Hot Water Circulation Pump

What Is Hot Water Circulation Pumps for Australia Homes and Sites

A hot water circulation pump is the small unit that stops you standing at the tap watching cold water run down the drain. It keeps heated water moving in a loop between your water heater and your outlets, so hot water is already sitting in the pipe when you turn the tap on. In a big home in Baldivis or Ellenbrook, where the storage tank sits at one end of the house and the ensuite sits at the other, that wait can stretch past a minute. On a 12 litre per minute shower head, that is real water and real money, twice a day, every day. We are Pumptastic, and our warehouse is at 7 Hampton St, Greenfields, just outside Mandurah. We stock and ship the full Grundfos hot water circulation pump range: 18 models, all 230V single phase, from $313.74 up to $1,496.18. Single phase matters more than most sellers admit. It means the pump runs off a normal household circuit, so you are not waiting on a three phase supply upgrade before your plumber can commission it. The other reason people fit a hot water circulation pump has nothing to do with comfort. Under AS/NZS 3500.4, heated water services have to be designed so water does not sit still and cool in long runs of pipe. Stagnant warm water in a dead leg is where Legionella grows. In aged care, hotels, gyms, schools and multi storey residential, a recirculation loop is not a luxury item. It is how the building meets the standard. That is why the same hot water circulation pump you would fit to a five bedroom house in Dunsborough also turns up on the mechanical schedule for a Perth CBD fitout.

Stainless Steel or Cast Iron: The Choice That Decides How Long Your Pump Lasts

This is the single most expensive hot water circulation pump mistake we see, and almost nobody selling pumps online explains it. Grundfos uses a letter code in the model name. No letter means a cast iron pump housing. The letter N means a stainless steel pump housing. That letter is not a trim level. It is a compatibility rule. Grundfos states in its own Series 100 data booklet that for circulation in domestic hot water systems you use the N version, because the water in an open potable system carries dissolved oxygen, and that oxygen will corrode a plain cast iron housing. Cast iron circulators are built for closed loop heating, where the same water goes round and round and the oxygen is used up early. Put a cast iron hot water circulation pump on a potable hot water line and you are running a clock, not installing an asset. So on this page, read the model name before you read the price. It decides whether your hot water circulation pump lasts ten years or two.

The stainless steel models for potable hot water

If the water in the loop is water anyone will drink, shower in or wash up with, you want a stainless housing. That is the Grundfos UPS N series and the Grundfos ALPHA2 N series. Entry point is the UPS 25-60 N 180 at $658.78, which suits most standard homes with a dedicated return line. Bigger footprints and light commercial jobs step up through the UPS 32-80 N 180 to the UPS 32-100 N 180 at $1,496.18, which has a 2 inch connection for larger loops. The ALPHA2 25-60 N 180 is the one we point plumbers to when the client cares about running cost. It is a permanent magnet motor with automatic speed control, so it throttles itself down instead of running flat out on a fixed speed all day.

The cast iron models and where they belong

The cast iron UPS and ALPHA2 units on this page, like the UPS 25-60 130 at $383.97, are correctly specified for closed circuits. Hydronic heating, chilled water, fan coil loops, solar collector loops and underfloor heating. They are excellent pumps. They are just the wrong metal for a potable line, and the price difference between cast iron and stainless is exactly why people get this wrong.

The retrofit option with no return line

Most older WA houses were never plumbed with a hot water return. The Grundfos COMFORT range solves that. The COMFORT 15-14 B GB at $313.74 has a brass housing with a built in shut off and non return valve, and it works with a bridge valve under the furthest sink so the existing cold line becomes the return path. No wall opening, no new pipework. The COMFORT 15-14 B TA GB at $495.42 adds AUTOADAPT, which learns your household pattern over about a week and only runs when you actually use hot water. For a retrofit, that is the cheapest honest way into a hot water recirculating pump.

Installing a Hot Water Circulating Pump: What Western Australia Law Actually Requires

Installing a hot water circulating pump is not a weekend job in Western Australia, and we will not pretend otherwise to make a sale. The Plumbers Licensing Board, under the Water Services Licensing (Plumbers Licensing and Plumbing Standards) Regulations 2000, restricts plumbing work to licensed plumbers. Cutting into a heated water service to add a return line and a pump is not like for like maintenance. It is regulated work. If the pump is hardwired rather than plugged in, you also need a licensed electrician. A DIY install can void the Grundfos warranty and, more seriously, it can void your home insurance if the joint lets go while you are at work. What we can do is make your plumber's day easier. Fit isolation valves either side of the hot water circulation pump so the next service does not mean draining the whole system. Fit the non return valve, because without it thermosiphon will push hot water into your cold line and your cold tap will run warm. Mount the pump with the motor shaft horizontal. Check the loop is full and purged before you power it up, because these are canned rotor pumps and the pumped water is what lubricates the bearings. Running one dry for thirty seconds can be enough to finish it. Sizing is the other place hot water circulation pump jobs go wrong. A hot water circulation pump is not sized like a pressure pump. You are only overcoming pipe friction around a closed loop, not lifting water or making pressure, so more head is not better. Oversize it and you get noise, erosion of copper pipe walls, and a power bill for nothing. Give us the loop length, the pipe diameter and the number of outlets and we will size it properly. That is a phone call, not a form. If you also need isolation ball valves, stainless BSP fittings, a pump controller or a replacement motor capacitor, they ship in the same box.

Hot Water Circulation Pumps For Sale: Price, Stock and Delivery Across Australia

Every hot water circulation pump on this page is genuine Grundfos with full Australian warranty, priced in Australian dollars, with the price you see on screen being the price you pay. No login wall, no quote form, no phone tag. We think you should be able to compare a hot water circulation pump for sale at 10pm on a Sunday without giving anyone your email address first. Freight is free Australia wide on orders over $100 through Australia Post, which for once genuinely helps regional buyers. Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton, Karratha, Kalgoorlie, Broome and the wheatbelt all get the same range and the same price as Perth metro. If you are local to Mandurah, Rockingham, Pinjarra or the Peel region, call ahead and collect from Greenfields the same day. For builders, plumbing contractors, facility managers and maintenance teams, we handle multi unit orders, matched pairs for duty and standby recirculation sets, and repeat supply for scheduled replacement programs. Give us the model on the old nameplate and we will confirm the current equivalent before you commit, because Grundfos part numbers have moved around over the years and a wrong 2 inch flange is an expensive delivery.

Not certain yet? Talk to a person. Call (08) 6384 5884, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm WST, or email hello@pumptastic.com.au. Have your pump nameplate, your loop length and your pipe size ready and we will get you to the right hot water circulation pump in one call. You can also browse the wider circulator pump range, the full Grundfos catalogue, pressure boosting pumps if your issue is pressure rather than wait time, or Grundfos spare parts.