Honeywell zone valve failing?

jeffceo

I have a Laars Endurance propane boiler. Lately I have noticed two things. One, the unit gets up to temp at 190 pretty quickly and shuts down. Two, when the tstat is calling for heat, my hydro air handler will start blowing air but it could be 10-20 minutes before hot air starts coming out. I feel the return pipe and it is ice cold.

I noticed the Honeywell zone valve is buzzing (V8043G). Also, my second circulator pump on the return pipe is not running which I believe is signaled by the zone valve? Please see the youtube link. I am thinking either the zone valve itself is bad or just the motor. I am hoping just the motor because it is tight quarters to sweat a new valve. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

video: https://youtu.be/weoUzrVPIm0

MikeL_2

Jeff,
There may be a power head adapter kit available with a new ball & shaft assembly, plate, and motor. The kit uses the existing valve body; no soldering required. When you remove the existing motor you should be able to rotate the shaft with your thumb & forefinger, often, the shaft becomes stiff and the 24 volt motor struggles to rotate the ball and will not reliably close the dry contact end switch......

HVACNUT

Cant tell from the video if the zone valve is opening and closing. The lever should move freely when open. Tension when closed.

Do the other zone valves operate normally?

STEVEusaPA

Remove the power wire, rotate the handle to manually open. Are you getting flow?

jeffceo

Hey guys, thank you for the advice. I removed the motor and saw that it was struggling to turn even when it was free. It will turn about one gear tooth every couple seconds if it turns at all.

The manual lever does not move all the way to the contact switch so I moved the brass geared plate all the way down to the contact switch with a screw driver and I an getting flow and the other circulator runs. There is good resistance on this but it seems to be just spring pressure. I ordered a new motor for around $30. Thanks again for all your help

Big Ed_4

Sounds like the gears are stripped .. Order the powerhead instead ..

jeffceo

Hey guys, thanks again for all your help. I replaced the motor/gear assembly and it is working well now. I took apart the old unit and the gears seemed fine. I connected the motor alone to a transformer and I could hear it trying to run but it could not. So it turns out the motor was bad. It lasted 15 years so I am not complaining.. made in USA!

HomerJSmith

What happens to Honeywell motors is that the top bearing falls down and the rotor poles out. I learned that many, many years ago with a lot of investigation.