question for the HVAC guys
 

i have a brand new williams top vent wall heater in my apartment. when it shuts off, it makes this super annoying 'tick tick tick' noise that i believe is the sheet metal flue expanding/contracting. same noise you hear sometimes from a car or motorcycle engine after you shut it off. is there any safe way to dampen the flue to stop the noise?

It is most likely is not the flue. It's the heat exchanger. Most wall heaters do that. If you can access the area around the furnace, and insalate it better, it should help.

i can get back there, but insulate it with what?

Any foil faced insalation will work. What is causing the tick noise is the metal expanding and contracting due to the change of temp. Minimize that change by insalating and it will help. It won't go away completely, but it will help.

You don't want to wrap the heat exchanger itself, just the void in the wall space between the heater and drywall.

Hope this is clear.

My backup heat is all electric baseboards, and a wall heater in the bathroom.

Pretty much from Jan-Mar, it is always ticking in my house.:)

X2...and always buy the higher end wall heater as the exchanger is thicker metal and lasts longer....shouldn't make as much noise either. The old wall heaters are great as long as there are no cracks in teh heat exchanger or flue....they don't build em like they used to!