Pump Tickling

Joe F

How important is the feature of running the circulator for a few seconds every day during the non-heating season?

hr

I think

it's a good idea. The current crop of low horsepower circulators combined with the wet rotor design makes this more of an issue. The the old B&G 100's had lots or torque to overcome a little sticking. Enough torque in fact to rip apart the spring couplings sometimes

Looks like more and more controls are offering this feature in their logic. Taco offers it, tekmar does too, Grundfos had it as an add on relay feature for the UP series.

Personally, I feel water quality has a lot to do with pump sticking issues also.

hot rod

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Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Do you

want to do this too keep the circulator from binding or are you doing the becuase you're worried about some kning of biotic contamination?

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Jamie Hall

it's not just sticking...

some of the newer pumps have mechanical seals; they need to be spun now and again to keep the seal seats smooth so the dang things won't leak.

Joe F

What is it worth?

How many pumps will not have to be replaced because they get cycled in the off season? Do you see these small pumps like the UP or the Taco 00 series lasting 3 years or 30?

J.C.A.

Pump exercising,

After the first Grundfos units were installed , we saw the need for this function . They almost all needed a little push to get them going after a long summers rest . I personally like the function being built in . I do however think that a couple times a month would be sufficient . Control technology has come so far in so few years , isn't it amazing ? Chris.

BillW@honeywell

Aquatrols

All our new Aquatrols AQ475,675&775 have this feature. For more info, try http://hbctechlit.honeywell.com.

Duncan_2

Circ failure.

I expect a small wet rotor to last at least ten years. Twenty would be real good. Thirty would be great, but who knows, there's so many variables? I agree with hot rod: dirty or rust-laden systems seem to shorten pump life.

Realistically, over a period of ten years, I only come across two or three small wet rotor circs that need a jump start and then run fine. That's as close of a GUESS as I can make. But who knows how many of the dead ones that needed replacing might have been saved (never siezed/NOT replaced) if they'd been exercised (???). That's a WAG.

As a service person, it's iffy anyway, giving the circ a spin, listening to it purr, and walking away. The thought occurs that you may be back tomorrow to replace it when it siezes again.

Grundfos' removeable end cap at the rear of the pump shaft was nice that way, you could give the impeller a spin without breaking into the system. A good troubleshooting tool to see if the pump was physically stuck. After they stopped using them on the 1542 one speed, I'd buy the three speed and pay a couple extra bucks just for the end cap feature. Using that as a comparison, I think the price difference was about ten bucks.

Other circs, to spin the impeller, you need to break into the water side of the system anyway, so why not just replace 'em?

Exercising is a great feature for little wet rotors, I like it a lot, but darn, it'd be hard statistically to track down how many circs actually fail simply because they needed a kick. Better to have it than not, from a homeowner's point of view, I guess - less worry.

Sorry about the ramble... too much coffee again.

Manufacturers quiet about MTBF?