Anyone use the new Taco 0018e

Le John

Anyone use the new Taco 0018e. How does it compare to the Grundfos Alpha2 in terms of performance and reliability?

Robert_25

I think both are too new for anyone to have a good idea of long term reliability.  

The 0018E has a lot of features, but seems like it would be overkill for many applications.

GW

We installed a couple hundred Alphas over the years. Only one dead one, my own house! 

Le John

@GW Wow that's terrible. Did Grundfos replace it?

GW

The vendor gave me a new one. No biggie I had one in my truck 

Solid_Fuel_Man

Isn't that always the way? Customers dont have issues, but you do in your own place! 

I just put used stuff in my place now, that way I know itll work! Lol

Joe Mattiello

yes, I have one in my home. love it!! it has three unique modes of operation, and I use the constant pressure mode for my 13 zone valves. 0018e blue tooth feature is great for dialing in the perfect pump operating mode, and know where your operating on pump curve. before Bluetooth technology, we would guessthemate where the pump is operating. I just went downstairs to take a picture of my system, and 1 zone is calling for heat, pump is running, so I connected using Bluetooth and see my pump is operating at approx 1 gpm at 10.5 ft/hd. now that pretty cool!
for your reference, I attached two photos along with 0018e catalog. hopefully this was helpful.

Solid_Fuel_Man

Nice Taco green plywood @Joe Mattiello !

Robert_25

Joe Mattiello said:

yes, I have one in my home. love it!! it has three unique modes of operation, and I use the constant pressure mode for my 13 zone valves. 0018e blue tooth feature is great for dialing in the perfect pump operating mode, and know where your operating on pump curve. before Bluetooth technology, we would guessthemate where the pump is operating. I just went downstairs to take a picture of my system, and 1 zone is calling for heat, pump is running, so I connected using Bluetooth and see my pump is operating at approx 1 gpm at 10.5 ft/hd. now that pretty cool!
for your reference, I attached two photos along with 0018e catalog. hopefully this was helpful.

Beautiful install. Have you ever tried the propotional pressure mode? Makes sense to me that if more zones are calling it must be cold outside and you could probably use a bit more flow. :-)

I have 9 zones in my home system, it is rare that I see more than 3 calling at once.

Le John

Joe Mattiello said:

yes, I have one in my home. love it!! it has three unique modes of operation, and I use the constant pressure mode for my 13 zone valves. 0018e blue tooth feature is great for dialing in the perfect pump operating mode, and know where your operating on pump curve. before Bluetooth technology, we would guessthemate where the pump is operating. I just went downstairs to take a picture of my system, and 1 zone is calling for heat, pump is running, so I connected using Bluetooth and see my pump is operating at approx 1 gpm at 10.5 ft/hd. now that pretty cool!
for your reference, I attached two photos along with 0018e catalog. hopefully this was helpful.

Thanks for posting @Joe Mattiello Look at all those zone valves. I feel a little wimpy with only three zones at 25-30 feet each. btw - nice personal touch with the green plywood.

Joe Mattiello

Thanks for all the compliments on my system using 0018e. I should throw my radiant guy John Perry Advanced Comfort Systems a plug, he designed the board. More about my system, it's in slab heating and I'm using approx 105 degree water temp to heat my home. My heating bills are ridiculously low, and my house is at 71 degrees throughout. I have an indirect for DHW so the boiler only fires to high limit when DHW is calling. As for proportional pressure mode, I would consider that for one large zone, as opposed to zone-valves which constantly open and close, so pump continues with constant pressure when only one or more zone are calling. As you can see from my blue tooth curve, my pump adjusted to one zone calling for heat. I find it to be a real game changer. I just had a plumber come over for a quick plumbing job, and he asked me about the system, so I had him feel the pipes, and the pipes are close to body temperature, so they don't believe it's running. I remind everyone, my house is 71 degrees and it's in the thirties outside.

Tinman

13 zones, buffer tank?

hotsauce

Joe Mattiello said:

yes, I have one in my home. love it!! it has three unique modes of operation, and I use the constant pressure mode for my 13 zone valves. 0018e blue tooth feature is great for dialing in the perfect pump operating mode, and know where your operating on pump curve. before Bluetooth technology, we would guessthemate where the pump is operating. I just went downstairs to take a picture of my system, and 1 zone is calling for heat, pump is running, so I connected using Bluetooth and see my pump is operating at approx 1 gpm at 10.5 ft/hd. now that pretty cool!
for your reference, I attached two photos along with 0018e catalog. hopefully this was helpful.

Thanks Joe! When you are using constant pressure mode what does the pump do when all of the TRV's are closed, like on a warm afternoon? Does it shut itself down completely? If it shuts itself down due to zero demand what starts it up again? TIA!

Dave H_2

Joe's house is zoned by zone valves so the constant pressure mode is the perfect setting, it will speed up and down as zone valves open and close. The ZVC board controls the opening and closing of the zone valves and also sends a signal to turn on the 0018e when zones call. As soon as all of the zones stop calling for heat, the circ shuts off.

hotsauce

Dave H_2 said:

Joe's house is zoned by zone valves so the constant pressure mode is the perfect setting, it will speed up and down as zone valves open and close. The ZVC board controls the opening and closing of the zone valves and also sends a signal to turn on the 0018e when zones call. As soon as all of the zones stop calling for heat, the circ shuts off.

So how would you start and stop the pump in a circuit with 6 radiant panels all individually controlled by TRV valves?

Solid_Fuel_Man

With TRVs, you would have to use outdoor temperature to shut down the pump. This can be done from the boiler, warm weather shutdown. Or a simple adjustable outdoor temp switch if no WWSD is available. 

hot_rod

Solid_Fuel_Man said:

With TRVs, you would have to use outdoor temperature to shut down the pump. This can be done from the boiler, warm weather shutdown. Or a simple adjustable outdoor temp switch if no WWSD is available. 

Properly applied the circulator in delta P mode should ramp down to idle mode when all TRV are closed, my system with TRV on cast rads works like that.

If you don't want the 4-7 watt parasitic load you could drop power base on outdoor temperature. Unless you want warm bathroom floors year 'round

Different opinions on whether or not the circulator should be constantly powered. I suppose if it had an exercise function built in, it would want constant power.