The Hydraulic Institute announces its Circulator Energy Rating Program as a key resource in making energy-efficient circulators inclusive of controls easier to identify and adopt in the marketplace. This new source of energy performance ratings can be used as a qualified product list for approved circulator models. This is the first step in the industry’s effort to promote market transformation to more efficient products.
Circulator Energy Rating labels are only applied to the most efficient circulator pumps in the market. Rated circulators save energy, maximize overall system efficiency, cut operational costs and reduce carbon emissions. Since these pumps have integrated variable speed controls, additional benefits include optimized performance and improved comfort through more even space heating or cooling.
The Energy Rating label enables the comparison of selected circulator pumps based on average power consumption. It can be used to estimate the power savings or to estimate and compare the power savings of multiple circulator pumps.
When looking to replace a circulator pump, for example, selecting an Energy Rating labeled pump with an ER value of 200 can achieve up to 80% power savings, compared to a traditional constant speed circulator. This is made possible by replacing traditional motors with advanced ECM motors. While that modification alone provides a significant reduction in energy consumption, the addition of integrated variable speed control allows the circulator to react to its surrounding system by speeding up or slowing down to meet demand. This reduces energy costs even further and improves overall comfort. Proper sizing and selection of circulator pumps in combination with the HI Energy Rating is vital to achieving the most efficient and reliable pumping system. For more details, visit pumps.org/Circulator.
