Taco check valves - tuning

Rick Fenton

I have a one-year old hot water system with two zones. Each has a set of two check valves. Suddenly my heat stopped a few days ago, and I recalled that by fiddling with the knobs on the top of the valve for outgoing flow, magically hot water began to flow. I fiddled, and it seemed to work. But now the zones seem to be linked. I fiddled again, and now have no heat. How do you correctly tune these check valves?

Rick Fenton

Taco check valves - tuning

I have a one-year old hot water system with two zones. Each has a set of two check valves. Suddenly my heat stopped a few days ago, and I recalled that by fiddling with the knobs on the top of the valve for outgoing flow, magically hot water began to flow. I fiddled, and it seemed to work. But now the zones seem to be linked. I fiddled again, and now have no heat. How do you correctly tune these check valves?

Weezbo

can you post a jpeg?

apicture of the valves...or perhaps give us an idea of what colour they are and if there are wires hanging out of them:)

Rick Fenton

Picture of Check Valves

Here's a picture. The gold one is the one on the pipe leading away from the boiler. Don't appear to be any wires.

kevin coppinger_4

sounds to me....

like the circulator is broken or not getting power...you get flow because the flow check opens and allows gravity flow...not a lot ,but enough.If ti were air you would get no flow at all. kpc

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Ted_9

I concur....

Weezbo, I was thinking the same thing when I read the post....zone valves.

PATRIOT HEATING & COOLING, INC.

Rick Fenton

But it doesn't look like I have any power to these valves. The green one is adjacent to a pump, which works fine. Actually, I've fiddled again with the knobs on top, and the hot water magically started flowing to the radiators again. I think they work fine, I just don't know how to fine tune them. I understand from a local tech that if I don't have the two zones adjusted properly, I can have hot water flowing to both zones from a single pump, making the system act like a single zone. I think that was happening to me before I played with the adjustments last time.

Ted_9

I'm sorry, I didnt mean to imply that they are zone valves. They are not. They are flow checks. As was mentioned by someone else, you must have opened one and let some hot water flow into the zone.

PATRIOT HEATING & COOLING, INC.

Weezbo

hi i am back

indeed you had me on the ropes earlier as i could think of 5 different things a person might think were check valves with "adjusters" on them...at least here is what i would say happened ,something caused the valves to seat at that time flushing them and cleaning them might have been the answer...now, well,they have been adjusted to work as it were..if you are a systematic kind you may have noted how many turns one way or the other you Dialed the valves... some times tapping them is sufficent to get them working again ,a host of other minor technicalities there too,for now were i you id turn both zone on make sure you have heat call someone in the morning to check boiler pressure, circ pump operation,expansion tank and clean and flush the valves... sometimes the symptoms isnt the thing to fix there is a cause and thats the thing to deal with first... nothing like being there though .so ,a service guy ..

Rick Fenton

Thanks.