Replace that old circulator pump now

A central heating pump circulates the hot water round a home’s radiators and is typically the appliance in a home that consumes by far the most power. In fact, it uses more energy than four fridges or 10 flat screen monitors.

A campaign run by the Trust is therefore recommending for the first time ever that old pumps should be replaced – even if they are still working. This is simply because it pays to replace an existing pump before it fails. The sooner done, the more money is saved. We’re talking hundreds of euro a year over a pump’s lifetime.

Cheapest in the long run to switch now
Danish consumers who use a heating engineer listed by the Trust at www.elsparefonden.dk/find-vvs can find a local specialist who will fit the pump for a maximum price of around EUR 400 (including VAT) for a standard installation. Consumers can also contact their local registered plumbing firm to find out more about their options.

This standard installation package has been developed by the Trust in partnership with the Danish plumbing trade organisations ‘Tekniq’ and ‘DS Håndværk & Industri’.

The Trust can advise whether a pump needs to be changed
The Trust’s Danish website www.elsparefonden.dk/a-pumper is the place to find out if a circulator pump is using too much energy. The site also can help with information on sourcing an A-rated pump, and finding a heating engineer who will install it at a fixed price.

Danish homeowners can check whether a pump should be made redundant
Homeowners in Denmark can check whether they are one of the 800,000 that have an obsolete circulator pump by going to: www.elsparefonden.dk/tjek-din-egen-pumpe.

See how much can be saved
Owners of obsolete pumps can also use the Trust’s website to see how much money can be saved by replacing their existing pumps: www.elsparefonden.dk/a-pumpe-besparelse

Fact 1: Major power guzzler in the home
A central heating pump circulates the hot water round a home’s radiators. Annual energy consumption by older types of pumps, and those that are not A-rated, is between 175 and 500 kWh. This accounts for about 10% of the power consumed by a typical Danish household.

Fact 2: A-rated pumps
An A-rated pump is an energy efficient circulator pump which uses one sixth of the power guzzled by an older pump. An A-rated pump costs as little as EUR 14 per year to run compared with an older pump which can cost as much as EUR 120 per year. When changing an existing circulator pump it is important to replace it with and A-rated version. These new types of pump actually use less than a quarter of the power compared with the market’s next best pumps. In fact power consumption can be as little as 5 watts. By comparison, B-rated pumps (the next best type) never use less than 22 watts.