Condensate Pumps?

[Prince Vaillant]

Which Condensate Pump manufacturer do you all rate, and more importantly why?

[eggs]

Hello.

The three we have found most success with this year so far are:

Pump House - Tank pumps (no probs at all)

Aspen - Universal (some give an annoying ticking noise, but not all)

Saurman - delta packs (mostly reliable, but occasionally the floats forget to float)

Worst so far this year:

Mini Lime (they seem to work ok, but the noise.........sound like thunder some of them?? but not others)

Cheers

eggs

[Refrigerologist]

Which Condensate Pump manufacturer do you all rate, and more importantly why?

We have been using Apen Mini Orange for 6 years. Not a single failure yet. Once primed the noise level is pretty good. we haven't had any complaints.

Have used the Mini Aqua for about 1 year, again no problems.

We had a mini orange full of sawdust, bloody shop fitters. Cleaned the sump tray, cleaned the hoses, ran the pump and it is still working 3 years on.

The worst pumps have to be Hydron Universal or Compact, absolute cr*p

[icecube51]

i always use the mini aqua from Aspen, they told me i was the first ho has placed that type in Belgium,its over 3 years now,never had any problems whit it. in fact the hole Aspen range is for me the best in pumps.

Ice

ps;have to keep mi sponsors happy ;)

[monkey spanners]

Gravity, has yet to fail, and if it did i'd be too busy floating off into space to worry about condensate drains :p

Jon :D

[multisync]

Hello.

The three we have found most success with this year so far are:

Pump House - Tank pumps (no probs at all)

Aspen - Universal (some give an annoying ticking noise, but not all)

Saurman - delta packs (mostly reliable, but occasionally the floats forget to float)

Worst so far this year:

Mini Lime (they seem to work ok, but the noise.........sound like thunder some of them?? but not others)

Cheers

eggs

The noise is due to the green pipe not being properly isolated from the side or ceiling. If you look now on the new ones the shortened hose has a sticker saying "fit pipe between insulated pipes"

The worst is when they coil up the spare in the false ceiling and it touches the metal grid... keep it clear and they are almost silent..

Try it and see..

Multisync
London

[superswill]

Little Giant tank pumps and EC400'S hardly any probs

aspen universal great all rounder

but a pump will only do what is says on the tin,follow the guide lines and keep well maintained and it will do its job

seen a few mini limes with a full roll of hose on,ummm i wounder why this burnt out

[eggs]

The noise is due to the green pipe not being properly isolated from the side or ceiling. If you look now on the new ones the shortened hose has a sticker saying "fit pipe between insulated pipes"


This is a plaster on a cut not a safety glove to prevent accidents.
If i were to wrap myself up in armacel insulation at night, the wife wouldn't hear me snoring.
The fact i snore is that i'm designed badly. (i'm fat, i drink and i sleep on my back)
There is no escaping that there is a bad batch of mini limes going about at the moment. I'll have a 50p bet that the design changes again.....soon.

Cheers

eggs

[superswill]

This is a plaster on a cut not a safety glove to prevent accidents.
If i were to wrap myself up in armacel insulation at night, the wife wouldn't hear me snoring.
The fact i snore is that i'm designed badly. (i'm fat, i drink and i sleep on my back)
There is no escaping that there is a bad batch of mini limes going about at the moment. I'll have a 50p bet that the design changes again.....soon.

Cheers

eggs


i will rise you a pound they change! like having a heard of buffalo running though the office,so loud but price as always wins

[Andy AC]

For a tank pump, sauermann SI 1800 Cheap, cheerful and actually a good pump, or if moneys not a problem, a little giant.
I am unable to recommend a good mini pump - I now believe they do not exist, seriously thinking about using peristaltics again. I refitted an old mitsubishi the other day with a hydron peristaltic, I was surprised how good it was.

Andy

[Slim R410a]

Tank pumps = Aspen Hi-Flow or Hi-Lift never had a problem, inexpensive.

Wall mounts = Aspen Universal, used to fit the mechanical but had a few float switches block up or fill up quicker than it can pull out, this is what puts me off the mini aqua.
Fitted some delta packs, found reliable but fiddly to fit and your always fighting to fit everything in the trunking.
Yet to try the blue diamond or mini blue, doesnt seem to be much feedback on here about it, the site says its your answer to mini pumps.

[Daikin=Overated]

Totally agree with all of the above.

I rate the EC400's-very quiet and well made. All so the similar styled Sauremann product of which I can't remember the model.Unbelievably quiet.

I'm staying well clear of perastaltic pumps, and generally anything with temp diff over my encounters with reliability.

Hydron are amongst the worst pumps I've ever had the misfortune to fit. Sump pumps with earth fixings vibrating loose for gods sakes! Never again.

I must say Blue Diamond have recently gone up in my estimation. Their aftersales have been superb, I was very grateful as this meant everything to me when fitting a product with such generous warranty claims and encountering a few failures. I'd use them again!

To be fair, how many of us have had our views tainted toward pump manufacturer selection as a result of flooded ceilings having not fitting high level fault alarms. I for one have kicked myself for not having fitted this option and could have saved a lot of grief. Then again the pump shouldn't have failed in the first place lol-lessons learnt and all that.

J.

[Karl Hofmann]

Never had a Minilime fail but they do bark when they start up so they are not really a good pump for homes I have one in my living room and I can hear it all round the house. Sauerman Deltapacks are lovely and quiet and work well in bedrooms. For industrial installations I like the Limpet pumps that sit below the indoor unit.. easy to get at for stripping and cleaning.

I think that I must be the only guy here who doesn't like Peristaltic pumps despite the fact that I know that they are tough and reliable.. I don't really install anything large enough to require a tank pump other than for condensing boilers and then the Little Giant tank pump works well... As has already been said though.. Gravity is the best pump in the world

[monkey spanners]

For a buzzy pump i'd fit Saureman, only had one go wrong with a faulty float.
Tank pumps are usualy Jet (NRS own brand) which are made by Little Giant for them.
For Peristaltic pumps it would be Aspen, but i've gone off of these after having a few problems with the air temp sensor ones when fitted to inverter units, too low a temp differance with a low load to bring the pump on?

Jon

[S_Line]

We are trying the Blue Diamonds ( From HRP ) in a large installation og Underceiling units.
We have opted for the Electronic Float sensor type. We will update when they are running.

Someone said that the floats got stuck on Deltas, They are electronic and have no floats. Limes and orange have floats.

[SkyWalker]

alot of indoors come with lift up pumps built in, the best solution is obviously to try and use a natural drain, but i understand in some circumstances this just isnt possible.

we have been using blue diamonds for well over a year now they are a great pump and we have many many installed and hardly any breakdown calls!

the only thing i wouldn't advise with a blue diamond is "modifying", we took out the electronic sensors and placed them in the wall mounted drain outlet (with the full backing of the blue diamond uk rep) and this has caused us no end of problems as they run loud if there not full of water, they gargle and over vibrate thus become noisy, i believe they have since designed a sensor type so it would run like an aspen universal (temp diff air on air off)

for a tank pump we use hartell or aspen hi flow ltr or 2lt, cant knock either, ive only ever been called back to one hartell!

ive had some experience with sauerman and they where the worst ever pumps we have installed, ended up changing 20 out of 20 on one job alone!

[Misstick]

Hi there,
Pump House now have a great mini pump in a duct the Flowatch Design, you should try it, it is really quiet and reliable

[rude]

i find most pumps start off quiet. BUt the longer there in for the noisier they get and customers hate it!! I cant find one thats better than the others yet. Some stay quieter longer than others tho.

[multisync]

One for ther oldies

The best ever pumps were those square ones Mastair used to fit..

[Debonair Spain]

I remember them well, they were bloody good, THE PUMPS I MEAN!

[Greengrocer]

Hi there,
Pump House now have a great mini pump in a duct the Flowatch Design, you should try it, it is really quiet and reliable

Saw this at the RAC show last month. Very quiet. We're going to give them a try in place of Mini Limes which recently have been very unreliable and noisy (even when installed correctly with no syphoning - most common problem).
I fitted a Mini Lime (minus trunking) to my condenser tumble dryer at home. It only lasted six months of infrequent use before it packed up.

[robin r33 gtr]

One for ther oldies

The best ever pumps were those square ones Mastair used to fit..


What the one's with the little black float switch?

I find I use different pumps for different places.

aspen mini aqua on tight floor cabinet units.
maxi lime in, on show pump.
aspen universal above ceiling.
2 litre (not 1 litre) for cassette or ducted where gravity not possible.

[Misstick]

Have you tried the Flowatch Design?

[moondawn]

hep prince Valliant,
my favourite pump would be aspens.
and the pumps i miss the most are yours now that you have moved from trafford park. but they were really bad pumps to be honest, stunk the place out.

cheers
moondawn