cold on end of loop,bigger pump okay?

Gary Burke

I have a house with 2 heating zones. The upper zone is for bedrooms. My daughters (1 year olds)room is too cold, it is at the end of the loop and by the time the water goes through it is hardly hot. I have a very large loop for that zone and I am using a stock Taco 007 pump which is actually working my upstairs zone, my downstairs zone and my indirect hot water heater all together. I was thinking of changing to a 0011 pump which would give me more pressure and volume. Is this a good idea? I am not in the business and every plumber who has come to my house or spoken to me about this says something different all the time. Please help me if you have an idea. Thank you very much.

Mark J Strawcutter

something easy to try

if your upstairs zone is fin-tube baseboard with an adjustable damper on top, try partially closing down some of the dampers early in the zone. This will allow the water to retain some BTUs until it reaches the end of the loop.

Mark

Dan M

BIG PUMP

When my system was bumped up to a oo11 from a oo7 for circulation issues the water velocity noise in the pipes was enough to drive me crazy ( short trip). I would check every option before getting pumped up. I am not a pro but in hydrandics as in life bigger is not always better.

good luck

Danm

Cliff Brady

If this helps some

maybe you could also take a gentler jump in pump size to a 0010 first.

Mark Wolff

Pump Designs

If you look at the head and gpm flow chart that Taco provides you will notice that the 007 is the most applicable pump for even large residential systems. If you were to need to jump to a larger pump ie. more water flow, don't assume the pump numbers coincide with standard jumps in performance.

Each model in the 00 series is designed for different requirements. If you install an 0011 in a low head situation, you will find as this other individual stated a DRASTIC increase in noise (whine that resonates throughout the building). It is designed to pump lots of fluid with lots of resistance. If you install it with little resistance the impeller design will generate noise.

The 0010 would be the next step-up pump for increased fluid transfer in a low head installation.

It is doubtful that the jump in pump size is needed. I would venture to bet that either your pipes are traveling through an underinsulated area of the house and losing heat that way, or you have a piping problem. I have installed zones (engineered!) with over 100 linear feet of high output baseboard on a 3/4" line with only a 20-25 degree drop in temp. If your zone doesn't have more than this amount of baseboard in it look for another problem.

BOB_23

if you are going to change the circulator take a look at the grundfos ups15-58fc pump. this pump has a built in check valve that you can take out very easy but also has three speeds. the speeds can be changed by just turning a switch.
what is the water tepm coming out of your boiler?

Mark Wolff

Hey Bob!

Check valves are cute and all, but before recommending pumps, you need to check their stats. The Grundfos UPS 15-42 (website doesn't list a 15-58fc) is three speed but has lower performance specs than the 007 he already has in there (higher head rating but lower flow rates across the board-even on high setting. Maybe the pump you're referring to is different, I just have never heard of it (checked the website to make sure). If you have a spec sheet please post it to compare with the 007.

teds in hot water

lack of heat

Before thinking pump options, what is the overall lenght of fin tube in that loop, if you are beyond 67 feet the BTU output will be greatly reduced per foot resulting in less heat at the end of the loop.