My boiler was having a hard time heating the house for a week or so. After not hearing back from heating companies for several days, on Saturday I woke up to the main floor heating zones being 55° and 58°. Not cool.

It was time for troubleshooting mode. I did a lot of reading and watched a lot of YouTube videos about boiler systems. Eventually I found the problem! The circulator pump has a capacitor for running its motor. This one obviously had blown.

I was able to replace it by stealing the cap out of my spare pump. 🔥 Here is the replacement wired and working, before I put the electrical cover back on.

Simple fix. I bet it would have cost several hundred dollars if one of the heating companies had actually called me back and came to fix this. Plumbing supply web sites don’t even sell the capacitor. They want $55 for a whole new wiring terminal strip! I ordered a new cap for the spare pump on Amazon for less than $4.

After having a cold house for a week I’m even more convinced people are crazy who keep their heat down to save $50 a month instead of giving up something like a daily $3 cup of coffee. I refuse to be uncomfortable in my own house and am very happy to be enjoying 70° again.