Neiko Tools USA 1 HP Water Pump with Strainer review $109.99

Apr 15, 2010
182
Las Vegas
This is how I came about this pump....
Wanting to lower my electrical bill I started studying "variable speed" lititures from Hayward and Pentair and what the California "Title 20" is about and 2 speed pumps and hydrolic dynamics and so on. What I found is you can lower your flow and electric bill by using a smaller pump and up your run time. this will still turn your pool the same number of times per day as now (if you calculate the pump run time correctly) BUT because I have lowered the total head by cutting the flow in half this also cuts the resistance in the pipes by 4. Pretty cool, so I did alot of digging after see the variable speed pumps are $1000-$1500 and the 2speeds were only 150 bucks cheaper, and a name brand 1 hp pump would be at least $400 bucks
Hmmm i have a pentair whisper flow WF-6 1.5HP Service factor is 1.47, that takes 22 amps @240v (11A per phase) to run and needs to run 3.7 hrs to turn my pool over. So i dug for a deal on a good pump, This is what I found and bought from fleabay hehe.
>> http://cgi.ebay.com/1-1-2-water-Pum...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a06b83c96 (link good for 90days due to eBay purging)
This is the guys store I got it from >> http://stores.ebay.com/Econo-Super-Store
econoestore is his user ID. Cheapest guy on there at 109.99 at the time but looks like price varies by listing.

It can also be seen/bought here

>> http://www.tool-sale.com/neiko-model-50627a-strainer-water-pump-p-2405.html
Or here at Tool Planet
>> http://www.toolplanet.com/product/Neiko-Water-pump-strainer-50627A/outdoor

prices all vary alot I found, shop around online.

It is a Neiko Tools USA 1 HP Pool Pump with strainer basket and boy am I happy with it! :-D :-D I paid 109.99 plus FREE shipping, I paid for it at 4pm and it was delivered the next day :shock: and this thing's worth every penny. Its quiet, only Half as loud as my whisperflow and the current draw is less than half my old pump. It WILL prime from empty return pipes just fill the basket with water. here are the specs:
•120V/60Hz, 6.2A
•Inlet & Outlet Thread: 1-1/2"
•Liquid Temperature: 140 Degrees
•1 HP Motor, 3450 rpm
•3960 GPH Capacity
•Corrosion resistant housing
•Clear filter cover lets you see when full
•Max Flow: 220 liters/min. = 58 gallon per min.
Max Head height: 16m = 52ft.
Max suction L. 9m = 29ft.
•Built in strainer filter
•Thermal overload protection
Drainplug
Rear high flow fan to activly cool heat sinks (blows really well)
•6 ft. 3-prong heavy black Cord

Running test using a Kill A Watts EZ (Home Depot 24.99, great price!)
Watts: 877
VoltAmps (VA): 954
Power Factor (PF): .91
Amps: 7.97
my clean Purex/Triton FNS48 DE filter reads approx. 7psi. The flow at each of the 5 pool returns feels good.

If you want a great pump on a budget this is it. There unfortunatly was no flow curve printed in the specs. If I can calculate them I will publish them. I will be posting my pics of my project that is currently underway shortly. Basically I plumbed the new pump in parralel with the old one and added ball valves to each pumps output, a switch controls which pump gets power from the timer. The Neiko is used for daily filtration, the whisperflow is only used for manual cleaning because of its extra grunt. I just open the appropiate valve for the pump I wish to use and flip the switch to run that pump. I'm also adding check valves that the Pool Builder skipped! because my equip. slab is at least 60ft from the 32x17ft. IG pool and elevated 6 ft. above the water line. :cheers:
 

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I also installed this Pump about 9 mos ago my testing with a Kill a watt 4400 also reveals a significant savings since this pump uses less than half of the electric my previous pump was using. it still runs the same power source of 115V but uses only 5.3 Amps versus my old 115v Pump which chewed up 10.5 AMPS..... thats over 500 WATTS SAVED ! I run this pump about 6 hours per day on a 10,000 gal in-ground pool and my head pressure is about 11 PSI. ( I think I'll repost once I change my filter cartridge ) I didn't notice much difference in pump flow either its maybe 10% less if that. my lift is about 18"
One last thing no special wiring is required it plugs into a standard 115v 15amp circuit.
 
civicturbo said:
What I found is you can lower your flow and electric bill by using a smaller pump and up your run time. this will still turn your pool the same number of times per day as now (if you calculate the pump run time correctly) BUT because I have lowered the total head by cutting the flow in half this also cuts the resistance in the pipes by 4.

There unfortunatly was no flow curve printed in the specs. If I can calculate them I will publish them. I will be posting my pics of my project that is currently underway shortly. Basically I plumbed the new pump in parralel with the old one and added ball valves to each pumps output, a switch controls which pump gets power from the timer. The Neiko is used for daily filtration, the whisperflow is only used for manual cleaning because of its extra grunt. I just open the appropiate valve for the pump I wish to use and flip the switch to run that pump. I'm also adding check valves that the Pool Builder skipped! because my equip. slab is at least 60ft from the 32x17ft. IG pool and elevated 6 ft. above the water line. :cheers:

You may be using less power with this setup, but thats b/c you are not turning your pool over as much. If there is no flow curve for the pump, how do you know? For the flow you ARE getting, you are using more energy as that smaller motor is radiating more of your electrical energy away in heat from the motor.

You will generally see energy savings from running a larger (more efficient) motor slower (to reduce water velocity) and from running larger plumbing to reduce head, not by running one of these smaller, less efficient motors longer. If the manufacturer of a pump doesn't provide a flow curve, thats a sign of the quality of pump (and the breadth of testing that went into the design).
 
BriceJohnson said:
civicturbo said:
What I found is you can lower your flow and electric bill by using a smaller pump and up your run time. this will still turn your pool the same number of times per day as now (if you calculate the pump run time correctly) BUT because I have lowered the total head by cutting the flow in half this also cuts the resistance in the pipes by 4.

There unfortunatly was no flow curve printed in the specs. If I can calculate them I will publish them. I will be posting my pics of my project that is currently underway shortly. Basically I plumbed the new pump in parralel with the old one and added ball valves to each pumps output, a switch controls which pump gets power from the timer. The Neiko is used for daily filtration, the whisperflow is only used for manual cleaning because of its extra grunt. I just open the appropiate valve for the pump I wish to use and flip the switch to run that pump. I'm also adding check valves that the Pool Builder skipped! because my equip. slab is at least 60ft from the 32x17ft. IG pool and elevated 6 ft. above the water line. :cheers:

You may be using less power with this setup, but thats b/c you are not turning your pool over as much. If there is no flow curve for the pump, how do you know? For the flow you ARE getting, you are using more energy as that smaller motor is radiating more of your electrical energy away in heat from the motor.

You will generally see energy savings from running a larger (more efficient) motor slower (to reduce water velocity) and from running larger plumbing to reduce head, not by running one of these smaller, less efficient motors longer. If the manufacturer of a pump doesn't provide a flow curve, thats a sign of the quality of pump (and the breadth of testing that went into the design).

Hello Brice thanks for your input, I did a time test with a 55 gallon barrel for both pumps, then verifyed it with a digital flow meter. The flow of the pump needs to be known to set the run time correctly, I'll post the numbers below.

This Neiko tools pump runs much cooler and quieter than the Pentair pump, the case would get quite hot on the Pentair, The Neiko pump by contrast has nice fins all around the motor case and a quiet fan on the back that actively cools the fins.

The pentair motor cannot be run slower as you suggest, I tried that with a 20-amp router speed control and the Pentair motor growned and did not like it.

The Neiko tool pump is More effecient than the Pentair pump not less effecient. :)

Pump Flow test: Pentair Whisper Flow WF6 pump VS. Neiko Tools USA 1HP pump
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pentair rated at 1.5HP / 1.47SF total real HP 2.2
Neiko Tool USA rated at 1HP / 1.0SF total real HP 1.0

Pentair 5400gal/hr. @ 2.2HP consuming ~2000watts
Neiko Tools USA 3000gal/hr. @ 1 HP consuming ~887w

Pentair moves 2511gal/HP an hour
Neiko Tools moves 3000gal/HP an hour

Pentair moves 2.70 gallons of water per Watt consumed
Neiko Tools moves 3.38 gallons of water per Watt consumed

Filter PSI reading on a freshly cleaned filter:
Pentair: 16psi
Neiko tools: 5psi

Conclusion:
The Neiko Tools USA 1 HP pump beats the Pentair Whisper flow WF6 in effiency by pumping more water using per Watt or Dollar than the Pentair. The Neiko pump does more work per HP than the Pentair pump. The Pentair will move alot more water per hour if your will to pay 25% more per month in electricity to run it on the same pool system. If you run a solar system on a 2 story house you will probaly need the lifting power of a 2HP+ pump. The Pentair cost 3-4 times more than the Neiko pump. It's worth noting that for the Pentair pump you can buy replacment parts at any reputable pool store over the counter. The Neiko pump you will be ordering anything you need. The Pentair also has a standardized motor mount that will allow you to change motors to ones that are sold at the local pool stores.

Timer calculations - To turn my 20k gal. pool once per day
Pentair 3.7 hrs. (5400gal./Hr.)
Neiko tools 6.6 hrs. (3000gal./Hr.)

Each time you cut your GPH in half you cut your internal friction on the plumbing by 4! This is why the head drops soo much. Here is a great thread that explains why lowering your head by using a slower water flow will save you money>> hydraulics-101-have-you-lost-your-head-t915.html :cheers:
 
The way you have that worded, it is a very misleading comparison. A smaller pump is always more efficient than a larger pump of the same design. You choose a pump that was enough smaller that the fact that it is of a significantly less efficient design is overcome by the relative sizes of the pump. Yet you keep saying Pentair vs. Neiko Tools instead of 2.2 SFHP pump vs 1.0 SFHP pump.

If you actually wanted to compare Pentair vs. Neiko Tools, you should have compared to a 1/2 HP WhisperFlo, which is 0.95 SFHP. If you had made such a comparison you would have found the 1/2 HP WhisperFlo dramatically beats the Neiko Tools 1 HP pump in every way except price.

And if you wanted to compare a 2.2 SFHP pump to a 1.0 SFHP pump you should have compared two pumps of the same brand/design. If you had done that test, you would have seen an even more dramatic electrical usage savings than the one you observed.

Your conclusion, as written: "The Neiko Tools USA pump beats the Pentair Whisper flow in effiency by pumping more water using per Watt or Dollar than the Pentair." is simply false. It fails to mention the difference in SFHP between the two pumps, which is by far the dominant effect, and is thus highly misleading. The more correct conclusion would be that: Using a smaller pump is such a major factor in saving electricity that even an inexpensive 1.0 SFHP pump is more efficient than a top of the line energy efficient 2.2 SFHP pump.
 
Well my Pentair Whisper flow locked up 2 days ago! 3 yrs old. The impeller turns freely but the pump just makes a loud humming noise and the timer contacts spark bad upon switching. Guess I'll have to see if that home warranty we bought from Alliance Home will cover it. What a Tu*d! :rant: Really Glad I installed the Neiko pump :-D , were leaving town and I don't have time to deal with this.
 
I thought of that, I thought It was strange it quite while it was running just fine 20 mins. earlier. Maybe a cap is needed for more than just startup? I was planning on testing it before I call the homewarranty company and drop 60 buck on the service call deductable.
 

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Re: Neiko Tools USA 1 HP Water Pump with Strainer review $10

works great, except im not impressed with the strainer cover gasket, it got deformed too easy and is not an o-ring. its weird. i can't find a oem site to order off so im going to try getting a 1/4" thick oring from an online oring specialty company. If that works ill be posting back here.
 
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