Dortmund. Up to 90 percent of energy saving potential can be found in the heating and cooling distribution systems of heating and air-conditioning systems if high-efficiency pumps with particularly low power consumption are used instead of inefficient uncontrolled glandless circulation pumps. Especially old uncontrolled pumps found in old systems consume an extremely high amount of power and this causes very high operating costs throughout their whole life cycle. With the aim of considerably reducing the total power consumption of glandless circulation pumps within the EU, a new EU regulation under the auspices of the European Ecological Design Directive will come into force on 1 January 2013. In several stages, the regulation will impose increasingly stricter requirements for the energy efficiency of newly-sold glandless circulation pumps. The limit values for external pumps and pumps in heat generators and solar stations will be considerably tightened again in the second stage on 1 August 2015 and glandless circulation pumps integrated in heat generators will also be included.

 

In the current "Wilo-Stratos" and "Wilo-Stratos PICO" high-efficiency single pump series, WILO SE, the Dortmund-based pump specialist, offers a complete range of products for the various building services requirements. This range of products also already exceeds all the stricter requirements applicable as of 2015. Both series are therefore "ErP-ready", meaning that they are completely future-proof for Europe. This is because the Wilo high-efficiency pumps have extremely low power-consumption values due to an advanced electronic control and the innovative EC motor technology. The electronically controlled glandless circulation pumps with maintenance-free frequency converters automatically adjust their power to the changing operating status of the heating system. Especially in the partial load range, which makes up as much as 94% of the operating time of a heating pump, a considerable reduction in power consumption can be achieved compared to an uncontrolled pump. The EC motor technology (ECM) is the most modern variant of the DC motor and is characterised by particularly high energy efficiency. This allows the efficiency to be doubled in comparison to electronically controlled pumps with conventional drives.

 

The "Wilo-Stratos" already set standards in 2011, and the series for heating and cooling circuits in commercial properties has been continuously supplemented and optimised ever since. The "Wilo-Stratos PICO" high-efficiency pump, introduced in 2009, is primarily designed as a heating pump for detached and semi-detached houses, but can also be used in air-conditioning applications. TÜV SÜD (German Technical Inspection Association South) calculated an average annual power consumption of only 46.5 kWh for a typical detached house, according to the standard measuring procedure of Euro pump's voluntary agreement on energy efficiency class rating. With an energy saving potential of 90 % in comparison to uncontrolled standard pumps, the pump only consumes half as much power as that required in the current top energy efficiency class A. This makes "Wilo-Stratos PICO" more efficient than any other pump in this efficiency class.
 
As a result of the EU regulation on glandless pumps, an energy saving of 23 terawatt hours of power per year should be achieved until 2020 for the European Union as a whole. This corresponds to the power generated by about six medium-sized coal-fired power stations, or a reduction in EU-wide CO2 emissions of about 11 million tonnes per year. WILO SE, the Dortmund-based pump specialist, however recommends consultants and installers not to wait until the regulation comes into force, but to include and offer only high-efficiency pumps as soon as possible. In doing so, the energy efficiency of the future can already contribute to market success today.