Evohome is Noisy - please help me

[Sentry1]

I still wonder whether it's your valve bodies offering more resistance than normal. I know at least two people asked you what brand they are but I can't see an answer.

I have yet to look to see. They were installed only a couple of years ago and they are the 30mm and 1.5 thread (so no adapter needed). I will check to see if I can find out the brand and post it here.

[chrisgare]

I have used quite a few different motor controlled actuators over the years and I can definitely say that I think the current Evohome actuators are the quietest I've tried. I know that Chalmor spent an absolute fortune reducing the noise on their eTRVs as much as they could and involved universities in that research and they were noisier than HR92s. I think you have to stick with it and given time the brain will ignore this sort of repetitive noise and you will hardly ever notice them. Nobody ever comments on the noises when they visit my house.

Seriously, the mega benefits of using active TRVs far out way the 'tiny' amount of noise they make. If you give Evohome up them you will return the home of the 1970s that are expensive to heat together with cold rooms, hot rooms, not-quite-right temperature rooms, forever twiddling with crappy TRVs; hall that is hot while all the other rooms are cold 'cos the thermostat is in the hall and so and so on. Simple choice in my opinion. Just give it some time and stop focusing on the noise.

[paulockenden]

I wish there was a like button here.

[Rameses]

The motors and gearing is optimally designed to deliver up to a set level of newtons pressure on the pin, which is quite a lot as well as the finesse of the increments. Many factors can aggregate this depression process. Speaking from experience when the batteries are near end of life (I am tight) or the pin valve body is resisting etc all add. I just fitted a new rad and got new bodies and the whir is whisper quiet. Additionally whilst the unit is learning it can be testing the effect of the pin on the temp etc causing, more activity than what it will eventually do once it settled. (My wife said same first week, and then later complimented me on fixing them, I never did a thing but I said "you're welcome" and took the win)

[Sentry1]

Well, I took advice as given here and stuck with them. Sad to say the noises are still as obtrusive, still as noticeable and I still feel disappointed. I do not believe that a simple single gear (effectively two-cog) ratio within the TRV is the best that can be done in terms of noise reduction. I have read your post Rameses (and thanks very much for your input by the way) but having played with an HR92 both on and when detached (using finger to add resistance to the small primary cog) I still believe that the gearing decision was a compromise (of course) between noise level and cost to manufacture. I'd pay a lot more for a quiet TRV ;-) Change the ratio and extend the time taken to open and close the valves.....I wish that had been the way the decision had gone. But although I have an engineering background I do obviously concede that this is just conjecture from me!

Anyway I m clinging on to a final hope. In other posts you kind, helpful people asked me what type of valve body had been fitted to the majority of radiators. Well it's been hard but I think I've found the answer based on the number "43" embossed on the side. I think these are the valves:

http://www.intatec.co.uk/document/15...heet_-_r02.pdf

Does anyone know anything about these? They have a plastic thread. They actually do seem quite stiff to depress - although I'm not sure if that is a product of their mechanical construction or the pressure of the water in my system?

In addition to this, can anyone on this thread who has stated that their system is nice and quiet please help me out - it would be fantastic to know what valves you are using from which manufacturer and also what the model number is on your HR92s (I want to establish once and for all whether Honeywell do indeed have 'different models' of HR92s - some of which are quieter - Rameses can you help directly with this question?).

Thanks you very much in advance! I need to hush these things up!

Sentry1

[HenGus]

Well, I took advice as given here and stuck with them. Sad to say the noises are still as obtrusive, still as noticeable and I still feel disappointed. I do not believe that a simple single gear (effectively two-cog) ratio within the TRV is the best that can be done in terms of noise reduction. I have read your post Rameses (and thanks very much for your input by the way) but having played with an HR92 both on and when detached (using finger to add resistance to the small primary cog) I still believe that the gearing decision was a compromise (of course) between noise level and cost to manufacture. I'd pay a lot more for a quiet TRV ;-) Change the ratio and extend the time taken to open and close the valves.....I wish that had been the way the decision had gone. But although I have an engineering background I do obviously concede that this is just conjecture from me!

Anyway I m clinging on to a final hope. In other posts you kind, helpful people asked me what type of valve body had been fitted to the majority of radiators. Well it's been hard but I think I've found the answer based on the number "43" embossed on the side. I think these are the valves:

http://www.intatec.co.uk/document/15...heet_-_r02.pdf

Does anyone know anything about these? They have a plastic thread. They actually do seem quite stiff to depress - although I'm not sure if that is a product of their mechanical construction or the pressure of the water in my system?

In addition to this, can anyone on this thread who has stated that their system is nice and quiet please help me out - it would be fantastic to know what valves you are using from which manufacturer and also what the model number is on your HR92s (I want to establish once and for all whether Honeywell do indeed have 'different models' of HR92s - some of which are quieter - Rameses can you help directly with this question?).

Thanks you very much in advance! I need to hush these things up!

Sentry1

I fear that you could spend a lot of money for little gain. I have 15 year old ACL Lifestyle TRV bodies with the plastic adapters. Evohome is now in its third Winter season. Each year, I remove the HR92s and do a manual check of the TRV pins. All are still moving freely. That said, these things do whirr and, occasionally, there is a clunk when first opening in the morning. In a quiet house, the HR92 cycling sound is noticeable and I suspect that the radiator itself amplifies it. That said, the noise is not something that keeps me awake at night but I do listen for the HR92s whirring in the morning. It is a good indication of how cold it is outside.

PS I mentioned your post to my wife who gently pointed out that in days past we lived about 300 yards from the middle of the Brize Norton runway, and we could sleep undisturbed through full power VC10 takeoffs on cold and frosty nights. Similarly, we have a Grandmother clock and we occasionally have to check that it is still going as we haven't heard it chime. In sum, you will get used to the noise as the brain will filter it out most of the time.

[G4RHL]

My son used to own a flat in London. When we stayed with him it took a couple of days to get a good night's sleep because of the constant din of bin lorries emptying bins every night, police cars and emergency vehicles racing around. When he came to stay with us it took him a couple of nights to get used to the quiet. So yes we do adjust. The Heathrow example is a good one. Having said that I don't find the HR92's noisy and I am reasonably sensitive to noise. Don't like restaurants that are glass and hard surfaces, that sort of thing.

I also listen out for a valve opening as I know it's time to get up. I don't get any clunking noise, just the distant whir of the valve opening which can be heard if the whole house is quiet and you are listening for it. The sound is far from obtrusive, no more than fridge or freezer cutting in or hearing the boiler fire up. My valves are 19 years old, no idea what make. I have though bought Honeywell replacements to fit either when I really need to, or when I may have to replace the boiler or if the mood to drain the whole system and fit 12 valves strikes! The latter mood is not likely to strike soon!

If you really want some noisey activators try LightwaveRF's. I tried those when they first came out and the din of them operating really was appalling. They went back and I bought Evohome. That was 2014.

[chrisgare]

I thought I would try and bring a bit objectivity to this discussion as it is impossible to make any view based on anecdotal data. I downloaded a sound meter app to my Android phone and I would suggest others downloading it as well (particularly Sentry1) - https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...sound&hl=en_GB

I placed my mobile about 30cms away from the valve and recorded the HR92 opening from 5 to 20 degrees in my study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC44RrKvj6Y

As you can see and hear there is only a slight increase in background sound level; just a 2 or 3dB increase in fact. I doubt that this could be improved by much and is perfectly acceptable to me. Of course it would sound louder in the middle of the night when there might be absolute silence. I like to hear the valves operating at 07:00 in the morning in fact.

I use Drayton valves by the way.

Why don't others post their results too for comparison?

[paulockenden]

"This video is unavailable"

[DBMandrake]

Unavailable to me as well.

You need to make your video publicly available...

Either set it to unlisted or public. Unlisted means you can post a URL to a video and anyone can follow the URL to see it but it is not listed in your youtube channel and doesn't show up in search results.

Public means it will also be listed in your youtube channel and in youtube search results...