Warning over non-compliant heating pumps

“We estimate that circa 10% of the one million central heating pumps, technically known as circulators, being brought into the UK are non-compliant,” said Steve Schofield, BPMA’s chief executive. “Once fitted, they are costing consumers hundreds of pounds every year on their heating bills, and it is seriously impacting the UK’s ability to meet its net-zero obligations.

“Continental European countries have much stricter regulatory policing regimes and are not being targeted in the same way.”

Schofield says the global microchip supply crisis is making the problem worse. He says the imported pumps use AC motors that are less than half the cost of permanent magnet motors that use microchips to vary the speed of the pump to reduce energy consumption.

Non-compliant three-speed pumps use around 100 watts of energy, compared with 30 watts for the permanent magnet design.

Pump systems provider Wilo claims non-compliant pumps seen by its engineers are being manufactured to look like genuine OEM pumps and some even carry fake CE markings that stand for ‘China Export’.

Lee Tebbatt, managing director at Wilo UK and incoming vice-president of the BPMA, said the key problem is in the standalone pump replacement market. “The standalone market, where a non-condensing boiler is being used with a hot water cylinder and header tank, is the target for non-compliant pumps. Typically, this market is a million units per year.”