Electrical interference from CH boiler!!!!

AllyD

Can anybody enlighten me as to why loud cracklings interrupt my radios, and the same along with picture interference to TV occurs when the central heating valve operates?

It has been driving me mad for years, but even though I have a Home Care contract for the boiler, none of the gas engineers have been able to help me.

How can it be resolved, and by whom?

Expert help most welcome. Thank you.

onehitwonder

I have exactly the same problem. Luckily we have cable TV so it doesn't interfere with that.
I mentioned it to one engineer who fixed our boiler recently and he said we would need some sort of suppressor fitted to the boiler. I haven't enquired further yet, but will do when we get it serviced.

(I don't mention it to the neighbors though, in case we have been causing them problems over the last few years)

AllyD

I have heard the same thing, yet no-one seems to know who fixes and how, but thanks for letting me know it's not hust me.

espresso

I think that this is just another indication of just how useless these "Home Care Contracts" are in reality. If the motorised valve is causing interference, it needs replacing or possibly just the motorised actuator part.

matphil

Hi.
I have had the same problem since having my boiler from new.
I have been using a 'mains filter' which has helped a lot.
It is a bit like a plug adapter that you plug into the mains and then plug the boiler into it.
I don't know where you can get them from as mine was given to me by a friend.

AllyD

Thanks to the last two guys. 3 way valve has been replaced a number of times, for diffrent reason (sticking), and doesn't affect the interference.

Boiler electrics wired in direct (no plug) so no can do mains filter at the mo.

Any other help much appreciated. Thanks.

Keldin

Is it the motorised valve causing the problem? It may be a coincidence that the valve is opening at teh same time the boiler is firing up and teh thermostat is clicking on. Knowing which is teh cause would help get to a solution. Is there a way to disconnect teh electric supply from the motorised valve and manually open it? There is on mine but it's not a 3 way.
By doing that and firning up the CH you would then know if that is where the cause of the problems is.
Next bypass the rooms thermostat. Mine is literraly 2 wires up to teh control in the lounge. These go to 2 terminals in the control box for the boiler (i can take a picture if you like). If you connect these 2 together with a single wire it is an always on connection and will only turn off when the timer says to turn off. If by bypassing the thermostat and letting it come on at the set time and there is no noise then it's the room thermostat. This appears to be a common problem and can be fixed with this:
http://www.russandrews.com/viewindex.asp?article_id=suppressor_instructions&

If you are not comfortable doing this yourself then I suggest some advice or help from plumber before you go ahead.
My money is on teh room tehrmostat.

K

Keldin

Actually an easier way to bypass the room tehrmostat may just be to turn it up to max while the CH is off just before the timing period for teh CH starts. Then if you dont get any interference when it starts the first time its teh thermostat clicking on and off that is doing it.

AllyD

Got rid of room stat altogether 12 yrs ago when I moved here. All but one rads have TRVs. As a mere female (sory girlies!) I good at most DIY fix vacs, use drill etc but boilers are out of my league. The only mains elec stuff I've done is replace dimmer light switches. Ta.

espresso

I think that Keldin is on the right track. The motorised valve is usually controlled by both the room thermostat and the thermostat on the hot water tank. If you no longer have a room stat, the stat on the hot water tank is likely to be controlling the motorised valve and could be the cause of the interference. If you don't have a tank stat like this, the motorised valve is probably redundant but has not be removed from the system. If you have a tank stat, you should be able to eliminate it as the cause, by a simple change to the setting and they are cheap to replace. I don't believe that the small brushless screened synchronous motor in the motorised valve is likely to cause the interference that you have described. If you do not have a tank stat, it may be the control circuitry on the boiler that operates the motorised valve. Any decent heating engineer should be able to diagnose this problem!

baldelectrician

had this sort of thing before.

it is usually an old boiler gas valve and medium wave radios

These may work
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=501&doy=15m11

Use a competent person for this work as it is to do with a gas boiler.