Saturday, February 27, 2010

Anjon Big Frog Pond Pumps - Misleading Claims on Energy Efficient

A while back I bought an Anjon BF3000 "Big Frog" pond pump to replace a broken pump in our koi pond. The big reason I chose this pump was that Anjon claims it to be very energy efficient, drawing only 150 watts, compared to 300 watts for most similar products. Unfortunately, this isn't true. My measurements showed that the Anjon Big Frog pump is actually slightly less efficient than the old Aquascapes pump it replaced.

Initially I thought this was simply a error by Anjon, so I contacted them and explained to their technical people what I had found. However, it's been more than a year, and not only has Anjon failed to correct the inaccurate information, as you can see in the link above, but they've actually altered some of their other specifications to make them consistent with their false wattage claims. Very hard to interpret this as anything other than a deliberate attempt to mislead.

My measurements on the Anjon BPP3000 show that with a two foot head and essentially unrestricted flow it draws 350 watts, compared to the claimed 150 watts. Here are Anjon's published wattages for the Big Frog pumps verses what I expect them to actually consume, based on my measurements and the current draw specs (before Anjon changed them) for the other pumps:
Anjon Big Frog Pumps

ModelSpecified WattsReal Watts
BF3000150350 (measured)
BF4200250500 (estimated)
BF5500400670 (estimated)
BF63007501140 (estimated)
The cost of electricity consumed by a water pump over its lifetime usually far exceeds the cost of the pump itself. Even if you ignore the environmental issues, energy efficiency should be a critical consideration when choosing a pump simply based on economics. Although the Anjon Big Frog pumps otherwise seem to be quality well-made products, Anjon is clearly lying about their efficiency. Don't make the same mistake I did and buy an Anjon pump expecting to save energy, because you won't.