Motorised valve clicking/ticking noise

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R4W

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Hi, in my new home I have a couple of Danfoss hpa2 valves that I believe are used to separate the heating of the master bedroom with the rest of the house.
I have two Tado smart thermostat that are working with the system.
However, whenever I hear the Tado's relay switch off the heating as it reached the temperature (the boiler is from Ideal), the two valves starts to clicking/ticking until the boiler goes completely off.
I'm wondering if this is normal or if I should raise this with the builder.
Thank you in advance

 
Personally I hate 3 port valves, I would never plumb a system with them, I would always use multiple 2 port valves.

The way the 3 port valves work, is at the mid position a microswitch opens and that puts DC to the motor to stall it and hold position.  Some overshoot and a couple of clicks is normal as the motor settles in the correct position, but if it keeps on doing it, it's likely the switch is not working properly. Sadly my experience is Danfoss valces do not use good switches and I have replaced several which can be a fiddly job. It's easier (but more expensive) to swap the whole head.

If it's a new system and it has done this since installed, don't discount the possibility that it has been wired incorrectly. Another reason for disliking 3 port valves is not all electricians know how to wire them.,

 
The danfos hpa2 is a two port valve. 

Are you sure this is the valves that is clicking and ticking? It is not uncommon to hear a ticking/clicking sound when hot pipes start to cool. 

You need to establish exactly where the ticking is coming from. 

Just a thought in new build heating systems there is a requirement to have two or more heating zones generally there is one for living areas and the other for sleeping areas. If you have two hpa2 valves then I’m guessing that the boiler is a combi boiler? Do the correct radiators heat with the correct thermostat? 

 
Personally I hate 3 port valves, I would never plumb a system with them, I would always use multiple 2 port valves.

The way the 3 port valves work, is at the mid position a microswitch opens and that puts DC to the motor to stall it and hold position.  Some overshoot and a couple of clicks is normal as the motor settles in the correct position, but if it keeps on doing it, it's likely the switch is not working properly. Sadly my experience is Danfoss valces do not use good switches and I have replaced several which can be a fiddly job. It's easier (but more expensive) to swap the whole head.

If it's a new system and it has done this since installed, don't discount the possibility that it has been wired incorrectly. Another reason for disliking 3 port valves is not all electricians know how to wire them.,


This should be a 2 port valves, but I feel like they went "cheap" still.

Sounds like a wiring issue to me .................... best get the builders heating engineer / spark back


I have changed the thermostats from the original Danfoss, I just hope they will not make a big noise about that, but I guess it's the way to go.

The danfos hpa2 is a two port valve. 

Are you sure this is the valves that is clicking and ticking? It is not uncommon to hear a ticking/clicking sound when hot pipes start to cool. 

You need to establish exactly where the ticking is coming from. 

Just a thought in new build heating systems there is a requirement to have two or more heating zones generally there is one for living areas and the other for sleeping areas. If you have two hpa2 valves then I’m guessing that the boiler is a combi boiler? Do the correct radiators heat with the correct thermostat? 
I have made a video about the sound: 



I have an Ideal combi boiler and I have tested the Tado thermostats to heat just the master bedroom and/or the rest of the house.
That sound is present only when the thermostat reaches temperature.

 
That’s doesnt sound correct so I’d get builders electrician/plumber back to sort, possibly there has/is a foreign body in the pipewirk that has become stuck in valve and has damaged the motor head. ??

 
I have changed the thermostats from the original Danfoss, I just hope they will not make a big noise about that, but I guess it's the way to go.

That sound is present only when the thermostat reaches temperature.


Did the valves make this noise before you replaced the thermostats? It sounds to me like something is wired wrong. I would want to electrically isolate the valve and thermostat from each other to measure what voltages are appearing where and what direction they are coming from. i.e. Is it something from your Tado kit repeatedly energising and de-energising the valve, or does the valve give the same symptoms if you just manually trigger it with a temporary link to imitate the thermostat signals? I doubt this problem is going to be easily solved without someone actually doing some physical tests on your installation.

Doc H.

 
Did the valves make this noise before you replaced the thermostats? It sounds to me like something is wired wrong. I would want to electrically isolate the valve and thermostat from each other to measure what voltages are appearing where and what direction they are coming from. i.e. Is it something from your Tado kit repeatedly energising and de-energising the valve, or does the valve give the same symptoms if you just manually trigger it with a temporary link to imitate the thermostat signals? I doubt this problem is going to be easily solved without someone actually doing some physical tests on your installation.

Doc H.
Unfortunately I did test the heating only after replacing the thermostats, but I doubt they have anything to do as they're wired exactly in the same way as the old Danfoss ones.
Someone from the builder came today and told my wife they're going to replace the T joint on the bottom right hand in this photo here: https://ibb.co/bWgsuK
I'm unsure what it has to do with anything, but they briefly turned on heating to test it.
I'll let you know how it ends, but thank you all for your replies :)

 
I think it’s a pressure relief valve. When both your zone valves close the boiler is left with nowhere to pump it’s output to so that valve opens to bypass the system . 

 
That sounds correct Geof but how does that networking create a clicking sound on the valves? Yesteryear we never had them and I don’t recall clicking from valves and not all systems had a bypass radiator or loop? 

 
That sounds correct Geof but how does that networking create a clicking sound on the valves? Yesteryear we never had them and I don’t recall clicking from valves and not all systems had a bypass radiator or loop? 
Oh, I didn’t intend to endorse the fault diagnosis, only say what the PR valve is for.

I would bet on a wiring error, perhaps the valve micro switch switching it’s own supply or similar.

I do believe a bypass is needed though as the pump will run on after boiler switch off to disperse residual heat.

 
He/she  hasn't been back on since 4 Oct....

So may not get an answer on this one???

But it would be nice to know of what the actual problem was! :popcorn


Have you got this fixed R4W?   What was the problem?


Apologies for the delay but I got this fixed just few days ago (along with other things) and basically the plumber has replaced the bypass tube/valve (I'm unsure on the correct word here) with another and that noise disappeared!

Once again, thank you for all your replies, they were all useful :)

PS: I'm a man :D

 
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