Changed out a failed Taco 007IFC circulator pump today as the old one would no longer pump. I had been trying to get a certain heating/plumbing guy to show up and help me as well as doing an annual boiler clean and tune up. He took the job in April....and I finally tossed in the towel 2 weeks ago after 4 months and 4 phone calls to get him to show up. He just stopped calling me back. He even said he already had the pump but had started another job. As a minimum he could have just called back and said he was too busy and wouldn't be able to do it.
Ordered the pump myself and installed it today. Seemed to be pretty straight forward - identical flanged bolt in - exact same pump and orientation. I have no isolation valves for the Burnham boiler so you have to drain 90% of the 11-13 gallon system. Initial testing went perfectly. The bathroom/bedroom zone heated up to 190 deg F. The living room/kitchen zone got plenty hot too. I could feel the heat as I bled the 7 high point vents of air....then closed them (3 on one side, 4 on the other). That was the first cycle. When I ran a second cycle of heat the living room/kitchen zone may have not been as hot. Not really sure. But, on the 3rd cycle, no doubt that zone was not heating properly while the other zone was fully hot. I could wrap my hand around the living room and kitchen pipes and hold them there. Somehow, there's a blockage to flow in that one zone. I bled off the vents on those 2nd and 3rd cycles. Just got warm water at best on the cool zone....sputtering air and hot water in the other.
So what could have changed? And what's stopping flow in half the system? I also note that the Taco 007IFC pump motor sounds a bit noisy. The motor casing gets quite hot that you can't keep your hand on it....reminds me of how hot the old motor got before it fried. When checking into some specs I believe I found that the motor casing is rated up to around 240 deg F...though running at 140-180 deg F would make more sense to me. I never recall hearing the gurgling noise when running it before. The last one ran for 9 years. Is it cavitation or just normal flow noise? The system hasn't been run since late April so my memory is faded. The last time the system was opened and drain was in 2008 when a new boiler was installed. It's never been drained since. I don't recall the burner techs having any issues getting both zones to come up quickly.
My only other thought is the 2nd baseboard heater in the living room. I think that was added on by the homeowner 30-40 yrs ago when they modified that portion of the living room. For one, that 7 foot baseboard (copper pipe with aluminum fins attached) has NO high point vents on the outer elbows. Those then drop down into the basement to join the rest of the zone header. I poked around and found a tiny plug drain on the "bottom" downstream elbow. What good is that? You don't need a drain there. And that's useless for a vent. I tried to unscrew the plug just "because" as there was nothing else for me to do but call a plumber/heating tech. It wasn't budging and started to strip. It's 3/16" max and sits right above the foundation behind the electrical breaker panel of all places. What idiot installed this?
Despite not having a vent on that one base board section, the house heating has never been an issue. Not once in the 26 years I've been here. And I do recall going through the vents once or twice in years past. Very odd too that I had partial heat on that side on the first startup. Could the additional running have caused an air pocket to build up that finally stalled the flow completely after a few cycles? Could something have come loose in the system (from the pump?) and made its way down stream to the living room zone? An air bubble seems the most logical thought. It may be that I need to drill a hole for a vent fitting on that 7 ft base board. May need that plumber after all.
It was looking pretty good for a while there today. I was already to wrap the job up when I went back one last time to check all vents and piping temps when I found that one side was cooler than earlier. The one circulator pump flows to both zones. It's about as simple as it gets. There are a pair of inlet isolation stop valves to each zone (so you can save energy if you want and isolate a zone). They do work and both are open. I've never used them except to cycle them every few years.
Any other thoughts? Thanks.
Ordered the pump myself and installed it today. Seemed to be pretty straight forward - identical flanged bolt in - exact same pump and orientation. I have no isolation valves for the Burnham boiler so you have to drain 90% of the 11-13 gallon system. Initial testing went perfectly. The bathroom/bedroom zone heated up to 190 deg F. The living room/kitchen zone got plenty hot too. I could feel the heat as I bled the 7 high point vents of air....then closed them (3 on one side, 4 on the other). That was the first cycle. When I ran a second cycle of heat the living room/kitchen zone may have not been as hot. Not really sure. But, on the 3rd cycle, no doubt that zone was not heating properly while the other zone was fully hot. I could wrap my hand around the living room and kitchen pipes and hold them there. Somehow, there's a blockage to flow in that one zone. I bled off the vents on those 2nd and 3rd cycles. Just got warm water at best on the cool zone....sputtering air and hot water in the other.
So what could have changed? And what's stopping flow in half the system? I also note that the Taco 007IFC pump motor sounds a bit noisy. The motor casing gets quite hot that you can't keep your hand on it....reminds me of how hot the old motor got before it fried. When checking into some specs I believe I found that the motor casing is rated up to around 240 deg F...though running at 140-180 deg F would make more sense to me. I never recall hearing the gurgling noise when running it before. The last one ran for 9 years. Is it cavitation or just normal flow noise? The system hasn't been run since late April so my memory is faded. The last time the system was opened and drain was in 2008 when a new boiler was installed. It's never been drained since. I don't recall the burner techs having any issues getting both zones to come up quickly.
My only other thought is the 2nd baseboard heater in the living room. I think that was added on by the homeowner 30-40 yrs ago when they modified that portion of the living room. For one, that 7 foot baseboard (copper pipe with aluminum fins attached) has NO high point vents on the outer elbows. Those then drop down into the basement to join the rest of the zone header. I poked around and found a tiny plug drain on the "bottom" downstream elbow. What good is that? You don't need a drain there. And that's useless for a vent. I tried to unscrew the plug just "because" as there was nothing else for me to do but call a plumber/heating tech. It wasn't budging and started to strip. It's 3/16" max and sits right above the foundation behind the electrical breaker panel of all places. What idiot installed this?
Despite not having a vent on that one base board section, the house heating has never been an issue. Not once in the 26 years I've been here. And I do recall going through the vents once or twice in years past. Very odd too that I had partial heat on that side on the first startup. Could the additional running have caused an air pocket to build up that finally stalled the flow completely after a few cycles? Could something have come loose in the system (from the pump?) and made its way down stream to the living room zone? An air bubble seems the most logical thought. It may be that I need to drill a hole for a vent fitting on that 7 ft base board. May need that plumber after all.
It was looking pretty good for a while there today. I was already to wrap the job up when I went back one last time to check all vents and piping temps when I found that one side was cooler than earlier. The one circulator pump flows to both zones. It's about as simple as it gets. There are a pair of inlet isolation stop valves to each zone (so you can save energy if you want and isolate a zone). They do work and both are open. I've never used them except to cycle them every few years.
Any other thoughts? Thanks.