weil-mclain ultra 230 primary circulator pump failures

Tony_8

Pumping into or out of the boiler?

I think it should be into. Hard to believe 3 bad circs, especially on the same unit and in the same location.

bill miller

weil-mclain ultra 230 primary circulator pump failures

is anybody having problems with the ultra 230 boiler primary circulator pumps? i installed my boiler this fall (2003) and have replaced the primary circulator pump 3 times. it is a taco 0011,mounted on 1.25 copper tube primary loop. the boiler is piped primary/secondary. the pumps starts right out of the box with a high pitched whine then after about 3 weeks the pump motor fails. the temperature drop across the boiler is about 20 degrees. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Grumpy

It has to be pumping into the boiler, and must be on the "inlet" tapping which is the left side facing the front of the boiler. Is there at a minimum a 6" stub of piping into the pump after any fittings? I found anything shorter than that, the pump was noticably noisier.
Please don't take offense at our checking the input connection location, stranger things have happened.

Grumpy

It has to be pumping into the boiler, and must be on the "inlet" tapping which is the left side facing the front of the boiler. Is there at a minimum a 6" stub of piping into the pump after any fittings? I found anything shorter than that, the pump was noticably noisier.
Please don't take offense at our checking the input connection location, stranger things have happened.

bill miller

response to above messages about weil-mclain ultra 230

facing the boiler, the supply stub on the right side comes up into 1.25 elbow then into a filtrol 110 expansion tank, then turns up into the circulator suction flange through the circulator through the primary loop and back into the boiler return stub. I have faxed weil-mclain and taco drawings of the piping layout, they both say it is fine, but i am still losing pumps! They have no idea why! does anybody have any ideas? thanks all of you for your help.

RELY

Shortage of 011 in NJ

I thought that Taco had a shotage or a change in vendors for the 011 could be wrong but thats what I heard! Could be bad run? I have a question will taco 011 pump 23 gpm threw 1 1/4 pipe at a max of 8 fps velocity

bill miller

the reason why im using the taco 0011 pump is weil-mclain supplied the pump with the boiler. weil-mclain engineered the pump to go with this boiler and specified this pipe size. these pumps are being replaced as warranty. but the problem is not going away! im open for suggestions on using a different pump. does anybody have any suggestions? thank you for your input.

jalcoplumb_2

What direction is.....

the motor facing? If it is facing up that could contribute to the undue death of the pump. Taco wants 20psi system pressure or more for a pump that is facing up.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Post one, this might help.

LEAD PIPE

I had one

The one that came with the boiler didn't work from the start. But the new one has worked fine.

Tony_8

you have

all the suggestions you need in the above posts. A different brand pump won't change the fact that you're not piped according to the instructions. What are you using for air elimination ? and where is that located ?

Steve Ebels

Pump whine

Is usually caused by cavitation which is a result of a failure to maintain the required NPSH. (net positive suction head) In other words, the circulator is trying to discharge more fluid than it has available on the suction side. This causes the pressure on the inlet side of the circ to drop to the point where it will create enough negative pressure to allow air bubbles to form in the inlet stream. No pump will live long and prosper under that condition.

An 011 is a serious circulator, lots of flow into lots of head. If the manufacturer says it's the correct circ and it's mounted in the correct location with the correct amount of straight pipe on the suction side, (that was a mouthful) you might try increasing the static fill pressure in your system to up around 20psi. What this does is keep the inlet or suction side pressure above the point where the circ will cavitate. Sometimes this works, you'd just have to try it and see. Again, there are a number of other things that should be checked first. I myself would use 1 1/2" or even 2" piping to handle flow of over 20 GPM. 1 1/4" is too small from my experience.

PS: This might require a larger expansion tank to allow for the higher static fill pressure. You would have to re-adjust the air charge in the tank if you try it in any case.

bill miller

air purger & mounting

the amtrol air purger is the mounted about 1 foot away from the boiler on the boiler supply. the air purger has the expansion tank mounted on the bottom of it. the air purger has a air float vent mounted on top of it. the pump is mounted with its flanges vertically. the pump is mounted next after the expansion tank pumping away towards the return inlet of the boiler. i have a pressure gage on the supply line,when the boiler is making 170 degree water the pressure is 22 psi with the pump running. with the pump not running the pressure is about 15 psi.

Floyd_5

get us a pic....

I suspect that you may have the pump in backwards....
sure would help to be able to see exactly what you have there...your eyes don't always interpet what we see in our minds... diferent description create diferent pictures and I can't be sure from what your saying what you actually have....
something is obviously very wrong, though....

Tony_8

your circ

needs to be on the inlet side of the boiler. Leave the purger where it is, it presently is too close to the inlet of the circ. I believe it needs to be 12-18 inches before the 0011. You're cavitating and pulling air in through the float vent. Seen it happen, didn't believe it before, but I sure do now.

bill miller

i will take your advice and try the changes and keep you posted. i will try to post pictures of it currently for you to see. thank all of you for taking the time to help me figure this out!

Joe Mattiello

Joe Mattiello

When you say the pump is failing, that is a general term. The pump orientation is a possible problem We recommend installing the pump with the motor parallel to the floor. You can install it with the motor straight up vertical, but 20 psi system pressure is required. Can you tell me a little bit about the system? What type of piping are you using? Is it oxygen protected? Is there iron oxide in the system? Obviously, something in the system is a detriment to the circulator. I would say that anyone's pump can fail when exposed to the same system. Taco, offers a 1 year warrantee on the pump, and Three years on the replaceable cartridge assembly. We take pride in our products, and I can tell you that every pump is tested before it leaves the factory. Please feel free to contact me directly, for additional support.

Joe Mattiello
Technical Services
(401)942-8000 ext.484
Fax (401) 942-2360
joemat@taco-hvac.com