One of the great advantages boilers have as heating systems is longevity. A well-manufactured boiler with regular maintenance can outlast most other heating systems available on the market.
What’s the secret to how well they age? It’s not much of a trick: boilers contain few mechanical parts that will wear down with use. This means reduced repairs as well.
But boilers do have some mechanical parts that require attention. One of them is the circulator pump. We’ll look at problems you can encounter if you have a bad pump on your boiler. Call up a professional for boiler repairs in Plainfield, IL whenever you have troubles from your boiler’s circulator pump. Our technicians at DuAll Heating & Cooling are ready to help whenever you need us.
Circulator Pump Malfunctions
Essentially, the circulator pump on a boiler performs the same job a blower fan does in a furnace: it sends whatever the system heated up through the distribution channels, in this case heated water sent through pipes to baseboard heaters or radiators. The pump uses an impeller motor to pull hot water from the tank and draw in cold water. It isn’t a powerful motor—it doesn’t blast water out, just move it enough to circulate through the pipes.
Water will still circulate through the boiler’s system via convection should the pump break… but it will be very weak. This will result in a drop in heating power, and when you notice it you should immediately call for repairs. (As with any motorized system, never attempt to fix the problem on your own unless you have the proper training. Remember, it might not be the pump at fault; professionals will track down what’s wrong.)
Another problem you can have with a faulty pump—one you won’t notice from its heating power—is energy waste. The pump uses electricity to run its motor, and if it begins to malfunction it will start draining inordinate amounts of power to keep up. If your electricity bills start to suddenly rise, listen for any strange sounds the pump makes when it comes on that might indicate it is at fault.
We should group “noise” here as well, since a bad circulator pump will create a level of noise that you don’t expect from the otherwise quiet operation of a boiler. If grinding and shrieking noises start to affect your boiler, you probably have a pump impeller motor problem.
Call for Professional Boiler Repairs
The pump on a boiler is the component that is most likely to develop trouble because of the amount of mechanical work it performs. You need to have repairs done on it quickly when it malfunctions or it will require a full replacement. Make certain to have regular maintenance done on the boiler so its pump remains properly lubricated and corrosion-free.
DuAll Heating & Cooling has years of experience working on boiler and other heating system services Plainfield, IL, and we offer a quality maintenance savings plan to keep your boiler in good shape all year. Contact us today and schedule your next service appointment to get started.
