Circulator pump goes out on Boiler and I'm Happy?

[Kevin in Ohio]

Coldest day of the year here and woke up this morning to hear an odd noise. Went downstairs to the plumbing and the main pump was making noise. House was warm as usual but figured I'd better address it. My dealer sold me an extra rotor cartridge assembly when I bought my supplies to set it all up. Surprised as it's been longer than I had been saying. Put my system online in 2002. Pulled the cover off the 009 Taco pump and this is why it was making a noise.

Impeller as you can see was gone and had ground itself up. I don't think it was pumping much! Took all the pieces out, checked everything for damage and it looked fine. Slid in the new cartridge and opened the valves back up and it's fixed. Took less than 5 minutes and all I can say is I wish everything was that easy!

10 years is pretty good in my book but was curious what you guys have had so far out of them. I only run mine the heating season but does run 24/7. Ordered another spare just in case.

Can't stress enough to put shutoffs before and after your pumps and stuff. Probably had less than a pint of water to deal with

 

[blackdogon57]

Good info and advice. Is pays to have an extra cartridge on hand. I have two taco 009 pumps. They run 24/7/365. I fried one a few years ago by accidentally cutting off the water supply when the pump was running. Otherwise they have performed well.

 

[Woodomaker]

I know the feeling.....my CB's pump went out after 6years.....motor, impeller was ok......$76 later and all is well.....One note: do not take old pump out until you have a new one in hand.
I took mine out at night......next morning the PEX pipe shrank enough that I had to add a pipe nipple to accomodate the " shrinkage":bang:

 

[cantoo]

Woodomaker, next time you get shrinkage like that let it soak in warm water with a viagra tablet in it for 30 minutes. It'll stretch back out and you won't need the nipple.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

That's what you call being prepared!


Any way of getting those floating parts out of the system?

Or do they just end up in the bottom of the boiler?

It looked like most of it was in there. I'm sure some went through the line and luckily my 2 other zone pumps hadn't kicked on. Been keeping an eye on things but so far so good. Some may be in the heat exchanger as it's the first "catcher" I see.

 

[BOW HUNTER]

Wow thats a clean looking setup. Must've takin some time making it look that good. I'm thinking I need to get some spare cartridges so I don't get caught in a pickle. Always better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it.

 

[Butch(OH)]

My TACO #7 and #11 pumps are on season #6 and cartridges are on the shelf!
Yessir on the shut off valves!! A few dollars and a couple minutes extra install time pays out big time at first trouble. No matter what kind of valves a person installs he needs to operate them now and then also. I swing all my ball valves and give the gate valves a twist once a month.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Wow thats a clean looking setup. Must've takin some time making it look that good. I'm thinking I need to get some spare cartridges so I don't get caught in a pickle. Always better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it.

I did put some thought into it and made it so I could add to it easily if needed. Dealer gave me the best order of stuff and I drew it out so stuff would be in orderly fashion. You can see more of it here.

http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/88352.htm

I was pretty adament about having only stainless, copper and brass in the system to save the rust issue in the water. Only mild/cast steel is the pumps and such.

 

[Blazin]

Had the same thing happen a couple weeks ago, only my pumps are on the boiler...outside :msp_ohmy: Wasn't bad though, bout 15 minutes it was back up running. Shut off pump flanges and spare parts are a good thing :msp_thumbup:

 

[Butch(OH)]

Only mild/cast steel is the pumps and such.

I paid (quite a bit as I recall?) extra to get bronze case/bronze impeller pumps. Dealer said only way to go for long life. Person has to watch the ultra cheap Ebay pumps and cartridges as a lot of them are plastic.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Had the same thing happen a couple weeks ago, only my pumps are on the boiler...outside :msp_ohmy: Wasn't bad though, bout 15 minutes it was back up running. Shut off pump flanges and spare parts are a good thing :msp_thumbup:

One other thing I'd better mention when reinstalling the cartridges or a new pump with shut off valves. You may notice your pump making more noise than it should. What is happening is an air pocket has formed there. If you just choke the shut off valve down a little a few times it generally will get rid of it, pushing the air on through. Do NOT shut it all the way down, just slightly.

 

[Blazin]

I forgot to mention it, but this is the first one I've had to change in 7 years on my CB5648. . All three pumps are Taco's, a 7,9,and 11. I have a ready to install spare for each one, and don't buy a cartridge until I swap a pump out.

 

[nathandrews]

Long potentially boring post warning. I take no responsibility for the time you might consider wasted by reading this....

I went through this for the first time 2 weeks ago after over 6 years of continuous operation. (Hot water in the summer). The impeller on my 009 looked chalky the same way yours did. I could break pieces off and turn them to powder just by squeezing them between my fingers. I did have some issue with debris causing a zone valve to stick open after the fact but that seems to have remedied itself. It was a very simple change out. I strongly recommend having a backup pump on hand. I thought I had a good plan for this eventuality. My neighbor had a same model spare that was supposed to be insurance if either one of us had problems. It had been in operation on his boiler for a couple years and started to make noise. We purchased a replacement before shutting it off and put the new one in it's place. The autopsy made it look like the issue was just a bit of corrosion in the intake. We cleaned it up, tested it, and decided it would make a good backup. When mine quit and I put the backup on it wouldn't pump water. It turned out that the ceramic shaft had separated from the internal portion of the cartridge. At that point I was left with 1 cartridge with a bad impeller and 1 with a bad spindle. The obvious next step was to put the good impeller on the good spindle, right? I proceeded to attempt to remove the metal band still attached to the end of the good spindle. As soon as I squeezed it with pliers it broke into 4 pieces. I supposed I didn't need that anyway and moved on to removing the good impeller from the bad spindle shaft. As soon as I tried to pull the shaft out of the impeller it the ceramic shaft broke. Now I was left with a good impeller with a broken ceramic shaft protruding from it. I realized that there was very little chance of getting the remainder of the shaft out without breaking the metal band, even less chance I would be able to get the impeller on to the good shaft without breaking something else, and virtually no chance that the result would pump water. As I weighed my options for keeping the house warm until a store opened in the morning I decided I had nothing to loose in the attempt. I slowly began cracking the rest of the ceramic out of the impeller with the tip of my Leatherman pliers. To my surprise I ended up with an impeller with an intact metal band. With a drop of soap on the end, I carefully began tapping the impeller on to the otherwise good cartridge. I was actually making progress until it stopped moving. I figured it wasn't on far enough to work, but unbelievably when I checked it was exactly where it needed to be. I connected power, it spun and didn't slip. I finished assembling it, connected it, and it ran quietly and perfectly. I was able to pick up 2 new cartridges in the morning. I'm certain that if I tried to do it again 100 times I couldn't. Moral of the story: Keep a NEW backup on hand.

 

[bayard]

40 year old pump

my circulator pump has been running since 1973.it is a 3 speed model.same for the wood oil boiler.k

 

[Arbonaut]

The day I accidently made a submarine sandwich on a loaf of French bread in the Church basement (which as it turned out after I ate it was there for communion) I snuck home to grab a tomato and some pickles. I heard gurgling in the basement to find the water softener was pumping water on the floor. The float on the sump was stuck and it shorted out the Taco and fried it. My Taco Cartridge lasted seven years. The Pastor's wife's sense of humor...well

 

[Blazin]

The day I accidently made a submarine sandwich on a loaf of French bread in the Church basement (which as it turned out after I ate it was there for communion) I snuck home to grab a tomato and some pickles. I heard gurgling in the basement to find the water softener was pumping water on the floor. The float on the sump was stuck and it shorted out the Taco and fried it. My Taco Cartridge lasted seven years. The Pastor's wife's sense of humor...well

Did you ever get those plugs changed?

 

[Arbonaut]

Did you ever get those plugs changed?

Born 2 Race. Hahahahaha!

 

[Blazin]

Born 2 Race. Hahahahaha!

What about the right side of the left side, you straighten that out yet?

 

[Arbonaut]

What about the right side of the left side, you straighten that out yet?

I'm Right Wing.

The only one I had problems with was me cousin Viking's truck. She had a 396 head on one side. The 14 mm ac delco jobbies went right in to the cylinder.

 

[woodfarmer]

My board is all black steel, the inspector said he doesn't like to use it because of rust and crud, my back up propane boiler is a munchkin stainless steel, will i have problems in the future? should i have used all copper pipe?