I'm sure this topic has been debated to death, but here is my situation and what I am planning on doing.... I bought a house with a 30-40 yr old pool that has a none working pump and leaking filter system so I am gutting the whole thing and redoing it. It's in a pool pump room with its own subpanel which I have stripped down to rewire (other things as well as the pump)
Previous pump was some knock off pump and I don't even know what the horsepower is. I replaced it with a 1.5hp SuperFlo VS last year, but alas 11 months later it is making a racket with all the ball bearings. I didn't see any substantial savings with the variable speed so I am ditching it going back to the old school way of doing things, single speed pump with a digital timer. My Pentair SWG unit that I put in around the same time has an issue with the flow switch where it shows always ON. Anyway, I previously wired the Superflo VS on 220 but I am getting just a regular SuperFlo and I am switching the wiring to 110v and here is why....
My digital timer will work with 110v or 220v so I set it to 110v
I changed the power center for the SWG to 110v also
I am going to wire the new 1.5hp SuperFlo to 110v
I ran #10 (like 4ft of wire) from the timer to a box I roughed in with a normal GFCI switch
I have to replace the #12 going to the timer from the subpanel with #10 (like 2 ft of wire)
I ran separate 8 gauge grounds to the timer and then the rough in box, and then going to ground it on the pump (for safety purposes)
My questions are such (but let me make a quick statement)
If you plan on telling me that 220v is more effiecient then 110v then please don't comment because thats simply not true. The pump is rated at 8amps at 220v and 16amps at 110v which is the same....yes, I understand that there sometimes is some wattage savings at 208v (I have a 208 high leg at my house so while thats a possibility, I don't plan on doing it because the 10c a day savings is not that important for the work that would be entailed to run that high leg to my subpanel)
The reason I am going 110v is because I can get a 30amp single pole homeline breaker for 3 dollars at Home Depot and the standard GFCI receptacle was 10 dollars vs the cost of the 20amp double pole with GFCI protection being A LOT MORE.
I decided also that I am going away from the VS version because I don't want to have to replace a whole expensive unit every time my pump needs replacing, as well as I don't feel like fixing bearing, installing just a new motor unit, etc etc every time something happens when I can just wire a separate timer that will last forever and just swap out pumps when they finally die. And now I can wire my SWG to the timer which fixes the problem with those [poor] Intellichlor flow switches...Plus the original SuperFlo seems to have a pretty good track record so I will just replace with another one of the exact pumps when the old one dies... I'm tired of plumbing in new unions, etc etc to switch between different pumps and pump manufacturers....
So my question is about the longevity of the motor on 110v vs 220v.... Some claim that the 220v will run 'cooler' and the pump life will be increased... I wanted your opinion on how much merit there is to this or is it marginally better then running it 110v.... If its marginally, I will continue with my setup....but if its a dramatic difference then I can always switch the neutral to the second hot lead, adjust the wiring and jumpers on the timer, and adjust the wiring on the pumps as well, and replace the GFCI plug I currently have and just go with the more expensive breaker....
Thanks in advance,
Aaron
Previous pump was some knock off pump and I don't even know what the horsepower is. I replaced it with a 1.5hp SuperFlo VS last year, but alas 11 months later it is making a racket with all the ball bearings. I didn't see any substantial savings with the variable speed so I am ditching it going back to the old school way of doing things, single speed pump with a digital timer. My Pentair SWG unit that I put in around the same time has an issue with the flow switch where it shows always ON. Anyway, I previously wired the Superflo VS on 220 but I am getting just a regular SuperFlo and I am switching the wiring to 110v and here is why....
My digital timer will work with 110v or 220v so I set it to 110v
I changed the power center for the SWG to 110v also
I am going to wire the new 1.5hp SuperFlo to 110v
I ran #10 (like 4ft of wire) from the timer to a box I roughed in with a normal GFCI switch
I have to replace the #12 going to the timer from the subpanel with #10 (like 2 ft of wire)
I ran separate 8 gauge grounds to the timer and then the rough in box, and then going to ground it on the pump (for safety purposes)
My questions are such (but let me make a quick statement)
If you plan on telling me that 220v is more effiecient then 110v then please don't comment because thats simply not true. The pump is rated at 8amps at 220v and 16amps at 110v which is the same....yes, I understand that there sometimes is some wattage savings at 208v (I have a 208 high leg at my house so while thats a possibility, I don't plan on doing it because the 10c a day savings is not that important for the work that would be entailed to run that high leg to my subpanel)
The reason I am going 110v is because I can get a 30amp single pole homeline breaker for 3 dollars at Home Depot and the standard GFCI receptacle was 10 dollars vs the cost of the 20amp double pole with GFCI protection being A LOT MORE.
I decided also that I am going away from the VS version because I don't want to have to replace a whole expensive unit every time my pump needs replacing, as well as I don't feel like fixing bearing, installing just a new motor unit, etc etc every time something happens when I can just wire a separate timer that will last forever and just swap out pumps when they finally die. And now I can wire my SWG to the timer which fixes the problem with those [poor] Intellichlor flow switches...Plus the original SuperFlo seems to have a pretty good track record so I will just replace with another one of the exact pumps when the old one dies... I'm tired of plumbing in new unions, etc etc to switch between different pumps and pump manufacturers....
So my question is about the longevity of the motor on 110v vs 220v.... Some claim that the 220v will run 'cooler' and the pump life will be increased... I wanted your opinion on how much merit there is to this or is it marginally better then running it 110v.... If its marginally, I will continue with my setup....but if its a dramatic difference then I can always switch the neutral to the second hot lead, adjust the wiring and jumpers on the timer, and adjust the wiring on the pumps as well, and replace the GFCI plug I currently have and just go with the more expensive breaker....
Thanks in advance,
Aaron