Eco vs Alpha difference,,,,

Unknown

Is there really any?

The performance curve is very close, one has display light readings, the other has night setback, price point is about the same,,, only real difference I can see is warranty,,, am I missing something, or is it just a matter of personal preference?

What do you people think?



I used to be a faithful Taco user, but the 008VDT fiasco turned me-off from them.

Gordan

Some differences

Eco has a proportional pressure curve (dP - v) that's continuously adjustable whereas Alpha allows you to select among three constant pressure curves, three constant duty modes, and AutoAdapt which is its own topic.

Unknown

Eco vs Alpha - Setback

The setback is kind of interesting...



First, please note the ECO and Stratos have PUMP setback ability and it works in conjunction with the SYSTEM setback.



The pump "learns" the setback strategy the first 24 hours after start-up (or if the setback is "reset").  Once set when the pump sees the system go into it's setback the pump runs at min speed until the system comes out of setback.  This feature can be easily disabled as well (by setting the red button in the ECO to the CW head setting indicated by the sun logo - the setback position is the Auto logo).



Apps for pump setback?  First only of "non-radiant" systems with setback.  Next, systems with non-electric zone valves.  Not many here in the USA so most of the time this feature will not be used.



Hope this helps - questions welcome.

Gordan

Steve, can you please elaborate?

You mention non-electric zone valves - I presume you mean thermostatic proportional valves. These don't have setback functionality unless it's manual setback. :-) Any setback for them would likely involve dropping the system temperature, in which case the valves would open wide and the pump would actually "think" that the system is calling for more flow. Or so it would seem in my naive understanding of these things.

Unknown

Pump Setback and TRV's

Gordan, you are correct, I was referring to thermostatic proportional valves (or TRV's).



If a system goes into setback dropping the system temp indeed the valves would drive open.  Normally all pumps would run farther to the right of the curve (more flow) - both constant speed and ECM (both drawing more power).



The pump setback knows the system is in setback and basically overrides the over pumping thing by automatically running at min speed, even with the TRV's wide open.

Unknown

Lost me Steve,,,,

How would the Eco know(with TRV`s) the system was in setback? Sensing water temp too?

If that is the case, would this feature not raise havoc on a cold start-up?

Now I`m even more confused!!

Unknown

Eco vs Alpha difference

Dave, the pump actually does read system fluid temperature.  During it's "learning" the pump is looking at the temperature drop caused by the system going into setback.  When the temperature drop levels off it "remembers" this point.  Then, as the system comes out of setback the pump sees a temperature increase and "remembers" this point as well.  When it sees a similar temperature decease over time it assumes the system is in setback and switches from pressure differential to min speed.  I get asked a lot what is the temp setpoints and how long does the pump remain in setback - but as it depends on each system and what the pump "learned" during the first 24 hours of run time after the pump setback was activated.



Dave, your comment about cold start-up is an excellent observation and I am glad you brought this up.  If the system is a cold start-up during the first 24 hours of operation (while the pump is learning the setback "points") you will need to turn the setback off and back on (once the system is operating normally).  On the Eco simply turn the red button clockwise to the sun position and back to the auto position.



Apologies for making a relatively simple feature sound so complicated - but I am sure you all want the right, complete answer...

Unknown

Thank-You Steve,,,,

That is a very kind response,,, I just didn`t understand at first!

You see,,, I had an "ECO" on my system(which I liked), but no-one in my area had tried-it,,,, then I heard about the "Alpha", same-thing,,,, so I swapped it out to see for myself.



In "hindsight", when in setback(depending on the controller) the pump should be off anyway(or zone-valves closed),,, but the TRV issue lost me,,, why do they not state this in Wilo literature?



BTW- What`s-up with the warranty??,, some people do wonder.

Unknown

Eco vs Alpha difference

Dave, good idea - I will have this added to our installation and operation manual.



Not sure what the warranty deal is about.  Ours is 3 year on all residential product, two years on commercial.

Unknown

Sorry Steve,,,

Must be another point I missed,, I thought the warranty was 30 months from manufacture, or 24 months from installation.



But I can`t prove that right-now.

Unknown

Eco vs Alpha difference

30/24 was the old one.  We changed it a while ago to straight 36 (the 30/24 was confusing and what's an extra 6 months).

Gordan

Now I'm confused about another thing :-)

If the pump monitors the system supply temp and judges setback on the basis of that, then how does it work with outdoor reset?



Or is it the combination of dropping supply temp and dropping pressure differential that it takes to mean that the system is entering setback mode? But even if it can correctly figure out when the system is entering setback, would the combination of lower temperature and lower flow cause too much, or unpredictable setback? My brain hurts...