Humming in My Cold Air Returns

Tlman012 · Post by **Tlman012** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 5:34 pm

I only used square duct 12x3.25 because of height I needed for my basement doors, if you equalled that out to round it comes to about 7.7 so that's y I dropped down with 8 inch to the stove

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 5:44 pm

Something is wrong in the motor it self--not duct-work or anything else. I know it's a PIA, but can you pull the motor & get it to a elec. motor place? We're fortunate to have one in a close by Town.

Tlman012 wrote:I unplug stove and it goes away..

crazy4coal · Post by **crazy4coal** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 6:31 pm

Here's my 2 cents, Check to see if the hum is coming from the stoker/motor. If it is a little lose or the fan is just a little out of balance it can cause noise that will be amplified by the duct work.

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 6:33 pm

Good idea C.

Tlman012 · Post by **Tlman012** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 6:49 pm

Just checked and everything seems to be tight

Post by **Lightning** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 6:52 pm

Any noise the appliance is making is being amplified by the tin duct work. This is coming from a bass player lol. Putting in a section of 8 inch insulated flex duct on each of those cold air returns will cut off the transmission of vibration and quite it considerably. Maybe not completely but it will help...

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 6:54 pm

I'm thinkin he's not talkin vibration but a distinct hum. I could be wrong but I'm putting my $$ on the motor.

Tlman012 · Post by **Tlman012** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 6:59 pm

Definately a hum, sounds like old shop lights when u turn them on and hear that hum. That's what this sounds like just more magnified

Post by **StokerDon** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 7:01 pm

Tlman012 wrote:I unplug stove and it goes away..

This is a Keystoker so it runs the combustion blower continuously. Most likely the sound of the blower motor is traveling through the hollow stove and coupling to your return ducts. If you could put a flexible coupling between the return ducts somewhere between the stove and the main return, the sound should go away.

I have a similar problem, but it is threaded pipe coupling stoker sound to my floor joists. Whenever the stoker turns on it sounds like a truck idling in the basement.

-Don

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 7:07 pm

can you disconnect power leads to blower only...
Leave rest of circuits powered...
This will tell if it is motor or not...
If it still hums with motor out of play...
then it is not motor...
Start looking at relays...
Is there a rheostat connected to blower...
That can make things hum...

Tlman012 · Post by **Tlman012** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 7:39 pm

Thank you everyone for all the comments, gonna be trying a number of things and will update once it's fixed, thanks again

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 9:26 pm

Keep us posted T.

2001Sierra · Post by **2001Sierra** » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 9:42 pm

What controls this Koker, Keystoker timers etc or Coal-trol?