Taco 4900 Air separator update

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goosegunner

Minister of Fire
Oct 15, 2009
1,469
WI
I wanted to post an update on my Taco 4900. I ordered a Caleffi Discal in 1-1/2" last week. Decided to go that route because of the good feedback and ability to easily service. I have posted a couple pictures of install and what I found in the 4900.

The 4900 pall ring design seems a little restrictive after comparing to the Caleffi.


We installed it yesterday. Removed the Temp well and T that was to left of air sep to give a little more space to pump.

Caleffi.JPG




This is the inlet side of the 4900. Some of the pall rings (6-10) were stuck in a cluster. Not sure what the cause? grey film.

4900.jpg
 
Goosegunner, I've been following your posts on the Taco 4900 air separator. I have the same one installed similarly to yours. Thanks for following up with your picture of the 4900's gunked up innards.

How did you get the conical top off the 4900? Did it come off readily so the unit could be serviced? I read over on Heating Help that Taco uses some sort of thread sealant on it that doesn't release easily. If you had wanted, could you have disassembled the 4900 further, or otherwise cleaned those pall rings? I wonder what to reseal the threads with after having it apart.

Informative posts GG. Saved them into my boiler reference file. Thanks.

Mike
 
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If there isn't an O ring or gasket at that assembly then it was probably assembled with green Loctite. That's how most ball valves are put together.
Looks like some green around the threads?

Sometimes with a large wrench you can break open a glued connection like that, but you may also egg shape the casting, brass is soft..

Another trick is to drain the water, heat that seam, hotter than you would for soldering :) and the Loctite will soften enough to easily disassemble the joint.

The brand that he has now is assembled with an O- ring on top and at the belly seam, no glue.

It does take a wrench to open it the first time, after that hand tighten until the O ring seats in the groove and away you go.
 
I was unable to get the top off that is a view from the side connection. It is the inlet side.

The the limited instructions for the 4900 warned about torch use could cause damage. Heaterman has told me one they tried to open was basically destroyed in the process.

I finally said screw it and spent the money on a easy to service Caleffi.
 
The blue/green in the picture of the threads is monster tape that was used on the male adapter.
 
I'll try contacting Taco. Maybe I'll have some luck getting an answer to how, or if, that cap comes off. Taco got those pall rings in there somehow. There ought to be some way to get them out. The Heating Help folks said your issue was fairly common.

Thanks for the info on green Loctite Bob. At this point I'll just hope my Jomar Filter Ball valves, that you recommended a while back, are keeping the 4900 clean. The filtering screens in the Jomars really do pick up a lot of debris and gunk. I thought after the first heating season most of that gunk would be gone after the screens were cleaned.. No such luck. Probably applied pipe dope too liberally to my black iron pipes.

Hope you didn't have too much trouble getting the Caleffi installed Goosegunner. Remodeling and retrofitting is always a pain.

Thanks,
Mike
 
I'll try contacting Taco. Maybe I'll have some luck getting an answer to how, or if, that cap comes off. Taco got those pall rings in there somehow. There ought to be some way to get them out. The Heating Help folks said your issue was fairly common.

Thanks for the info on green Loctite Bob. At this point I'll just hope my Jomar Filter Ball valves, that you recommended a while back, are keeping the 4900 clean. The filtering screens in the Jomars really do pick up a lot of debris and gunk. I thought after the first heating season most of that gunk would be gone after the screens were cleaned.. No such luck. Probably applied pipe dope too liberally to my black iron pipes.

Hope you didn't have too much trouble getting the Caleffi installed Goosegunner. Remodeling and retrofitting is always a pain.

Thanks,
Mike


It went in ok thanks to my dad the retired plumber. We used slip couplings. He said he would have like unions.

Hopefully I will get it dialed in so there is no more changes.
 
It went in ok thanks to my dad the retired plumber. We used slip couplings. He said he would have like unions.

Hopefully I will get it dialed in so there is no more changes.


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Be careful with those slip couplings, I had them on my DMW loop going into the
coal stoker and they blew off and ran my well dry.
 
======================================================================================================================


Be careful with those slip couplings, I had them on my DMW loop going into the
coal stoker and they blew off and ran my well dry.


How did they blow off?

What does that mean?

Are you talking about soldered couplings?
 
How did they blow off?

What does that mean?
======================================================================================================================


I would certainly hazard to guess that they did not have enough gripping power on the clean copper that I bought for them to install it with and that is why they blew off after a while.

The so called plumbers I hired came back and fixed it for even more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ by using both solder,unions and the rigid o ring sealed compression fittings.

You may not have any trouble as your install is linear where my install had to be at a 90 degree angel due to a door as we needed clearance for an exterior door to swing inward.

I had to have a pair of 3/4" click fittings replaced this year on the cold water connection from my pressure tank to the water filters as the square cut o rings failed after five plus years.
 
Hey goosegunner, if you haven't thrown your old 4900 out why don't you see if you can crank the top off with a big old pipe wrench. I'm thinking if you put the side outlets in the jaws of a vise, you could then grab the two tabs on the cone with a pipe wrench and really crank on it, just to see if it will come off. You could even use a cheater bar. What's to lose if it's heading to the town dump? Might be fun to try, as well as informative. Take it easy.

Mike
 
When I felt it wasn't working I called Taco. The technical service told me to open the top to check the float. I asked them how to do that they said us a wrench but be careful not to damage it. No other instruction about seals or repairs....

When I turn it over I can hear the float move so I doubt that it was stuck.
 
It's not the float itself, but the valve mechanism up inside that the float connects to that causes leaks or non venting if it sticks closed.

If the valve sticks they dribble and look like this one pic below :)

With a removable and serviceable cap you can solve the leaking problems.

Some installers add a small copper tube so IF it drips or sprays it goes to the floor.
 

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