The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Firewood and Wood Heating => Topic started by: Gary_C on January 07, 2018, 12:25:20 PM

Title: Taco Pumps
Post by: Gary_C on January 07, 2018, 12:25:20 PM
I have had my CB 6048 since 2009 with only a replaced door gasket as problems. In this recent cold snap, I have been unable to keep the house warm and the fan has run continuously for days. I finally bought a new Taco 007 pump and installed it last night and the house is right back up to temperature.

So today I disassembled the old pump and found "the emperor has no clothes" or in other words the pump impeller had no vanes remaining. It was nothing but a flat disc and when I touched the remaining flat disc, it crumbled in my fingers into a powder.

Now in this day and age of plastics, surely there is a better material that could be used to make impellers that run in water only? I know that high doses of chlorine will cause even stainless steel problems but not to the point of disintegrating?

Perhaps it's a planned breakdown program as the rest of the pump seems to be well built and ready for many more years of service. Perhaps I've been lucky for the motor and bearings to have lasted this long.

Any one else had similar experience?
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: Ivan49 on January 07, 2018, 01:28:17 PM
 I had 2 of them that went bad but that was over a 15 year period. One the empeller did like yours after about 10 years. The other just wore out you could push or pull the impellor in and out about a 1/4 inch. I went to a 3 speed Groundfos and it works great
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: Hackermatack on January 07, 2018, 01:41:29 PM
I have 6 007 tacos on my wood oil combo boiler, they have been there since 1988. It is however a pressurized system so water is rarely added. In a open system a little water evaporates and you must add water more often which leads to more mineral buildup. Don't know if that is the problem but I do know many outdoor boilers recommend bronze circulators maybe that is why.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: ButchC on January 08, 2018, 10:01:43 AM
All TACO pumps are not equal. What material was the pump and impeller made of?  My 007 and 011 pumps are what they call bronze (body)/ bronze (impeller)  and have worked without any attention for 10 years. The cheapie pumps that are advertised are often cast iron/ plastic, some are not made for hot water, be careful if you bargain hunt for pumps.  You can also buy a rebuild cartridge but it usually costs right up there with an entire pump.  All in all I dont figure my pumps owe me a cent at 10 years old, I have had spares on the shelf since year 2, LOL.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: E Yoder on January 09, 2018, 03:20:40 AM
I have heard high nitrates can cause the impeller to disintegrate. I don't think there is a difference in temp rating on a bronze v. cast iron pump...
A spare is a very good idea. Personally I've found the B&G and Grundfos hold up very well.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: xlogger on January 09, 2018, 06:03:27 AM
Another question on the pumps. My Central boiler is about 60 ft from my house and around 6 ft lower. Once it gets to house it runs across house to hot water heater and up two floors to hook into ducts (a extra good 100 ft total and up about 18 ft). My dealer said to put an extra 007 pump in the house for a booster, so I have two in the line I use during the winter. Another dealer I talked to said one larger pump at stove would do it. Anyone here pumps that far and high with luck? During real cold temps I have to cut on gas heat for help.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: Logging logginglogging on January 09, 2018, 03:25:14 PM
Quote from: Gary_C on January 07, 2018, 12:25:20 PM
I have had my CB 6048 since 2009 with only a replaced door gasket as problems. In this recent cold snap, I have been unable to keep the house warm and the fan has run continuously for days. I finally bought a new Taco 007 pump and installed it last night and the house is right back up to temperature.

So today I disassembled the old pump and found "the emperor has no clothes" or in other words the pump impeller had no vanes remaining. It was nothing but a flat disc and when I touched the remaining flat disc, it crumbled in my fingers into a powder.

Now in this day and age of plastics, surely there is a better material that could be used to make impellers that run in water only? I know that high doses of chlorine will cause even stainless steel problems but not to the point of disintegrating?

Perhaps it's a planned breakdown program as the rest of the pump seems to be well built and ready for many more years of service. Perhaps I've been lucky for the motor and bearings to have lasted this long.

Any one else had similar experience?

I have had the exact same thing on my fathers boiler the big 009 impeller was just like you said just a flat disk and crumbled....

Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: Dave Shepard on January 09, 2018, 03:40:26 PM
Quote from: xlogger on January 09, 2018, 06:03:27 AM
Another question on the pumps. My Central boiler is about 60 ft from my house and around 6 ft lower. Once it gets to house it runs across house to hot water heater and up two floors to hook into ducts (a extra good 100 ft total and up about 18 ft). My dealer said to put an extra 007 pump in the house for a booster, so I have two in the line I use during the winter. Another dealer I talked to said one larger pump at stove would do it. Anyone here pumps that far and high with luck? During real cold temps I have to cut on gas heat for help.

You would have to calculate the head to know if one pump would work. Head is not only vertical rise in this case, but length of pipe, size of pipe, and fittings in the pipe. A 007 is high gpm (28 gpm), low head. Ann 009 is high head, low gpm (8gpm). An 011 is high gpm, high head. I would go with a bigger pump, if possible, rather than two, as a bigger pump is a fifteen minute swap with no new plumbing to contend with.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: xlogger on January 10, 2018, 05:05:49 AM
thanks for the info. I started looking at the 011, looks like the best price I've found so far is $220 up. A good bit higher than the 007.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: 47sawdust on January 10, 2018, 05:21:02 AM
 x2 on the Grundfos pump,more money but well made and long service.Mine has been in service fo 6years w/o a hiccup.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: xlogger on January 10, 2018, 05:59:46 AM
On the grandfos I see where the one I was looking at has 3 speeds. During the warm weather I cut off the flow up in the attic to my heat exchanger, so can with this pump I cut it to a lower speed then? Maybe save some electricity. I'm ready to try something different from what I got just want to get what will work best. Now after having the OWB for several years I see where my dealer sold me some things I think he just wanted to get rid of.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: xlogger on January 10, 2018, 05:52:18 PM

[/quote]

You would have to calculate the head to know if one pump would work. Head is not only vertical rise in this case, but length of pipe, size of pipe, and fittings in the pipe. A 007 is high gpm (28 gpm), low head. Ann 009 is high head, low gpm (8gpm). An 011 is high gpm, high head. I would go with a bigger pump, if possible, rather than two, as a bigger pump is a fifteen minute swap with no new plumbing to contend with.
[/quote]
After checking more on my rise today I'm close to a total of 33 ft up to my heat exchanger. I see where the 011 is suppose to be good to 31ft. Maybe I should leave the 007 on the stove and change my inside kicker 007 to 011 that would make my lift around 22-23 ft. I would still have to run both pumps during the winter but I do bypass the inside pump as the weather warms up. I run my stove all year.
My air blowing out of the vents are not near what they are when I'm running my gas heat.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: Dave Shepard on January 10, 2018, 08:09:32 PM
If it's a closed loop, then there is no vertical head, only the resistance of the fittings and pipe. The water on the down side offsets the water being pushed up.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: E Yoder on January 10, 2018, 10:23:46 PM
Plumbing a feed for house pressure in is great for purging out the air the first time, then a medium head pump should push it fine, as mentioned height makes no difference once purged.
I use a lot of NRF-22's, 15-58's, etc.
007 is not ideal as it is a lower head pump .
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: xlogger on January 13, 2018, 05:48:02 AM
What is the best way to check water temp in pex lines? Maybe this will tell me if I'm getting enough flow.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: thecfarm on January 13, 2018, 05:57:16 AM
Not a perfect way,But.... the guy that installed my said you can just about hold onto pex pipe at 180,copper you can not. Works for me.  ;D He's right.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: Ivan49 on January 13, 2018, 07:27:47 AM
I bought one of those cheap HF thermoters that you aim the light at something and it reads. I take the temp at the copper elbow. There is quite a difference when you take it there as to the pex line
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: xlogger on January 14, 2018, 05:08:07 AM
I didn't know about them till you said that, thanks. I order one from amazon. Maybe now I can tell more if I'm getting as much water heat thru the heat exchanger as I should.
Title: Re: Taco Pumps
Post by: crazy4saws on January 21, 2018, 11:16:27 AM
On my central boiler I have a taco(came with the boiler) for the house, and a old, used, free B&G for the shop. I would go with a grundfos pump then armstrong, last would be taco and b&g. Of course sized properly for your system.

I deal with these small recirq pumps for industrial applications on underfloor heat for freezers to name one application. The grundfos holds up the best with few issues.