circulator pump

What determines how long a circulator pump runs. My upstairs circulator usually runs about a minute and shuts off. Should that run untill hot water comes back into the boiler?

It should run until the thermostat is satisfied. 1 minute is kinda short. Is the upstairs heating as it should? Maybe heat is going up on its own(warm air rising or gravity feeding of water) and there is very little demand so just a minute satifies the area.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin,
I have the old original efm thermostats in my house. I am wondering if that is the problem. Too Touchy,
No the upstairs is not all getting good heat. The first 3 rooms are fine but the next 5 rooms are getting very little heat. Because the circulator pump is shutting off before hot water gets that far.
Dennis

Sounds like the flow is being restricted from getting to those radiators. Somehow, the thermostat has to be getting satified to shut off. jump out the tt loop with a piece of wire and see if hot water makes it over to those radiators. It might be a bad thermostat or air in the system or a valve has been turned closed. Getting it to run will tell you where the hot water is and isn't getting.

Kevin

Jumping TT without removing the Tstat wires is an excellent way to burn up the heat anticipator in a T87F.

Your triple aquastat, if you have one, is designed to turn off the circulator when the water temp falls 10 degrees below the low limit setting, regardless if the tstat is satisfied. If you are flooding the boiler with cold water in the morning, it's normal for the circulator to shut off.

I just receintly added 5 rooms of heat to the upstairs loop. I turned the thermostat up to 80 in the 3rd room of the loop(this used to be the last room of the loop) and the heat made it through the whole loop and had hot water in the return line to the boiler. I am wondering if I have to move the thermostat to the last room of the larger loop and eliminate heaters from the first 3 rooms which are getting too hot?
Dennis

My bad, I would have removed the thermo wires first but I didnt say that did I? He did not say this is normal, I would think it would have flooded the system before now? Sounds like and older system that old dead plumbers set up so should be right. Hmm. didnt ask him that either. Hey, I'll go back to work, you are in good hands now. Good Luck

Kevin

Not sure how moving the tstat would change anything. When the third room satisfies the tsat, the circ should shut off. You say the hot water is getting back to the boiler so there must be some heat in the other two rooms. If this is baseboard heat, you can lay some aluminum foil over some of the fins. If rads, can't you restrict each rad? If a mix.......maybe that's why the problem. Can you put the two rooms on their own loop?

Usually with that many rooms you would use a split zone instead of one big loop, but in a finished home you do what you can. Moving the thermostat further down the loop will help, although the first couple rooms on the loop might get a little hot.





R.Y

Do any of you attempting to answer the original post - have any idea what your writhing about

omg

I am going back to the hot tub!

how old is the circ pump? maby its tripping out on high amp draw, might need lubricated or bearing replaced that would make it cycle on and off

Sting wrote:Do any of you attempting to answer the original post - have any idea what your writhing about

omg

I am going back to the hot tub!

duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, Stoker man helped me with same problem. My pumps also only ran 1 min. Turns out, plumber who installed did not do it as manual instructed. He only used one inlet on furnace and did not install a bypass loop. If furnace is installed correctly with use of both inlet and and a bypass, then pumps should run longer and get heat to last radiators quicker. Hope this helps.

Hi bighouse,
Can you explain what you mean by one inlet and a bypass loop.
Thanks
Dennis
(also a big house)
right now heating 3200 sq. and looking to heat 4800 sq. by next winter with my 520 rice burner.

Installation of a stoker boiler at efm


If you scroll down through that thread, you can see a picture of the installed bypass and both returns with restricting valves. You can use gate valves too.