Pump Exercise

ced48

Is exercising a Grundfos 15-58FC once a day in the off season a good thing to do, or a waste of start/stop cycles on the pump's lifespan?

Snowmelt

IMO

Good thing,

ced48

Thanks, Snowmelt

Any more opinions on this?

Paul Pollets

Pump exercising

Most modern outdoor reset controls will exercise the pumps if they have not been used for 72hrs. At least the Tekmar and Viessmann controls do....

hot_rod

for what reason?

do you want to exercise them? To prevent them from seizing up over non-use seasons?



I know Grundfos has a little "tickler" built into the pumps to help wake them up after long shut down periods.



Usually the biggest cause of stuck rotors is bad water quality, in closed loop applications it is best to use a cleaner, good water, and a hydronic treatment chemical. That would protect all the components in the system valves, pumps, boilers and heat exchangers.

ced48

So, With Good Water

maybe not? I ask because I have a Loch 55 piped direct, not prim/sec. I also have an indirect water heater. If I use the exercise program, the system will run the boiler/heating loop pump once a day, moving the residual hot water in the heat exchanger out into the heating loop. Seems like a little waste of energy to me, but if I risk having a pump freeze in the fall, maybe the cost of energy is worth it?

hot_rod

sounds like plenty of exercise

if the pump in question runs daily to provide DHW via the indirect? You really don't want to run a pump that could pull heat energy from the indirect, either.



Be sure you have good check protection on the indirect, it can easily thermosiphon heat back into a cold boiler. I'd suggest hydronic specific spring check. Soft seat, tapered plug, low "pop" spring and bubble free seal.

ced48

No-Two Different

pumps, the pump in question gets no use off season.

hot_rod

do you have

a good dirt separator or Y-strainer? It might be a better investment for the system overall instead of an exercise program.



A good dirt separator will take particles down to a 5 micron out of the fluid. Use one with a magnetic fun to to handle and iron ferrite. Good for pumps, valves, boiler, and all heat exchangers.