Harmonic resonance shower

Steve B 16 years ago

I was cleaning one of my vacation rentals. I turned on the MOEN shower water control. In the middle range, where the warm water would be, there came a pulsing sound that sounded very regular and harmonic. If you turned it to hotter or colder, it went away, but if you approached middle again, it would start, and make an audible sound whoomp whoomp whoomp. The water also varied in strength, and spurted slightly with the harmonic waves.

Any ideas of what is causing this or how to cure it? Install water hammers?

Steve

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DD_BobK 16 years ago

Steve-

Which model is it? Pos-i-temp? or ioDigital? or?

Does it just control temp or temp & flow?

How is the water pressure at the house? Too high or too low might give the valve issues.

Sounds like the unit is "hunting" / "oscillating" about the set point.

I would try (if possible) throttling back the hot or cold water supply to the shower valve. This will give the shower valve a different input condition and perhaps the change will be enough to get the vibe to stop.

How old is the unit? If its in a vacation home, it probably has pretty low mileage.

Moen has good customer service & the warranties are decent too. I would suggest called or emailing.

cheers Bob

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mike 16 years ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it's something as simple as a valve seal screw loosening. The seal creeps under the screw compression, and eliminates the tension on the screw, allowing it to back out, and loose components start fluttering.

Then again, it may be something completely unrelated. I haven't seen the unit.

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aemeijers 16 years ago

Advertise it as a feature! The female renters may like it!

(well, somebody hadda say it...)

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