ZVR controller

cutter

I have a Caleffi ZVR 104 relay zone valve control for the brains of my heating system. A couple weeks back I asked about a circulating pump that stopped working. Today the pump I replaced the other one with did not come on as quick as I felt it should have. The replacement pump is virtually brand new because it had been connected to the oil boiler that was never fired up since install. My install is the wood / Oil in Caleffi #10, page 29 figure 6-14. I have zone valves after the the Hydraulic separator so they require the second pump. The second pump in the one that is not working all the time. In the control the Dip switch is set to master the others are switched to off. The zone valve pump is wired to zone #1 pump terminals, in the controller. The wires from zone #1 pump in the controller go to a receptacle, that the pump is plugged into. I use an extension cord that was shortened up and the stranded wires are very hard to put into the connection's on the pump motor. When I put the second pump on a couple of weeks ago or so the pump did not come on when it should have also. So I figured I had a bad connection at the pump. I took the pump wires out of the pump and put solid wires in the pump then connected the cord wires to the solid wires with wire nuts. The pump then ran. My question is this, Is it possible the controller brains is not sending power to the Zone #1 pump terminals in the controller? One more question, that Grunfos pump I bought has the same wire hookups as the Wilo, push the little lever back and push the wire into a little hole. It's very hard to push stranded wire into that hole. How do you guys wire that pump, stranded wire or solid. do you use a receptacle, or wire into a box with flexible conduit? I am tempted to stiffen up that stranded wire with a little solder on the wire ends.

Jamie Hall

I have no idea about the controller, but the wiring should be done with solid wire, with ground as well as neutral, using junction boxes as needed. Recycled extension cords are just not going to be right, nor is using a plug.

cutter

Jamie Hall said:

I have no idea about the controller, but the wiring should be done with solid wire, with ground as well as neutral, using junction boxes as needed. Recycled extension cords are just not going to be right, nor is using a plug.

Thanks for the suggestion. The cord was a new 14 gauge cord, I got the idea from seeing pumps on this site plugged into a receptacle. Or at least this is where I think I saw it at. It could have been in one of the Caleffi trade journals. That is the only two places I have got suggestion's and ideas from. The cord has ground and neutral.

hot_rod

got a got a pic of the controller, how are the status switches set on the output relays?

cutter

hot_rod said:

got a got a pic of the controller, how are the status switches set on the output relays?

I just lit up the wood and it is working fine now. It is that ZVR 104 / 4 Zone controller. I am thinking you are talking about the dip Switches. The top switch is at Master the other 3 are off. I was wondering if when this controller fails if it does, would no power to one of the pumps be the problem. I have a feeling the problem is not the controller.

hot_rod

There are dip switches up top for different function options, and also pins below that you configure how the relays work with or without one another, STATUS. The installation manual explains the functions and shows various piping schematics of how you might use the different status functions.

In your case you have a blend of ZV and circulators.
Zone 1 could be the radiant, so the thermostat call will enable zone 1 pump, regardless of what the zone valves are doing. The other circulator will not run until one of the zone valves open.

And the radiant will also run, stop and start by it's thermostat when the zone valve are calling on the other circulator.