Taco pump orientation

benc

My parents had a new furnace installed last year. But the heat hasn’t worked well since. My elderly parents like the house at 72. Best they get is 66. Furnace short cycles constantly. 

DeltaT across the system is like 100°. It’s not that exactly, but the water leaving the boiler is 180. The water coming back is lukewarm. 

The installer has the zone manifold against the ceiling with the pump motors facing the floor. I recently upgraded my own heat and noticed the sheet for the pumps say the motor must be horizontal. I take that to mean the pump spindle and motor should be horizontal.  

Could this be the culprit?

GroundUp

Taco does allow vertical motors if the pressure is over 20 psi with their standard models, but I don't think the E series can. Are all 3 zones having similar deltas? This is definitely a lack of flow, but why the flow is lacking is yet to be determined. There may be air bubbles in the volute(s) or anywhere else. What is the system pressure?

Ironman

If there’s a check valve in each circulator (which there should be), then the iso purge flange is on the wrong side of the circulators. It should be on the supply side, not the inlet side. As they now are, the flow check in the circulator will not allow the individual loops to be properly purged of air. This assumes that the circs are on the supply side. More pics would help.

And yes, the circulators must be mounted horizontally.

hot_rod

looks like, rotating flanges on those iso valves, if there is enough room, just swivel them around. At least the end one has room

EdTheHeaterMan

These are the instructions for the Taco 007e pumps. the orientation that your installer selected is not listed as an acceptable way to install the pump. Notice item 2 Red outline)

In other circulator mounting diagrams from Taco and other manufacturers, the position your installer selected is specifically stated to be incorrect as shown in this diagram.

I wonder if your installation company will honor their warranty of "workmanship", if they even offer one.

As far as "could this be the problem?" I believe it could be. Why else does the company offer specific instructions of the pump orientation?

Dave H_2

The issue of you not getting the proper flow is not due to the orientation of the circulator. Yes we want the motor to be horizontal. The position yours is in will circulate water but in that position it can shorten its life span.
A low heat call could happen from several reasons;
1. the loops could still have some air and needs to be purged
2. The static fill pressure is too low
3. if this is a new boiler with an outdoor sensor, the reset curve may need to adjusted.

Either way, a qualified technician needs to come and figure it out

Roobul

EdTheHeaterMan said:

In other circulator mounting diagrams from Taco and other manufacturers, the position your installer selected is specifically stated to be incorrect as shown in this diagram.

What is the problem with the bottom-right? The motor is horizontal; why would the location of the junction box matter? (Figure 4 just says put it at 9 o'clock for best viewing orientation)

STEAM DOCTOR

You don't want electric on the bottom. Higher likelihood of leaking water, finding it's way into the electric 

Roobul

STEAM DOCTOR said:

You don't want electric on the bottom. Higher likelihood of leaking water, finding it's way into the electric 

Good point. My radiant mixing valve was installed upside-down, and I want to replace it with an electronic one to get a higher CV to improve flow, but the control would be on the bottom. (He also installed the primary circ pump with the box on the bottom, which is why I asked originally.)