Sporadic loud groaning from Taco circulation pump

kettleon

Hello from sunny MA,

I switched apartments this winter. The building has water radiators. This morning, a loud hum was audible in the basement. We went downstairs and found the noise coming from one of three Taco 007 circulation pumps (the one for the 1st floor). Within an hour, this became a loud grinding? sound (GRAA-rrr-GRAA-rrr &c.) that was audible over breakfast conversation (once in the basement, maybe 4x as loud as the dryer). After calling maintenance, we shut the boiler off for a while.

Now after starting it back up it, it's back at 180F and 17psi with no further noise. Can someone tell me what might be going on with the pump? Without a way to reproduce I suspect nothing will be done; looks like it's been a few years. Sorry now I didn't record audio of it at the time.

Other trivia that might or might not be relevant: the three pumps are on a switch; only the 1F pump was on at the time; the 1F radiators are convectors along the baseboard; the rest are loop radiators. And a loop radiator started leaking earlier this week and has been turned off until the plumber could come fix it.

Thanks & regards!

Jamie Hall

Probably a bearing or seal which is failing. They'll do that. Cheer up -- at some point it will fail completely, and then it will have to be fixed.

Joe Mattiello

Hello Sunny MA
Hope everything is going good now that the pump noise subsided. I’ve heard the grinding noise before, and usually grinding noise is synonymous with air in the system. Turning up the pressure usually helps. Sometimes the noise goes away when the system energizes, because temperature increases, and so does system pressure because of thermally growth. The air is forced back into solution, carried through the system, and purged out the air vent.
Another consideration is the orientation of the motor housing. IF the motor housing is straight up vertical, system pressure should be raised to approximately 20 psi to force air out of the top of integral cartridge assembly to mitigate rear bearing lubrication, and minimize noise.
The 007 is a great pump that has been in production for many years, and proved to be a staple product for Taco. One of its greatest attributes is the ability to change out the cartridge assembly if it fails. A lot of technicians feel it might not be worth it, because the pump as a whole is competitively priced, and readily available. However, variations of the 00 family of pumps are equipped with controls that can raise the price, so replacing a cartridge is an economical alternative to replacing the entire pump.
If the noise continues, or resurfaces, please give me a call at Taco 401-942-8000 to further discuss your application, and what we can do to correct any issue.