Circulator not running

Karen_5

We have hydronic heat with a Weil-Mclain HE II-5 propane fired boiler about 7 years old. It is a two pipe system with one zone. The circulator pump is a Taco Cartridge circulator 1/25 hp. Model 007-BF4 -JW. It also has some kind of capacitator on the outside of the pump. We noticed that when the thermostat calls for heat the boiler was running only a very short time and then reaching it high temperature cut off point and then shutting down. In a couple of minutes it would do the same thing again, and again. We also noticed that the return pipe going into the boiler was not getting warm at all. We now have determined that the circulator pump is not running at all. We have not noticed any unusual sound coming from the pump indicating the pump was going out and there is no water leaking from the pump. It just is not running. Is there any reason other than failure of the pump itself that would cause it not to run? Any advice or ideas would be appreciated. If we need to install a new circulator pump how hard of a job is that? My husband is quite handy. Thank you. Karen

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

If you were

a technician, I'd tell you to:

1) check to make sure there's power to the pump. If there is no power at the pump, you've got a bad relay somewhere. If there is power to the pump and the pump isn't spinning (the pump usually gets very hot), then

2) replace the cartridge inside the circulator. Make sure you turn the water off and drain the system before you remove the cartridge housing. If you're lucky, the pump has isolation flanges on each side and you won't need to drain the system.

Take a look at the old cartridge and see if you can figure out why it's not working.

When you are finished replacing the cartridge, re-fill the system and purge all air (this can be difficult and can take awhile, depending on how your system was piped).

Whatever you do, don't let the boiler dry-fire.

I'm leaving for a week of mountain biking in Moab; see you guys when I get back.

Alan



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Karen_5

Update on circulator problem and solution!

Thank you Alan for your reply. Just in case you or anyone else are interested in the solution to this problem. Maybe someone will have the same problem and this could help. My husband checked for power to the pump and there was none. The only thing we could see that the wiring was connected to was the Boiler Control. We were fairly certain that the circulator itself had not failed. My husband didn't feel he wanted to fool around with the control so we had a guy come from the heating place and he found that the board was bad on the Honeywell Integrated Boiler Control. For some reason the pump was only getting intermittent power. There would be power, then none etc. More often there was no power. He replaced the Control and all is well now. Thank you again for your advice. It led us in the right direction. Karen