Taco Circulating Valves - what is the rule of thumb for how many?

[merim123]

Hi all,

In this house we just bought, it has radiant heat in the basement and in the garage slab as well as a playroom area above the garage. There are taco circulating valves everywhere. I have 4 zones for heating. The garage uses Glycol mix but basement runs on the same hot water, which I can only assume is because of our winters here.

One of the Taco circulating pumps appears to be not working (it's very hot on the back of it) and the pipe above is hot, but the pipe after the pump is not hot water. I ordered a new pump given they aren't expensive, and this one looks to be original to the house. It's a 3 speed pump vs the single speed 007. Part of me is tempted to replace them all with variable speed 007E pumps, but not sure if I'll gain anything. Also, the OCD side of me really doesn't like how they snaked all the conduit over the copper. Will have my electrician clean it up when he comes out for other projects. I just hate sloppy work. pics to come.

 

[hj]

There is no "rule of thumb" for circulators. You can have one per circuit, or one per system with multiple zone valves or any combination that works for you. I m not sure how seven/eight pumps equals four zones, however.