How to get rid of heating system's water pump vibration

December 4, 2015 4:43 PM

We have a new gas boiler in our building. There is a lot of vibration being generated from the hot water pump (the old one was re-used) that manifests itself in a continual rattling of the baseboard hot water radiator in the apartment directly above the boiler. How do I get rid of this noise? The radiators are twelve inches high, five feet long and covered with a detachable metal grille cover. When it gets going, the vibrations can be felt on the grille cover, as well as the hot water pipes underneath. I'm guessing this was not a problem before because the old (massive) boiler dampened the vibrations.
posted by storybored to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Best answer: Put an expansion joint on the outlet of the pump.

Clamp the piping down better.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 5:26 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

When those systems have air bubbles they can vibrate, and they can rust out from the inside. They need to bleed the system.
posted by Oyéah at 8:22 PM on December 4, 2015

Best answer: (the old one was re-used)

I think your problem may solve itself here. That much vibration will murder the bearings in the pump and they'll be forced to replace it like they should have in the first place.(or it's somehow being flow restricted and is cavitating, and will still kill itself. I've worked with commercial pumps for landscaping systems, including larger ones. This is Not Good™️)

I lived in a building that constantly had boiler problems, because the owners were too cheap to just replace everything like they needed too. We had several issues with this sort of thing before they finally just replaced everything.
posted by emptythought at 9:23 PM on December 4, 2015