My new build house is fitted with an Ideal Logic Combi ES30 boiler with dual zone Danfoss TP5000Si controller thingies (one upstairs and one downstairs).
In the cupboard in the bedroom are two motorised valves, one for upstairs and one for downstairs.
At seemingly random intervals there is a loud click from the controller then the valve spins up for a few seconds. The happens to both valves and both controllers. The downstairs click is so loud you can clearly hear it upstairs. They may do it every few minutes then nothing for several hours. I can be both valves (not at the same time though) or just one repeating itself.

Sometimes one of the valves just makes a very quiet chattering noise for a few seconds.

The boiler is set to hot water only but it does it when set to water and heating as well.

The people who fitted the system say they can’t see anything wrong with it but its clearly not right!

Over to you 🙂

The motorised valves are a mechanical part and notorious for failing, getting stuck or getting gummed up. As a first check, I would pop the head (electrical/mechanical box) off and check the valve (the tap section that opens and closes to stop water) opens and closes with finger pressure.

You can also get the head to open and close when not connected to the valve to see if you get the same noise. If it still does it with no valve to open, the issue is in the head. If it only does it when connected, it could be that the valve is sticking and hard for the head to open. If the valve is hard to open and close with finger pressure, I would it expect it to be this.

Explanation added in boxes as my terminology may not be correct, hopefully it still makes sense.

I have the same wireless stats and receivers, mine do the same thing.
I haven’t bottomed it yet, but I am thinking along the lines of the hysteresis of the stats, i.e. they call for heat at say 20 degrees and go off at 21 degrees.
The hysteresis is the tolerance around these settings, and is an engineer setting in the stat software, the manual is needed to get to it.
Also; as an aside the stats are technically stand alone when the heating isn’t on, but will still operate the valves, but the micro-switch in them does not pass the boiler run signal through, as the time-clock isn’t calling for heat. (hence no heat even though the valves are operating.)
One way of seeing if this makes sense would be to drop the call temperature right down (say 12 degrees) so as to not activate the valves?
Sorry if the above seems a bit of a waffle!

its odd that the zone valves are operating when the boiler is in hot water only mode – makes me think that somewhere a permanent live has been wired in where a switched live was expected – probably in the controller if it is separate from the boiler.

the click you hear is a microswitch being released by a thermostat being satisified. the ‘spinning up’is actally the spring returning the valve to a closed position – if the sequence of events is click then spinning noise.

The boiler is only delivering hot water as that is what the boiler is trying to do, but the controller and valves havent been told it is hot water only.

The receiver module(s) have a permanent fused feed, and are actively connected to the remote stats all the time.
I retro fitted mine into a C plus heating system; (2 heating zones and 1 stored water) to enhance the efficiency of what was installed.
The stats can be set to heat and time control, or heat only; relying then on a separate time clock.
Also my understanding of a combi is that it effectively has two “heating” functions, one for the hot water demand on pressure drop and the other for the circulated heating via a remote call from the timeclock/micro switch in the zone valves.

If the boiler is set to hot water only it won’t stop the independent programmers from calling for heat.

The click is the relay in the programmer closing and opening, and the whirring noise is the valve spinning closed.

Go to your programmer (not the boiler) and turn it off completely using the buttons, or set your thermostat to the lowest setting and see if it stops the noise.

Thanks Flaperon, I will try that.

Thats sorted it i think. I wasn’t given a handbook they are all uploaded to the developers portal but I’ve now found the controllers have a summer setting to effectively turn them off.

Well done guys 🙂

Good news.