Solenoid making loud buzzing noise, should i be concerned?
 

I just hooked up my calcium reactor setup after letting it sit for almost a year. Now whenever the pH controller tells the solenoid to turn on to open the valve it makes an obnoxious LOUD buzzing noise. It still works but does this buzzing noise mean that the solenoid will eventually fail and cause an electrical fire or something serious like that????

I would be concerned.

Electromechanical devices (soleniods, relays) should not make funny noise,
Click when you apply power
Click when you remove power
No noise with no or constant power.

I am no expert but you can check your wiring as it may not be getting enough electricity. I would take it apart and make sure its clean and nothing is stuck. Of course if it gets really hot then it maybe time for a new one. It should only get warm.

In addition to the above two posts, is there anything causing the plunger to bind up part way through its travel?

i would replace it. you dont want it to fail and get stuck in the open position dumping excess Co2 .
with some things its better to be safe than sorry

Had one do that and the cause was low line voltage.Is there a way to check and see how much current it is getting. Large runs or circuits with high draw devices will sometimes cause it. Put mine on a low draw circuit and no problems. HTH's.

i think you can rebuild those. or at leat separate the solenoid from the rest of the assembly and check the voltage and see if it hums off the assembly as well. you may be able to replace just the solenoid. i would do this as a last resort before buying a new one, just in case you can't fix it.

Here's something interesting: every time I plug in the solenoid the noise can vary from loud to soft. Meaning, if I plug the solenoid in the noise may be consistently loud but then I unplug it and plug it back in and the noise will then be consistently soft. Does anyone know what that means?

Fixed it by disassembling and reassembling it. Thanks everyone for your input!