Central heating pump affecting my subwoofer?!

lordvader

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Over the last couple of months i have started to notice when my central heating system switches off i sometimes get a couple of loud thumps come though my subwoofer.

My heating system is a normal boiler coupled with an unvented hot water cylinder. Both hot water and heating are pumped around with a Grundfos Alpha2L pump.

Really struggling to try and find a cure to the rumble that affects the subwoofer? Any suggestions would be most greatful
 
The valves and/or pumps probably need some RF suppression - personally I would assume it could be the valves because the pumps would be likely to generate continuous interference, not rapid start & stop interference

What voltages & currents do they run at (as the necessary components need to be appropriately rated and certified)?

OTOH, maybe connecting the component cases to a good common local earth might help. This would parallel how hum suppression can be achieved by making sure the metal cases of all the AV components (even the Double Insulated ones!) run at the same potential by connecting them all to the same local earth (or floating them all - WHICH I DON'T recommend as some items may require safety earthing via the mains leads, and removing that earthing could result in electric shocks from the cases if there are internal mains insulation failures and/or the same thing from the culmulative total of the electrical leakage currents from the internal RF filters in each item of equipment :nono:. ).

This would reduce the spurious paths for electromagnetic pulses caused during the valve switching transients and would make sure that any pulse currents run via heavy gauge wiring and building structural metalwork, which will have a very low impedance and thus not allow large interference voltages to be generated, rather than along the (probably long) supply leads to the valves which can then act as transmitting antennae.

It would probably also be the quickest, cheapest and simplest route, as installing RF filters in the valve (pump?) supply leads requires very careful choice of suppression components AND VERY careful installation. It might otherwise accidentally result in electrical safety hazards unless you employ a suitably qualified and experienced electrician who knows how to install these components safely (and many/most general electricians and service engineers might well not be suitable as they rarely have to do that sort of work!). Not taking the latter step and doing it yourself is of dubious legality in view of the legal requirements for people carrying out changes to their household electrical installations.
 
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