There’s been no water all morning, and I’m getting thirsty. Probably smelly too.

Pump is http://www.raincollectionsupplies.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/grundfos%20l-mq-tl-001.pdf – one of those – Grundfos Mq3-35b. Been making odd sounds for a while, then came out to it today as there was no water, and the ‘alarm’ light was on. Turned it off and on again, alarm light went off, but no action, it just started humming.
The big metal bit is fairly roasting, and I unscrewed the top of the priming plug bit to see what was in there, hot water started flowing out of there. I’ve no idea if that’s normal or not.

I’m aware that this may be a fairly specific problem, but I’m completely clueless, so any help at all would be lovely, cheers.
If any more details of anything would be handy, I can get them I’m sure.

i take it you have read the bit on removing the plug and turning the shaft with a screwdriver i have the same problem with a ch pump and that sortsit

It is either clogged up and jammed or the start capacitor has gone. At least those are the most likely suspects.

If you can get into the pump itself (I work on the dirty water side of things so not familiar with booster pumps like this) it may be possible to change the capacitor yourself. If you are anywhere slightly close to Kendal I can point you in the direction of someone who can sort it for you.

Mav – your problem sounds the same btw – cap gone in your central heating. Turning it with a screwdriver just gets the thing going (may be weak rather than completely dead in your case)

Cheers mav & Capt. Kronos, will take a look at it now and see if I can get into it somehow. Likely end up breaking it even more, but worth a try I guess.
Unfortunately stuck over in Northern Ireland, so not too close to Kendal at all!

Isolate the power and open the terminal box, if there is a capacitor in there then its possibly that, the symptoms seem to point to it. it may be that the impeller is jammed or the bearings have collapsed in which case without tools you may be stuffed. sorry not to be much help but if it were in front of me it would be easier to fix!

There’s been no water all morning, and I’m getting thirsty.

Have you lost your cold water supply as well then?

When you take the plug off the pump water will come out, stick a screwdriver on the shaft to see if it’s spinning, it’s not always easy to tell by looking sometimes.

Hot and buzzing means the impeller isn’t spinning! On a clean water booster the impeller is unlikely to stick from crud getting into it and binding things.

I would be surprised if the bearings have gone too – mainly as there is no comment of the thing getting noisy in the run up.

We find that capacitors blow all the time on small pumps, it is the main cause of failure (and getting to the point with some that repairs are uneconomical as the whole thing can need split to get the thing out meaning new seals and bearings). If it is in the terminal box though, which would seem likely with that kind of design (judging by pictures) or in a separate box on the supply (also common on small pumps) then changing it is dead easy!

If the worst comes to the worst and you can’t find a capacitor Dave then have a look for a motor rewinder in your area – they are all over the place. They should have the tools to split the motor and fit a new cap. Worth getting a quote anyway since a new one is around £400 😉

(Grundfoss do seem a little more failure prone than many these days – stopped using them on our jobs as a result. We used to fit their small pumps to sewage treatment plants but found they were lasting only 12 – 18 months before catastrophic failure).

We live up on top of a hill were the water pressure isn’t the best, so it comes through the pump to get round the house. No cold or hot water Dobbo.

All the help is much, much appreciated, thanks!
Know a plumber so gave him a buzz to see if he could get it working again, but wasn’t familiar with it, so just rerouted the water to bypass it. Getting water now, :), but it’s not much more than a dribble from the tap.

Kronos and Marcus, sorry, I hadn’t really mentioned it, but you could be right with the bearings, it had been getting noisy over the past week. ‘Frozen peas in a blender’ kind of noise as someone put it on a post I’d read from someone with similar problems. Could hear it a good 20m away.
Assuming it is the bearings I’d imagine I’d have to disconnect the water and find a way into it?