My 10-year-old Grundfos 3-speed central heating pump is getting a bit noisy,
and I intend to replace it in the near future. Since I also intend to fit
TRVs to most radiators next summer, it would make sense to fit a pump whose
delivery is automatically variable, and I have been considering getting a
Grundfos Alpha.

In the latest Screwfix catalogue (#80) I see that they're selling Wilo Smart
pumps - which appear to do more or less the same as an alpha - for 45 quid,
which is not much more than half the price of an Alpha.

http://tinyurl.com/cxxl2

Does anyone have any experience of the Wilo (pronounced Vee-Lo according to
their website) pump? Is it any good? *Does* it do the same as an Alpha?
[From the picture it looks as if it may have less scope for adjustment]. Is
it a case of "you gets what you pays for" - or do you pay through the nose
for the Grundfos label?
--
Cheers,
Set Square
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"Set Square" wrote in message
...
My 10-year-old Grundfos 3-speed central heating pump is getting a bit
noisy, and I intend to replace it in the near future. Since I also intend
to fit TRVs to most radiators next summer, it would make sense to fit a
pump whose delivery is automatically variable, and I have been considering
getting a Grundfos Alpha.

In the latest Screwfix catalogue (#80) I see that they're selling Wilo
Smart pumps - which appear to do more or less the same as an alpha - for
45 quid, which is not much more than half the price of an Alpha.

http://tinyurl.com/cxxl2

Does anyone have any experience of the Wilo (pronounced Vee-Lo according
to their website) pump? Is it any good? *Does* it do the same as an Alpha?
[From the picture it looks as if it may have less scope for adjustment].
Is it a case of "you gets what you pays for" - or do you pay through the
nose for the Grundfos label?


Hmmm - no direct knowledge of the Wilo, but I fitted a Grundfoss Alpha about
2 1/2 years ago.

The Grundfoss has an infinitely variable speed and a green LED which tells
you its on - apart from that the specs seem similar.

Very pleased with it - the big advantage is the lack of noise as it auto
adjusts the flow rate depending on demand - it is so quiet in fact that
during the recent cold snap I can leave the pump on overnight and not be
disturbed by any discernable rad/valve noise.

As a point of interest I paid £66 inc. vat for it at my local plumbers
(full, not trade price) then.

Slurp

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 17:01:01 -0000, "Set Square"
wrote:

My 10-year-old Grundfos 3-speed central heating pump is getting a bit noisy,
and I intend to replace it in the near future. Since I also intend to fit
TRVs to most radiators next summer, it would make sense to fit a pump whose
delivery is automatically variable, and I have been considering getting a
Grundfos Alpha.

In the latest Screwfix catalogue (#80) I see that they're selling Wilo Smart
pumps - which appear to do more or less the same as an alpha - for 45 quid,
which is not much more than half the price of an Alpha.

http://tinyurl.com/cxxl2

Does anyone have any experience of the Wilo (pronounced Vee-Lo according to
their website) pump? Is it any good? *Does* it do the same as an Alpha?
[From the picture it looks as if it may have less scope for adjustment]. Is
it a case of "you gets what you pays for" - or do you pay through the nose
for the Grundfos label?


Looking at the description, it seems as though Wilo have implemented
some of the Alpha functionality.

I have an Alpha on my secondary (workshop) circuit and it performs
very well. There is a continuously variable control, whereas it
appears that the Wilo has three distinct settings.

Having said that, I am not sure that having that level of tweakability
is important in a standalone pump. There is another Grundfos pump
inside my boiler and that one is controlled on an analogue basis by
the boiler controller - 20-100%. I can hook up a PC to the boiler
and see what it's all doing - certainly the pump modulates according
to demand, as does the burner.

In terms of the pricing, I think that if you shop around, and squeeze
suppliers a bit, you should be able to get an Alpha for about £60 -
the online places are doing them for £65.




--

..andy

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Andy Hall wrote:


In terms of the pricing, I think that if you shop around, and squeeze
suppliers a bit, you should be able to get an Alpha for about £60 -
the online places are doing them for £65.

Thanks. I've now found some at £60-65 on line. When I first posted, I had
only found some at 80-odd quid. So I guess you're saying "better the devil
you know" - if it's not dramatically dearer than a cheaper model?

Ther only seems to be a couple of quid difference between the 15/50 and
15/60. A 15/50 would probably be adequate for my system. Is there any
significant disadvantage in fitting a 15/60, and providing a bit of
breathing space?
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
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On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 22:13:13 -0000, "Set Square"
wrote:

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Andy Hall wrote:


In terms of the pricing, I think that if you shop around, and squeeze
suppliers a bit, you should be able to get an Alpha for about £60 -
the online places are doing them for £65.

Thanks. I've now found some at £60-65 on line. When I first posted, I had
only found some at 80-odd quid. So I guess you're saying "better the devil
you know" - if it's not dramatically dearer than a cheaper model?


Yes, I'm not saying that the Wilo is necessarily bad - no direct
experience of it - but I do know that the Alpha works well.


Ther only seems to be a couple of quid difference between the 15/50 and
15/60. A 15/50 would probably be adequate for my system. Is there any
significant disadvantage in fitting a 15/60, and providing a bit of
breathing space?


What you could do is to look up the data for your existing pump in
terms of the pressure/flow curves - especially for the setting that
you have been using.

Then compare with the curves for the two Alpha models.

As long as you can achieve sensible adjustability, I think I'd go for
the larger one. In my case I did, although I have quite long runs of
22mm between the location in the house where the heat exchanger is
installed and the workshop so felt that a bit more availability of
oomph wouldn't hurt.



--

..andy

In article , Set Square
writes

Does anyone have any experience of the Wilo (pronounced Vee-Lo according to
their website) pump? Is it any good?

Not the one you're looking at, but I replaced a dead pump (blowing
fuses) with a Wilo Gold 50 a couple of years ago. It seems well made,
came with a two year guarantee, and has worked with no problems.
Despite the name, the Wilo is an interesting shade of green.