# Sticking Pump for Central Heating



## Witleystation (Oct 31, 2008)

My Grundfos Selectric pump has started to stick. It works fine once it is tapped with a hammer - the plumber showed this trick to my wife and then failed to re-appear to complete a proper repair. He reckoned the problem was sludge. Can anyone explain how to check for sludge? For example, can this be done with the pump in position? If I need to remove the pump, is this a job best left to a professional? We have cold spell and no chance of a plumber appearing until next week....


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## coachchris (May 19, 2008)

greetings from Holland,
i dont know what the pump is that you are reffering to but in my humble experiance normally when a electricpump is sticking or not working the easiest solution is to change the little carbon brushes that are located on the side of the copper coil you can easily see if they are worn away by just clicking and removing them they should not cost that much{well in holland they dont}
hope i helped and, if not, you have wasted 10 minutes looking into your pump and maybe saved yourself a lot of money and if that was not the problem please forgive for wasting your time

greetings from holland chris


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## Witleystation (Oct 31, 2008)

Chris - Many thanks for your message. I'll see if I can find the brushes but since tapping the pump with a hammer appears to re-start it, I suspect that the pump may be blocked with sludge.

Cheers,


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## wacor (Feb 22, 2005)

depends on the motor

most now a days for things like this have centrifugal switches.

get me a model number of the pump and I can probably help.

also see if there is a capacitor. if so you need to check that if you have an ohm meter. the centrifugal switch and the start capacitor work together. capacitor helps motor to start and then centrifugal switch takes that winding out of use.

I have seen many motors that have a tight spot due to age or power issues where they got damaged. every time the motor stops at that particular point it will be too tight to want to start. after enough tries then it has moved enough to where it will start. could be something like that too.

is this problem intermittent or *every* time the pump starts??


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## wacor (Feb 22, 2005)

ok that is not quite what I thought it was. 

you need to google and see if you can find a manual that shows how to take it apart.

replacing it probably is not that tough if you can do plumbing.

you still should get hot water to move thru it. just takes time as you do not have it recirculating


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## rob.rice (Apr 18, 2006)

sorry man but you have to replace the pump 
those pumps can not be repaired it's pressed and welded tougher 
the good news it's easy to replace


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## Witleystation (Oct 31, 2008)

Many thanks for all input - and apologies for slow acknowledgement!
I removed the pump without too much difficulty and discovered a piece of metal the size of a shirt button jammed in the pump blades. This must explain why tapping the pump with a hammer would re-start it. I could see no damage to the blades nor signs of wear on the bearing so I have re-fitted the pump and so far it has worked fine. I have ordered a replacement pump anyway. My wife now thinks that I am a plumbing god...


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## rob.rice (Apr 18, 2006)

as long as your a hero in your wife's eyes it's worth the work


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