The world of central heating pumps is changing….the old order of a dominant Grundfos seems to be changing and with the launch of the Smith’s ES2 and ES2 Adapt central heating pumps the game has moved on again.
Manufactured in Italy by Taco Italia in a state of the art factory the pump is used by all the major European boilers brands, Worcester Bosch, Ariston and the BDR Group, which owns Baxi, Remeha, Potterton and Heatrae Sadia amongst others that are installed in homes right across Europe. At the moment the Taco pump isn’t specified in UK boilers of these manufacturers but that is about to change. As you might imagine getting the boiler manufacturers to include new pumps takes a great deal of testing to ensure that they won’t compromise their reputations. This testing is being concluded so the presence of Taco pumps in these manufacturers’ boilers will soon be common. Interestingly Taco Italia’s sister company Askoll produce 250,000 pumps a day for the home appliance market worldwide meaning that most dishwashers and washing machines around the world have an Askoll pump inside!
This isn’t the only way in which the central heating pump landscape is changing. The Smith’s ES2 pump is the stand-alone version of the Taco pump mentioned above. The technology of this pump recently impressed a group of heating engineers and installers at a ‘Pumpfest’ event held by Smith’s at the their UK manufacturing site in Essex.
They were shown the anti-block feature that means when the microprocessor in the pump senses that the rotor is blocked with debris it automatically goes into auto-unblocking mode by vigorously reversing the rotation of the rotor back and forth for up to 100 times in a 15 minute period. In most cases this will enough to displace any debris. However if it isn’t able to displace the debris the pump will shut down and protect the motor. How often have you come across a pump that has suffered a similar problem with debris only for the motor to burn out? The Smith’s ES2 also has a diagnostic LED which indicates the status of the pump – red for blocked, so that you know immediately what the issue is…probably a really dirty system that will need a flush!
In fact one the participants, a heating engineer, explained to the group that he tried to destroy the pump by passing LSX leak sealant through it, followed by other equally destructive material. The pump went into unblocking mode and cleaned itself before resuming normal operation.
Another feature that really impressed the participants at ‘Pumpfest’ was the auto air detection. It then goes into a procedure to purge the air from the pump, helping the installation process, avoiding the ‘bleeding’ of the pump manually. The LED will indicate this action. When it has finished its purging process it will show a green LED for normal operation.
The INVERTER TECH technology allows the pump to change rotating speed. The microcontroller built in the electronic control system contains a fully automatic speed control system able to adapt to the changing needs of the system. The pump delivers the performance you need with minimum energy consumption. The microprocessor measures the demand twice every 30 minutes so that where TRV’s are installed and are automatically opening and closing the radiator valves thereby changing the demand the Smith’s pump will adapt its rotor speed accordingly.
The feedback for these two features, the Auto air detection and Invertor Tech technology, was highly praised by the participants of ‘Pumpfest’ as they could see the real benefits when installing the Smith’s pump. Effectively the pump will go through the purging process and establish the correct rotor speed required for the system automatically.
Finally everyone commented on the 5-year warranty to give them, and their customers, peace of mind with the new pump. After all no one wants to install a product they no longer have faith in or can’t be sure is going to perform as they expect.