Calpeda Pumps Australia

The warranty is anyone’s guess – Had a calpeda idromat pump controller installed all up cost $730 lasted 16 months The previous fitting lasted many many years

Think carefully before buying a Calpeda water pump – We have a holiday house in Second Valley South Australia which is a township without mains water relying totally on rainwater harvesting. We bought a Calpeda Idromat 5 pump in 2018 to replace a Groundfos pump that was nearly 20 years old; still running strong but we were concerned that it may sooner or later give up the ghost!! Our plumber highly recommended the Calpeda pulp as the Rolls Royce of the sucking world and we gladly went along with the idea despite its inflated price tag. Recently, the Calpeda failed miserably. The pumps' control unit shat itself and the pump simply refused to shut off. Our plumber was summoned and he tested the pump to diagnose a faulty control unit. We touched base with Calpeda's Regency Park office in South Australia to explore options and were initially advised that the pumps rarely failed albeit the 3 year warranty providing some level of reassurance. Nevertheless, the pump was out of warranty and the house needed water so we authorised the plumber to replace the faulty parts. End result was a $600 bill for a new control unit inclusive of labour. We paid the plumber out of necessity and complained to Calpeda about the circumstances claiming that it was not acceptable for an expensive high quality pump of this nature to fail a few short months after expiration of the warranty period. Calpeda replied that the warranty was actually 2 years and that the pump had functioned properly for over 3 years, inferring we should be happy with the product and failed to offer any compensation other than to inspect the faulty control unit for advice on its cause of malfunction. Meanwhile, we had the Groundfos pump installed to a second tank that services the garden and that pump continuous to work infallibly to this day. The moral of the story is that I would strongly urge any prospective buyer of a Calpeda pump to think carefully before purchasing such an Italian masterpiece; unless of course the pump comes with its own rendition of 'O Sole Mio', a bottle of fine Chianti, and 500 grams of lean prosciutto, especially whem there are alternative Australian brands available at half the price