New Pump

[AV8TOR]

I have been wondering when my pump was going to go and it looks like today was the day. I have several questions that I need help with.

Pump size - we bought this house three years ago and the pump has a 2HP pump on it. Did a very good job cleaning the pool. The pool is just under 15,000 gallons. I have read a lot here about over sized pumps but I can decide if I should go 1 or 1-1/2 HP?

I am thinking a Pentair WhisperFlo because it is very similar to what I have, any comments?

Next is a concern at that is plumbing. Below are two pictures of my pipe connections. As you can see it is all glued together. On the top outlet it looks like there might be enough room to the right of the top tee to add a coupling and just put new fittings to the pump. What is the gray pipe? Picture two is my concern area as these are all glued. Let is one skimmer, center is the pool drain, right is the other skimmer. Again all glued. I am not a plumber but have worked with PVC pipe but I am not sure if there is some kind of tricky connector to make this easier.

What is the priming procedure before restart?

 

[JasonLion]

You should think about getting a two speed pump. You can run a two speed pump on low speed and save a good deal of electricity. If you don't have any water features: fountain, waterfall, spa, etc, then you could move down to a 1 HP pump without any problems, again saving electricity. The WhisperFlo pumps are great pumps.

You will need to cut the pipe and splice in the new pipe after it is connected to the pump. Usually there is enough room to do that. Gray pipe is usually CPVC, a slightly stronger less temperature sensitive kind of PVC. CPVC is often used for threaded connections like the connection to the pump.

To prime the pump you open the pump strainer basket lid, fill the strainer basket with water, close the strainer basket lid, and turn on the pump. Watch to make sure it primes correctly. If it does not prime, you may need to repeat a couple of times or adjust a valve setting to get it to work.