Hot Water Circulator

[slucero7160]

Hey guys,

We recently lost hot water to our master bathroom, and we figured it was the circulator. We had a Taco 005-BF2 that was not repairable, so we put the 005-ST2 in the exact same place. We get hot water when we close off the valve that returns the water to the tank (on the diagram attached, its the one to the left), but when it's open its pretty cold. I checked the circulator to make sure I didn't put it going in the wrong direction and double checked wiring and everything looks good to go. The old one was always hot to the touch, but the new one I can't hear it and its not hot, so I'm not too sure whats going on. Any pointers would be truly appreciated!

Steve

Edit:

So I just noticed that the capacitor box is only connected on the left side and on the right side of box its not connected to the pump body, I read on the instruction sheet that if the retaining screws on the capacitor box are pulled out the circulator is unusable, could that be the problem? Doesn't really look like a screw that connects it more like a peg that the box would be pressed onto, but I wanted to make sure I didn't have a defective circulator.

 

[TomFOhio]

Why don't you buy one of those cheap stethoscopes from Harbor Freight and put it up to the pump and
see if its running. If not, take it back and get a new one. If its running let us know. Keep us posted one
way or the other.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Why don't you buy one of those cheap stethoscopes from Harbor Freight and put it up to the pump and
see if its running. If not, take it back and get a new one. If its running let us know. Keep us posted one
way or the other.

The pump may be running but the impeller may not be.

 

[TomFOhio]

That's a thought but I figured since its a new pump chances are the propeller is on but maybe not. If it is running
then pull the pump and check the propeller.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I had a similar problem recently and it was a combination of bad check valve and a circulator that only turning the impeller at half speed.

So it worked a little......just enough to confuse the crap outta me about why there were complaints.

The complaints ranged from :

1- Cant get hot water to some fixtures sometimes.
2- Water only gets warm, not hot
3- Water takes forever to get hot
4- Debris in aerators

 

[TomFOhio]

If it was mine I would take the pump out and hook a electrical cord to it and plug it in and see if it
works or not and that will take all the guess work out.

 

[slucero7160]

I did exchange the circulator and it worked for a bit, but things have gone cold again with the valve open.

Something I forgot to mention initially is that when I pulled apart the old 005-BF2 to try to swap out the cartridge, the impeller was extremely brittle and most of the fins were gone. I tried to drain the hot water tank since the debris from the old impeller would have flowed from the water circulator to the shut off valve to the water tank, but I can only get anything to come out of the tank when the cold water supply is on.

I've attached a picture of what the set up looks like...the pipe from the floor leads to the water circulator in the crawl space. That shut off valve in the picture is what I've been closing to get the water to the master bathroom.

Would a blockage cause the issue that I'm having? It's only the master bathroom (about 25 ft from the water heater) that is having issues with the hot water. Thanks gents for the assist!