Problems with Taco zone valves

Rich L.

People are awfully quick to complain when things go wrong. Unfortunately they're not usually so quick to point out things done right. I'd like to do that now.

I've been in contact with Mr. Joe Mattiello @ Taco through e-mails several times yesterday and today. They are bending over backwards to help me out and I couldn't appreciate it more.

Products, communication, follow through. All traits of a great company. Like I've already said, I've thought highly of Taco since being in the trades. They've just moved a notch higher in my eyes. And I now realize it's the people behind the company, as well as the products, that really make it great.

Thanks guy's, I couldn't be more impressed.

Rich L.

Taco valve actuator troubles.

Is anyone else having trouble with Taco valve actuators? They are the newer style, actually all circa 2006 vintage ESP style. They are post NO/ NC switch style.

I've had three recent failures. The first one would intermittently fail to open on a call for heat. This is on the source side of my open loop heat pump. My heat pump would trip on high head due to no water flow. The zone valve was receiving the 24v signal but wouldn't move. I would cycle power to it and it would work just fine, for another month or so. I changed that one out with a new spare actuator sitting on my workbench about a month ago. Last weekend I found that one failing to close after the heat pump was satisfied. I even "pulled the plug" on it and it didn't move. I pushed it in and turned it by hand and it went right back to working just fine. I had one more spare on the bench so I put that one on last Sunday. I woke up the last two mornings to the actuator stuck open again.

Did Taco have a bad batch of these in '06?

This is NOT a bash Taco post! I've been a fan of Taco products for a long time and these have always been one of my favorite zone valves. I love the ease of wiring with the removable plugs, the indicator light so I can see what it's doing (supposed to be doing!), the easy hand operation, and they have a great CV and closing/ opening force.

So, any ideas about what's going on here? Thanks.

John White

zone Valves

Rich Someone from
Taco will be in touch with you presently.
Sorry for any inconvenience, we'll see what is going on.
jw

Rich L.

Thanks

Thank you for the quick response Johnny. I look forward to and appreciate any help you can give.

Rich L

Joe Mattiello

Hi Rich;

Truly it’s unfortunate you experienced problems with the ESP valves. Apparently you have the 2006 vintage where we uncovered some power supply issues that may have caused havoc with the internal electronic control. The root cause of the issues was a combination of factors that I believe our engineering department has addressed with the current generation of EBV valves. Taco engineered a more robust board that seems to be working without any problems. Of course the valve actuators are covered under warranty that can be facilitated through the local Taco dealer. Perhaps you can call me direct at 401-942-8000 X 484, if you would like me to personally assist you with a warranty claim.

adambuild

!

Kudos to Taco! All human beings make mistakes. What "separates the men from the boys" is how mistakes are handled. That is one of the reasons that we use Taco exclusively. My hat is off to anyone in this day and age who takes responsibility, steps up to the plate, and makes a situation right. Keep up the good work!

Adam
ADAM Builders

adambuild

!

Oops! Repost

Rich L.

Thank you for the response Joe.

I've been in contact with my local rep and they've offered to replace the actuators under warranty.

I was hoping to hear something like this. It's comforting to know there was a problem, it's been addressed by upgrading the product and you're standing behind it like the first class company you are.

Thanks again Johnny and Joe, Rich L

Rich L.

2nd

I heartily second that sentiment Adam.

ChasMan

Check your valves.

Somewhere, There was official information that explained how to identify an old valve. I purchaced four of these in the summer of 2008. Two of the four had the issues you are describing. All four were identified as being post problem valves. I replaced them all with another brand for this and various other reasons. Its a great design, it just needs a little tweaking I think.

Jim_64

So what are we suppose to do? After 3 months of use my Geothermal Taco valve fails to open so I switched it with the one from my second stage. Of course I have no second stage now but wonder if both should be replaced if there is a batch issue.

bill_105

American bussiness hall of fame nominee

Whatever Taco is your doing over there in Cranston, I hope they don't quit.

Jim Pompetti

We are

having the same problem ,with a Taco valve .We first thought it was the T'stat ,being a honeywell Pro 5000 ,thought it may need a resistor ,but Honeywell reply was no resistor needed. You have to love this forum nothing gets by it.

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Man with a question

EBV Valves

I'm very pleased to see this post.

I also very much like the design of the EBV. The indicator light, the plug in connections, etc.

Unfortunately,we have also had to replace a number of the actuators in the first two years and I am on the verge of going to another product that will not provoke so many call backs.

If I am confident that this will not be a common problem indefinitely and that I can get a quick warranty replacement, I would rather keep using them.

I'll ask the office how easy it has been to get warranty replacemnents.



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Happy Jake

Taco EBV valve failure

I just had an EBV valve that failed to actuate. The light was green, but seemed stuck in the closed mode. These valves were purchased last summer, so I'm concerned. At this point I don't want to jump to conclusions that it's the valve. I pulled the T'stat connection and allowed the valve to cycle (discharge). It then came up Ok. Normally, a failure may not be a problem, but it's been 20 degs this past week. We were gone all day and found the area heated by this zone to under 50 deg, when the T'stat was set to 60. The heating system is setup that once the EBV valve activates and closes the EBV switch, that signal is sent to the TACO Pump Controller. Does anyone have ideas what I might look for? Thks

Al Gregory_3

I used many of them a few years ago and had to replace everyone of them. My supplier made good on replacements but ofcourse the labor was on me. If I need a fast opening valve I use Honeywell otherwise I use the regular Tacos.

TroubledTaco

Taco EBV Electronics Failure

Hi,

New to this forum. And Thanks for any advice in advance.





I am also having failures in my TACO zone ball valves. 3/4 sweat.

I have 4 and all of them are refuse to turn the full 90 degrees on shut down.

One is just plain bad. As the manual knob wont click into the proper notch to even turn manuallly. The 3 others all just seem to run out of power before rotation is completed.

I called TACO and was told it was a resistor. But  LUX stated that no power is drained by the thermostats. I ran diagnosis and noted that even with 3 other zone valve disconnected, Still not enough power to turn a 90 degrees closed position.

My meter says the voltage is good. and not a lot of resistance in the lines.

 These worked fine for 2 seasons. And the mechanics in the valves work fine.

I hoped for better after replacing Honeywell zone valves. They couldn't close proper either.

Any Idea's.



Thanks.

CompSciDude

Similar problems with Taco EBV's

I had two old Taco ball valves in the mid 2000's and they stopped functioning electronically. Similarly with my two 03-07 valves (March, 2007). The green lights work for a few months, then fail, and the valves no longer respond to the thermostat or call the boiler for heat.



Basically I've just left the valves in the on position and let the other thermostats in the

house regulate things (I have 4 zones, so with 2 operating properly things are ok).



But I'm down to one zone working properly and have just installed two 05-07 valves that I've stored for a couple of years.



They started working immediately (30 minutes ago).



But I have this feeling that they too will also fail (according to the posts I've seen, which postdate my 2007 valves).



These valves were used to replace Honeywell valves that caused tremendous knocks in the system (the boiler heats water that flows through baseboard pipes).



So, what is the solution? To keep buying Taco zone valves that fail within months (or at most a year)? They have solved the knock problem, and when they work, they are great. But they are failing mighty fast.



Some advice would be great. If there is a Taco rep reading this, I'd love to hear from you. You have a neat product, but it doesn't appear to be robust. If I still had access to my EE students I'd have them rip one apart and look for the failure. Is there a microprocessor failure? Is there a hardware reset? Is there a resistor I can replace myself??? Help? Thanks.

TacoLoco

Unhappy Taco Customer

I had a new boiler installed in February 2006, which included three Taco Ball Valve style Zone Valves (with 2-06 date on them) and a Taco Circ pump.

The Circ pump had to be replaced a year later.

In August of 2008, two of the zone valves stuck open and had to be replaced (with 7-07 date on them).

In November one of those 7-07 replacements quit and had to be replaced (with valve with an 8-10 date).  This time I got a spare which I had to replace the one replaced in November with yesterday.

That one is malfunctioning already.  My service company is coming out to give me an estimate on yanking all three and replacing with Honeywell - since there are several references to what astand-up company Taco is, I figured I'd post this and see if anyone from Taco would respond.

Thorp Thomas

It's a love-hate relationship for me

The Taco ESP/EBV valve is a big component for my systems; I have thousands of them in the field. Each of my system gets between 2- 15 valves. I've had so many failures I've stopped counting, we're replacing them on a weekly basics. It's not just the power heads, but the valve bodies as well. 

I've heard every excuse Taco has to offer: first it was the ESP didn't have a big enough capacitor to power it closed, then it was the "O" ring on the stem, then it was the Teflon seat expands with to high of a water temperature, then the coating on the ball was bad, then the circuitry. Okay, time to start over this time we've got it: Spring return power head, then the gears stripped out, then the spring would pop out of the keeper and bind up, the motors were defective. Okay, let’s start all over again... All new design with the new improved EBV valve with a redesigned valve body: now the actuator lock up at 1/8th turn, no moving it at all, then it's back to problem #1 again capacitor doesn't have enough juice to close the valve and it gets out of alignment and now the Teflon seat scores easily allowing the water flow by causing over heating.

I'm love the design of product and desperately want it succeed. To me it’s all in the "CV" values that keep me using it. I can't wait for the day that Taco gets their act together and starts producing a more reliable valve. Don't even try to talk me in using another brand of valve, been there - done that... With 44 years in the trade I use what works best for me.

Thorp Thomas

It's a love-hate relationship for me

Sorry for the second post... key didn't seem to work.

scott markle_2

zone sentry

I was sold on these valves for the high CV and low power consumption.



Everything is working very well, I even like the sound they make when opening and closing.



Because they are new to me, I wanted to use the NPT version and put them on unions for easy service, unfortunately I couldn't get them in a timely manner.



Sure hope this is the version with all the kinks worked out!

Joey1

Taco flo valve

I have a heat exchanger tank for my domestic hot water the taco 1 1/4 flo valve is not holding. It was installed 2 years ago and up til now it has been holding fine. I had to install it in the return for lack of room on the header. If you can advise me it would be helpful.

Thanks Joey

hot_rod

What cv is needed for a 3/4 valve?

Most of the motorized zone valves on the market have a Cv in the 5- 8 range.



Acceptable flow in a 3/4" copper for hydronic applications is @ 4 gpm. Exceeding that flow is what often causes hammering when a valve closes.



If the valve is sized and installed properly, and the flows are not in excess of the suggested industry standard the valve, regardless of the brand, should not cause a hammer noise.



Confirm the actual flow rate. It can be calculated or install a flow gauge that can be used to confirm the flow rate.



Consider zoning on the return side. Select and install a pressure activated bypass valve. If you have 4 or more zone valves on a fixed speed circ, it is a good practice to use a PAB. Or or consider a delta p circulator to ensure a happy, healthy, noise free, consumer friendly zoned hydronic system.



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