using Evohome as a system but quieten things down enough is worthwhile. It might not have anything at all to do with the model of the HR92 (i.e. version ST2 or ST3)....but then again it might.

            Cheers.
            Last edited by Sentry1; 16 December 2016, 11:26 AM.

            Comment

            • Arrghh!
              Automated Home Sr Member
              • Dec 2015
              • 73

              The actual difference in noise level between the quietest and noisiest one yesterday was about 2dbA and although that is a measurable difference, I don't know if it proves much.

              I already saw a variation of 1dbA between the ST2s I have, so another 1dbA difference is not huge.

              If I took one of the quieter HR92s from my mum's house and put it on the radiator in my bedroom, I would still want to try and reduce the noise level further by covering it.

              I've looked closely at both the ST2 and ST3 actuators and I don't think there's any difference in their construction. It's possible the motors themselves are different, but all the plastic parts look identical.

              Comment

              • Arrghh!
                Automated Home Sr Member
                • Dec 2015
                • 73

                Here's what I've ended up with as my solution to the 'noisy' HR92 in our bedroom. I found something that looks a bit like a large valve cap, just big enough to fit over the actuator.



                I've now got a DTS92 thermostat as the sensor, which was better for this room anyway as the radiator is under a window we open at night.
                I've run it like this for a few days and there seems to be no detrimental effects. The motor and electronics in the HR92 generate very little heat, so I can't see how operating it in this way could be an issue. As the cover is made from white plastic, there little or no effect on the RF signals. Be aware that some coloured plastics and paints may contain carbon black pigment, which could reduce the signal strength, so any cover should be transparent or white and not have any metallic/carbon content.

                I think it looks fairly tidy. There is foam in the gaps between the actuator and the cover to act as acoustic insulation. The setup has reduced the noise to a level where I can just about hear it when the room is completely quiet, I'm lying in bed and it's on a fully opening or closing cycle. I struggle to hear it at all when it's making small adjustments.

                This is a good enough solution for me and more importantly my partner hasn't complained it's like one of my usual "Heath Robinson DIY attempts", so it can't look too bad.

                Comment

                • G4RHL
                  Automated Home Legend
                  • Jan 2015
                  • 1580

                  These posts have made me listen more to my HR92s which in the past were unobtrusive. Some are noisier than others but it is very much to do with the radiator they are on and often holding the HR92 when operating or sometimes simply the supply pipe affects the resonance. I suspect two main causes to sound differences are the radiators themselves and how the valve is fitted plus the efficiency of the valve the HR92 has to operate. In any event the sound is way far from excessive or obtrusive.

                  Comment

                  • Sentry1
                    Automated Home Jr Member
                    • Oct 2016
                    • 43

                    Quick update - I'm back from my hols now and I want to get this sorted. I will be sending one of the HR92s back to Richard this week so he can double check it. I'm certain it will be fine. I think that the trouble may be the interactions with the Evohome TRV and the valve itself. I'm going to take a trip to a plumbers merchants and see what noise I can make with an HR92 on various different valve styles. I know that not testing in-situ (i.e. attached to potentially resonant radiators and pipes/not working against any water pressure etc) will mean that I'm not getting a "true" noise output, however it may be clear if some valves are individually more noisy than others.

                    I'll report back here.

                    Comment

                    • Sentry1
                      Automated Home Jr Member
                      • Oct 2016
                      • 43

                      So. I've been to Screwfix and I'm going to do an Evohome review for noise on all these valves.

                      As stated before - I know that testing these on unattached valves is not replicating real-world but its as close as I'll get.

                      Results later.

                      IMG_6906.jpg

                      Comment

                      • Sentry1
                        Automated Home Jr Member
                        • Oct 2016
                        • 43

                        The preliminary results are not what I wanted. Every valve creates the same, strained, whine in the Evohome TRV. Not even the Honeywell Valencia valves provided any sort of comfort that I could achieve lower noise levels by changing the valves which are currently attached to my radiators.

                        In an additional test I took out the gearing block, set the slider to locked and then changed the set temp. Once the motor was moving I then used my thumb to slowly stop the small cog from spinning. This was to the point of stopping it completely. There was barely any noise at all, which leads me to believe that the source of the noise is the resistance in the gearing block from the teeth/screw thread stress being amplified back through the body of the HR92 unit. The noise was as loud as when connected to my radiator so I still don't think resonance in the pipes or radiator is an issue.

                        I'll do some more tests and report back here.

                        Comment

                        • Arrghh!
                          Automated Home Sr Member
                          • Dec 2015
                          • 73

                          This is the conclusion I came to. That's why I put a cover over the actuator. It continues to be near-silent now. Only when it fully opens of closes to I notice it working and I have to be wide awake with no other noise in the room to hear it then.

                          Comment

                          • Sentry1
                            Automated Home Jr Member
                            • Oct 2016
                            • 43

                            Originally posted by Arrghh! View Post
                            This is the conclusion I came to. That's why I put a cover over the actuator. It continues to be near-silent now. Only when it fully opens of closes to I notice it working and I have to be wide awake with no other noise in the room to hear it then.
                            Hi Arrghh! I'm really pleased you have found a solution that works for you. The problem for me is that it requires too much DIY and far too much expense per room. The cost of those separate thermostats is simply prohibitive for me.

                            When I have an opportunity, I'll continue to do other tests and see where I get to. In the meantime, I'll see what Richard from The Evohome Shop says about the unit I send him.

                            Comment

                            • DBMandrake
                              Automated Home Legend
                              • Sep 2014
                              • 2361

                              Hang on, I thought you said they were too noisy to be used in bedrooms, not too noisy to be used anywhere in the house at all ?

                              I can see that under certain circumstances (depending largely on room layout, including HR92 location in relation to the sleepers head, and room acoustics/damping) that noise from an HR92 might be an issue in a bedroom with a light sleeper. But they're hardly noisy enough to be too noisy for other rooms in the house, IMHO. You will hear them move from time to time but some noise is inevitable.

                              Comment

                              • oshingler
                                Automated Home Jr Member
                                • Jul 2016
                                • 17

                                I'm normally a silent forum member, but thought I'd share my Evohome noise reducing experiment with you. Advance warning - this is probably over-engineered!

                                I've concluded that most of the noise I was experiencing was due to the HR92UK motor noise being amplified through the radiator. I crudely proved that by attaching the head to a new unplumbed valve, set the CYCL to start and touched it against the pipe on the radiator, with an immediate noticible increase in volume.
                                After a lot of searching, I discovered the Drayton ETF2, which is a 2m capillary extension for a TRV head. I've fitted the extension to the valve body, and the remote end to the HR92UK. There's a lot of bodging involved to get that final link to work because the pin in the extension is not as fixed or stable as it should be in my opinion. I used two small washers and a small nut to build up the height around the pin in the remote end of the extension, and then I pressed a metal coin from a steel back box and used that to create a large flat area for the HR92UK pin to push down on. Finally, I bodged an angled bracket and fixed it to the wall, using some foam and screw caps to dampen the vibrations against the wall too. The result... it's at least half as quiet (by using the scientific method of 'how much does it annoy me now?'). It's not silent of course, and you still hear it in operation, but I now consider it to be acceptable. It's not the prettiest of results, but it is only a proof of concept. In theory, you can get a 6m extension instead and hide your HR92UK in a more sound proofed location.

                                And some photos:
                                evo1.jpgevo2.jpg
                                backbox.jpg

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