illegal end cap switch

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Diver

Diver

0
May 5, 2011
481
South of Boston
i recently contacted A.O.Smith regarding an end cap switch assembly for a 2 speed motor. STS1072R motor specifically. they told me that

You will need to use an external switch. We no longer make the toggle switch kit since they are not legal for sale in states that have passed laws relating to pool motor efficiency.
Click to expand...

which kinda made me wonder - what would switch have to do with motor efficiency law? external or internal, it should not matter much. are they implying that low speed might not pass some motor efficiency law and banning switch would be a way to restrict using the low speed?

i could ask them about it, but i'm wondering if anyone here knows anything related to this matter ...
 
In California, two speed and variable speed motors are only accepted choices when paired with an automation system that is programmed to change to a lower speed automatically after some period running at a higher speed. Similar laws are expected in Texas and Florida, though I don't believe that they exist yet. The enabling law has passed in Florida, but the specific regulations have not been published. Having a switch directly on the motor is not uniformly illegal. Switches are acceptable in some some specific situations. But for the most part an automation system with the ability to force low speed after a timeout period is required.
 
The specific goal of the regulations is to make sure the pump is never run on high speed continuously for any length of time. Basically high speed is inefficient, low speed is efficient. They don't want someone accidentally leaving the pump on high speed or intentionally cheating the regulations by using a two speed pump on high speed all the time. The rules aren't foolproof, but they seem to make a reasonable compromise.

In practice it is nice to have the pump start on high speed so it primes and coats the grids of DE filters correctly and then switch to low speed for the vast majority of the runtime. What actually happens depends on what particular kind of automation system you get.
 
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