Taco Viridian 15-1.......Dead after only 2 1/2 seasons....GOOD UPDATE

JUGHNE

This was installed 12-2013 and failed in the spring of 2017.
It replaced the primary pump for a set of two Series 60 B&G's.
Started up and ran fine, much less amp draw than the 60's.
But now:

No blue light....never witnessed any red code flashes.
(Back up pump would come on automatically via flow switch)
120 VAC right to the terminals under cover.
The motor fuse under cover is good.
System has never been dry, rotor always under water.
Water temp max of 140, (pumps on return).
What to look for next?

This was installed because of bearing failure of the primary 60 pump.
Convinced the owner it was time to upgrade.
Now he has a dead Taco but his 1961 B&G motor is still running on the back-up pump.
Thanks for any advice.

kcopp

What is the system emitter description? Boiler? Water quality? Did it sit all summer?
I would be curious as to what the iron content of the system is and if the rare earth magnet in the circ pulled ferrous particles into the bearing and killed it.
An Autopsy is in order.....

JUGHNE

Steel tube boiler, iron piping to copper tube baseboards and convectors. Off every summer.
Water here is very friendly, this boiler and electric water heater next to it were installed in 1961. The water heater started leaking about 12 years ago.

If a bearing issue it seems like it would try to start and throw up a code....red light blinking etc. When power is applied a clamp meter reads 0.08 amps.....no noise....no lights.

kcopp

Fair... Lets see what the guys in RI have to say...

Joe Mattiello

Sorry to hear about the VR15-1 failing back in spring of 2017. Why are you addressing this now? This could have been resolved when the pump failed. Anyway, without a Blue Light, It can be assumed the power head failed, and needs replacing. It's only an assumption, and nearly impossible to ascertain root cause of failure without examining the unit.
Apparently the unit is beyond the one year factory warranty, however, if you send the pump into my attention, I will have our quality team do a failure analysis to determine what happened, and see if there is something we can do to help. I totally agree, we should not be having this conversation after a short period of time in service. As we all know, there are many variables that can cause a pump to fail prematurely, and some pumps can last for decades. Taco, has pumps in service for well over 50 years; and still going. Let's take a look at it, and then we will have another conversation.

Steve Thompson (Taco)

To follow up on Joe's response just posted...

No lights would indicate a VFD failure that could have been caused by a number of different issues either site or product related. To be 100% clear, we're not looking for blame - most importantly we want to determine cause/solution to eliminate any further issues. Replacing without solutions is bad business for sure.

The "-1" indicates an older model that has a fuse in the drive that can be replaced but I think it's better to replace as we've gone through a number of drive upgrades over the last couple of years.

Please have your wholesaler return to the local rep who will return to Taco for diagnostics. Hopefully we can bring the drive back to life and pull down info from the data logger (hours of operation, # of starts etc.). We'll also inspect the rotating assembly but I doubt if that's an issue.

Make sure my name (or Joe's) is referenced to all documentation as this is technically out of warranty (don't worry - warranty is one thing, meeting your expectations is entirely a different thing and is of upmost priority).

My spidy sense is leading me to believe it's a product defect potentially aggravated by power spikes, rapid power cycling, dragging rotor or a combination of any of these - but hard to determine until we see it and run some testing.

I can be reached at 401-441-2934 or via E Mail stetho@tacocomfort.com if you have any questions/concerns.

Erin Holohan Haskell

Thanks, @Joe Mattiello and @Steve Thompson (Taco). Impressive customer service!

JUGHNE

The pump is on it's way to Taco.
I have talked to both Joe and Steve.
Good customer service!

It is great to have someone answer the phone without being sent to voicemail or put on hold.

Mad Dog_2

It's great to see a company that deals head on with problems. It starts at the top. Johnny White & the crew always do the right thing. Mad Dog

Sal Santamaura

JUGHNE said:

...It is great to have someone answer the phone without being sent to voicemail or put on hold...

Or being connected to an overseas call center. Grrrrrr. Pardon the rant; I've just been dealing with that on a failed product in an entirely different industry. Might Taco be interested in expanding its product line into inkjet printers?

JUGHNE

Update on the Taco Viridian 15:
The pump was sent back to Taco, repaired and returned to me.
The turn around time was excellent. Is installed and working as needed. ( I had been away, the weather friendly for heating)
As mentioned above this is installed on a 66 year old steel tube boiler with steel and copper piping. There was no problem with ferrous deposits.

BTW the Taco is drawing 3.85 amps, if I change over to the parallel piped standby B&G, that currant draw is 5.85 amps for the same load. This adds up as this is 24/7 operation when ODT is 45 degrees or lower.

An amicable agreement was reached concerning the owner, installer and Taco.

I thank Taco Inc and especially Steve and Joe for all their help!
You all stepped up quite well.

Thanks again.

Tom_133

Not to highjack this thread, but I also have an impressive Taco story.

I installed a VR20 in Aspen 2 years ago, it went down last year due to a variable drive over heating issue. They sent me a new variable drive PC board at no charge. This year the same thing happened, and instead of scoffing or saying its out of warranty they are sending me a whole new pump!! That is unbelievable and the reason I will be buying Taco full time.

Tom

Ironman

So, what did Taco determine was the cause of failure?

Shout out to them on being stand up guys in their customer service. I wish more manufactures were this way.

STEVEusaPA

Between Taco, Caleffi, and Energy Kinetics, just to name a few, it pays to post on The Wall, and to support these guys and their respective companies.
Now, whatever happened to that Tekmar guy...?

JUGHNE

Apparently, the problem was in the electronic drive. This was an early version. Taco replaced some components to update it.