Help Choosing Best Equipment Combination

[hleapha]

With my 20K gal vinyl, my pump 1.5hp Hayward Superpump motor failed. I have replaced bearings and seals twice and pieced milled other pieces for the last few years of it's 10 year life but it needs to be replaced. It's a 2005 pool with 5 year old vinyl and an old, barely functioning Polaris 165 Turtle. I also need to replaced the leaking pipe work from multiple unions and splices. I have entertained a SWG to ease up the bleach game and suit us when I got out of town. This is my opportunity to build what I want but I have a somewhat limited budget around $1000. Where is my money best spent?

I have to do something with the pump. Do I:
1) Buy a $170 Century/A.O.Smith single speed motor and roll on with my existing pump
2)Spend $800+ on a Variable Speed Like a Pentair Superflo VS ($775) or Tesla/EcoPump

If I go with a variable speed pump, is there any issue using a pressure side cleaner, like my Turtle? I assume I would have to run it at full power potentially negating some power savings. I could dump the Turtle and spend extra $$ on a robot cleaner, but not sure.

If I go with the cheap fix on the pump, I won't save on the energy bill for several years to come, but it may allow me to invest in a Hayward T-15. Is there really any cost savings with the SWG or is it purely a convenience thing?

 

[pooldv]

Here is the Superflo VS pump for 650 bucks. Pentair SuperFlo VS Pump 342001 | Pentair 342001 Now you have more money!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

$1000 is a very limited budget. Any one of the items you mention (VSP, SWG, Robot) is easily $1000 all on its own. So you have to pick your battles.

Are your utility rates high and therefore running the pool is expensive? Then a VSP is a good investment.

Where do you live? If you are in a short swim season climate like the Northeast, then an SWG is not necessarily a good way to invest money. A Stenner bleach pump for ~ $300 to $500 might be a better option.

Pool robot...it's a luxury expense when compared to the other two needs. I say get the pump squared away before you do anything else since you can always manually vacuum a pool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006

 

[jdrharrison]

I don't know much about the Telsa/Ecopump, but they seem to have some pretty deceptive marketing practices. That site is an (somewhat) elaborate advertisement, but they try to spin it as an unbiased review site without any info about how they reached their conclusions. The actual websites for the pumps look pretty, but lack information under the surface. I don't do business with companies that try to fool uninformed customers using these ploys regardless of how well their products perform.

Note: I do not have much experience with pool equipment manufacturers and installers. I do, however, have significant experience evaluating just about everything else you can get for a house, with excellent results.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Hayward, Pentair and Jandy are the Ford, Chevy & Chrysler of the pool equipment market. Choose from one of those brands and most folks here will be able to help you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006

 

[hleapha]

I don't know much about the Telsa/Ecopump, but they seem to have some pretty deceptive marketing practices. That site is an (somewhat) elaborate advertisement, but they try to spin it as an unbiased review site without any info about how they reached their conclusions. The actual websites for the pumps look pretty, but lack information under the surface. I don't do business with companies that try to fool uninformed customers using these ploys regardless of how well their products perform.

Note: I do not have much experience with pool equipment manufacturers and installers. I do, however, have significant experience evaluating just about everything else you can get for a house, with excellent results.

I think you're right on that website. It really does look like it shills for Tesla/Ecopump. They are probably decent products, but I believe saving $200 on a Hayward or Pentair VSP is a more desirable option. You sound about like me though - a DIYer that puts a lot of time into decisions around the house. I did find this database from Energy Star that I plan to export and manipulate in Excel to see what my best options are.

 

[hleapha]

$1000 is a very limited budget. Any one of the items you mention (VSP, SWG, Robot) is easily $1000 all on its own. So you have to pick your battles.

Are your utility rates high and therefore running the pool is expensive? Then a VSP is a good investment.

Where do you live? If you are in a short swim season climate like the Northeast, then an SWG is not necessarily a good way to invest money. A Stenner bleach pump for ~ $300 to $500 might be a better option.

Pool robot...it's a luxury expense when compared to the other two needs. I say get the pump squared away before you do anything else since you can always manually vacuum a pool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006

Thanks - My rates are on the high end at $0.15-$0.16 per kW-hr. Inefficiency is really a pet peeve of mine, b/c I'm cheap and over analyze things. I think I will definitely get the VSP, likely a Hayward SP2302VSP or the Pentair 342001 (both around $650). I'll try to continue my pump research over in that sub-forum. Maybe some other good options will pop up!

About the SWG/Automatic Chlorine: I have done a quick search and found DIY options for automatic chlorine dispensers and even DIY SWG setups. This will likely be a long, dark path I travel down. Any direction would be great but if not, wish me luck!

 

[lordhazel]

Thanks - My rates are on the high end at $0.15-$0.16 per kW-hr. Inefficiency is really a pet peeve of mine, b/c I'm cheap and over analyze things. I think I will definitely get the VSP, likely a Hayward SP2302VSP or the Pentair 342001 (both around $650). I'll try to continue my pump research over in that sub-forum. Maybe some other good options will pop up!

About the SWG/Automatic Chlorine: I have done a quick search and found DIY options for automatic chlorine dispensers and even DIY SWG setups. This will likely be a long, dark path I travel down. Any direction would be great but if not, wish me luck!

My electricity bill is super high here in the Arizona summer. The best Return On Investment in energy efficiency is right in your Pool Pump, even better ROI than getting a more efficient AC. Like you, did a lot of research looking into my options from Hayward, Pentair, EcoPump and even solar pumps. Had a Hayward Super Pump single speed that lasted for over 12 years that came with the house when I bought it. It liked to suck electricity like there was no tomorrow, plus I didn't have any flexibility on choosing speeds/power and the old timer was not flexible either. After reading many, many reviews, asking questions to different Pool guys and Pool stores, finally made the final decision. Bought the Hayward SP3200VSP TriStar VS Variable-Speed on Amazon for about $779 without tax. I like to support my local businesses, but the local Pool store wanted almost $1K. It has a very reliable record, unlike its bigger brother the Hayward EcoStar. Per the Pool guy, these two Hayward pumps are built by two different companies for Hayward. That's why their track records are so different. The menu system is incredibly easy to program and if wanted, can run it as low as 600 RPM using about 25 Watts (yep, that's a 2 and a 5). That's flexibility just in case you want to configure your pump to your specific needs with different speeds. Quite, super quite. Had it installed by a certified pool guy to make sure the full warranty is provided. Do not install it yourself. Paid the pump with my credit card which gives me an additional 1 year of warranty after Hayward's 2 years if installed by a certified technician. Most credit card companies have this warranty extension as a normal benefit so it makes sense to use it in cases like these. Got the transaction paid in full soon after the purchase of course. I hope this helps.