Zone not heating up but is showing active

[jbusheyvt]

I have one Zone which does not seem to want to heat up. My TACO box shows the Zone as active and the thermostat appears to be working as well.

Some things I tried:
Swapping thermostat with another verified one
- doing this had the same issue. troubled zone did not work and working zone did.

Verified TACO zones by turning each off multiple times and back on
- troubled zone does light up on the TACO box

Looked for leaks
- No leaks found

Given this I can rule out the thermostat and possibly the taco box. Below are four pictures of my setup:

1st Picture, the Thermostat Appears to be fine

2nd Picture, The TACO Box, The troubled zone is ZONE 2

3rd Picture, The troubled Zone (Center)

4th Picture, All Zones

One thing to note, This all seemed to happen at the same time I pulled some electrical wire through the same hole the Thermostat wire goes through, but given the TACO indicator turning on and off with the thermostat I'm chalking that up to a coincidence.

 

[johnjh2o]

My first thought is air in the zone. The 2nd is circulator failure.

John

 

[jbusheyvt]

The Zone was shut off for a short period of time (kid turned the thermostat off). Could this create air in the zone?

 

[LiQuId]

in theory the system should be closed and no air should be able to get in.... in reality air does find a way to get into systems, and the first step would be to bleed the zone in question to make sure its air free.

 

[jbusheyvt]

is that a simple task?

 

[johnjh2o]

is that a simple task?

But it is one that must be done. It shouldn't be that hard. You have posted this question on two forums that I know of and your getting basically the same answers on both. It's time for you to act or hire a plumber.


John

 

[jbusheyvt]

Finally got this looked at. Turns out it was the circullator. I found the TACO one, same HP, model number, etc... for about $100. Had the plumber in who charged me $575 total (including the part) to replace this. I was in a bit of a bind time-wise and he already had me for a trip charge and diagnostic. Did I get taken on this or does this seem reasonable?

 

[stevemachine]

Really depends on the region, around here we charge about 100 bucks and hr and mark parts up 30-50%. Did he do time and material or just quote it?

 

[jbusheyvt]

He had a book with everything priced out. $575 for the circulator replacement which included the labor.

I'm in rural Vermont. It took him about 45 minutes or less.

 

[jbusheyvt]

I was going to back out, but then he was going to charge me a $45 trip charge and an $85 diagnostic charge. He waived both and charged me the $575

 

[stevemachine]

Ah yeah. Usually the straight forward pricing guide companies charge pretty steep prices for the most part. But what really matters is if he did a good job. You probably did over pay a bit, but I can't say for sure cause I have no idea what other companies in your area charge

 

[IFIXH20]

He had a book with everything priced out. $575 for the circulator replacement which included the labor.

I'm in rural Vermont. It took him about 45 minutes or less.

Sounds like the company charges by flat rate pricing. The repair may be a common repair in your area, I would call serval companies in your area and ask what they would charge for the same repair.