Condensate tank pump noise/leak

motomars

Hi all. I could use some advice on problem I'm having with my church's commercial steam boiler. The condensate tank has two pumps and one is occasionally making a very loud whizzing/grinding noise (sorry, hard to describe it exactly) for several seconds and then water leaks from the base of the pump. The system otherwise appears to be working properly.

Seems like, at the very least, the seals need to be replaced. But maybe the noise indicates there's a bigger problem with the pump, and it needs to be replaced entirely?

Also, is there any concern with continuing to run the system while this is happening?

pecmsg

that’s a sign of a seal leak.
as far as the noise it has to be opened to know.

Pumpguy

Leaking pump seals and bad pump side motor bearings go together like a nut and bolt. Once the shaft seal starts leaking, the leakage gets into the bearing and it goes bad shortly thereafter.

It's always recommended to change the motor bearings whenever the shaft seal is changed.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@motomars

You can probably get that pump fixed at a motor shop.

Shut the boiler off and kill the power to the pump. Drain the tank and remove the pump. With the pump off get a piece of 3/4" plywood and cut a piece you can bolt to the tank flange after drilling bolt holes in the plywood.

Get some gasket material at a plumbing supply or an auto parts store.

Boiler feed tanks are vented to the atmosphere so there is little to no pressure on the tank so the plywood will hold up.

I would call the motor shop and explain the situation and give them model/serial and pictures of pump and pump and tank name plate. That way they can get some parts ahead of time or find their availability. Have the bearings in the motor changed as well as the seal and get new gaskets.

motomars

@EBEBRATT-Ed Thank you. Just to confirm - you are suggesting that I cover the pump flange with plywood so I can continue operating the boiler while I have the pump motor repaired? Once I drain the tank, remove the pump, and cover the flange, I can just restart the boiler and it will operate okay without that pump?

EBEBRATT-Ed

Yes but it depends how the pump(s) are wired and how may boilers you have. Pumps could be set up to alternate or 1 pump for each boiler. Don't know what you have.

Don't know how many boilers you have. You could try shutting off that pump or killing power and disconnecting the wires to that pump and see if the other pumps feed your boilers so you can run.

motomars

Just one boiler and two pumps - the pipes from the two pumps eventually merge into one pipe. So I assume that means they alternate. I will kill power to that pump and see if the boiler runs.

EBEBRATT-Ed

They either alternate or are manually switched so you should be ok with 1 pump.

If you can get that pump fixed you would be better off. Anything Xylem/Hoffman sells you need to get a loan to buy it way overpriced.

motomars

The pumps operate simultaneously - and there are power switches for each so I simply turned off the faulty one. System appears to be working fine. Btw, I've been calling this a condensate tank, but it's actually a boiler feed tank. I assume that doesn't matter in terms of my current pump situation?

You aren't kidding about the replacement price. We intend to decommission the boiler by the spring of '27 and I'm hoping to avoid putting much more $ into it. I could do nothing about the faulty pump - but I guess the risk is that the one good pump dies and I'm in a situation of needed an emergency repair/replacement.