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Huge electricity savings possible simply by fitting a new heating pump?
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…save more than £850 over the next ten years, just by replacing your heating system pump!
A quick look at the level of energy bills today compared with those ten years ago, would probably have you gasping in disbelief. The occasional lower tariff that catches the headlines can appear to reduce energy bills for a while, but they are usually used by energy companies as means to capture 'conquest business' from other suppliers. The lower prices seldom last long. Consumer Associations recommend that British customers that have a reputation for sticking with suppliers for decades rather than switching, change their ways and their suppliers – but this usually only leads to short-term savings – until the next price increase.
So it is more than annoying that in many households in the UK, at a time when we're all looking for ways of saving money, electricity consumption – and the resulting bills that thump onto the door mat – are unnecessarily high.
When you're looking for the culprits, one of the often undetected “energy guzzlers” in the home can be found as part of the heating system. It's the heating pump which is needed in central heating systems to distribute the heat from the boiler to the radiators or in renewable systems from the heat source to the heat emitters – whether radiators or underfloor heating. An old, uncontrolled pump – of which there are still millions operating in the UK – can contribute up to £130 on the annual electricity bill for a standard family house. An elderly heating pump can consume more energy than other big energy consumers in the house, including the electric cooker, cooling devices and refrigerators. These elderly pumps can be running non-stop – whether they need to or not, constantly using electricity and constantly racking up electricity bills – without the consumer knowing it!
Anyone with an old pump on their heating system shouldn't wait a minute longer than they have to. A relatively minor investment can reduce their electricity consumption quickly and sustainably. The “minor heating system modernisation” required is quite simply the replacement of an old, uncontrolled pump by a high-efficiency pump. A competent heating engineer or installer can make the switch in less than an hour. From the moment the new high efficiency pump is installed, annual electricity costs for operating that heating pump can be reduced by as much as 90 per cent.
A new high efficiency small circulator from pump manufacturer Wilo is incredibly economical. Independent testing has certified that the Wilo-Stratos-PICO model consumes only 46.5 kWh/a for a typical family home according to the standard Europump Commitment measurement procedure – the official EU body that measures these things. That's around 90% energy saving over an old uncontrolled pump and only 50% of the electricity demanded by what was previously the best energy efficiency class 'A' pump – and it is more economical than any other A-class pump you can buy. In fact – it uses less electricity in a year than a stand by light on a TV or DVD player! And the Wilo Smart A pump offers similar benefits – offering around 80% energy saving over an old uncontrolled pump.
Consumers who replace their old heating system pump before it breaks down save the most. Wilo says that the purchase of a new Wilo-Stratos PICO pump will have paid for itself in just a few years – as little as two or three years in some cases – just as a result of the saved electricity costs. And then it's all about further savings. Ten years down the line, they will have saved more than £850 that otherwise would have gone to their electricity supplier through regular bills, that's remained in their household budget to spend on more important things.
