Energy Efficient Pump Recommendation

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They do strange things with HP numbers. To find the actual HP you multiply the HP by the service factor. Your current motor had an HP of 1.5 and a service factor of 1.5 for a total of 2.25. The b2983t is the best match at 2.23. The b2984t would require a new impeller as well.

In my hunt and research I've found the folks at pool supply word to be helpful, probably worth a confirmation woth them.
 
karmabiker said:
They do strange things with HP numbers. To find the actual HP you multiply the HP by the service factor. Your current motor had an HP of 1.5 and a service factor of 1.5 for a total of 2.25. The b2983t is the best match at 2.23. The b2984t would require a new impeller as well.

In my hunt and research I've found the folks at pool supply word to be helpful, probably worth a confirmation woth them.
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That would make sense based on the information from the Inyo Pools website. Do you think that's why they have an additional sticker on the motor that says 2 HP and 1.1 SF? That would give the actual HP as 2.2 which is pretty much the same as 2.25.
 
I've been looking a little at higher efficiency pumps, and found this to be a very informative thread - I hadn't known about the motor replacement option for starters - it was also good to have some better "real world" numbers instead of the manufacturer's "pool store" puffery :blah:

Since our existing Hayward "Super-Pump" is still running fine, I'm not totally sold on replacing it - although it would be good to get the timer out of the basement where I can't get to it any more, and have it at poolside so I can adjust it as needed...

However, thus far every high efficiency pump / motor I've looked at has been 230V. :cry: Our pool is wired for 110V and it would be a MAJOR headache to change it - I'd have to replace the wiring from the breaker panel to the pool, and I'm not sure that it would even be possible to redo the panel to support 230V breakers...

Do they even make high efficiency motors that run on 110V?

Gooserider
 
Well I ordered a B2983T from Pool Supply World on Sunday. It arrived on Thursday and I installed it today. Very simple install. Just removed the old motor, connected the new motor using the same wiring, put the old impeller on the new motor, and put the whole thing back together. Probably took about an hour.

Since the controller is on the motor I removed the on/off pegs from my round Intermatic controller. I just leave it in the on position all the time so the motor controller always has power. I was running my old pump 7 hours/day so I set the new motor to run 14 hours on low speed.

I'm very impressed with how quiet the pump is now. Can't even hear it when sitting on the patio. Even when you stand right over it you will find it hard to hear. I even tried high speed and found it was quieter than my old motor. But I plan on just running it on low speed all the time.

After the change I did notice I have a small leak that I need to troubleshoot. I'm guessing I just don't have the band clamp that clamps the wet end to the motor end tight enough.

I also noticed my Pentair cartridge filter now runs at a very low pressure. I have a 60 psi gauge. Typically with clean filters I run at about 20 psi and have been running at 22 psi for the past month or so. Now running on low speed the gauge barely registers at around 4 psi. I expected the pressure to go down, but not that much. I may have to change out the gauge now so I get a more accurate reading to tell me when to clean the filters. Since I use a robot for vacuuming, I typically only need to clean my filters once year.
 
You might note the pressure while running on high speed and every now and then check what the pressure is when you run at high speed. You might want to run at high speed when you add chemicals to get them mixed in quicker. The pool might not skim the surface as well on low speed and you might want to run for an hour on high speed. I installed an intermatic speed switch so I could deal with a couple of issues, priming my solar panels and the other to skim the pool surface using the pump on high speed.
 
I finally tracked down my pool leak near the pump. Had to wait for everything to dry out. Turns out I had a crack in the hose on the return line right after the chlorinator. Due to the way the pool installer ran the pipes, he had to use about 12" of flexible 1.5" spa hose in this part of the pipe run. After 8 years of Texas sun it made a very small crack causing a small and difficult to find leak. The flex hose actually went right into the chlorinator so it wasn't a quick fix. I had to take the chlorinator (Pentair 320) apart and then used a hacksaw to cut the bottom T of the chlorinator out of the line. Then used my PVC pipe ram bit to drill out the flexible hose from the T. When I reinstalled the chlorinator I moved it upstream slightly so if this happens again I don't need to remove the chlorinator. Not the way I wanted to spend a few hours on a Sunday, but 4 hours after all the work I tested it out and no leaks now.

I originally thought the leak was at the clamp where the motor end connects to the wet end of the pump. I used a wrench to tighten this clamp trying to ensure it wasn't leaking there. The motor isn't bound up and is still very quiet so I'm assuming this is fine. I don't really want to loosen the clamp now.

It was great to get the pump running again yesterday and not hear it at all.
 
ping said:
You might note the pressure while running on high speed and every now and then check what the pressure is when you run at high speed. You might want to run at high speed when you add chemicals to get them mixed in quicker. The pool might not skim the surface as well on low speed and you might want to run for an hour on high speed. I installed an intermatic speed switch so I could deal with a couple of issues, priming my solar panels and the other to skim the pool surface using the pump on high speed.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about the skimmer myself. I'll have to see how well it does. My pool return lines are near the top of the pool and even on low speed I can just barely see the water movement at the surface so it's moving the water in the right direction. Plus the prevailing winds typically blow towards the skimmer. Luckily I don't have a lot of trees or other things that drop stuff in my pool. The main thing I get is dust that blows in, but the robot takes care of that.
 
There is no need to run on high speed for circulation reasons. Chemicals mix in and the water mixes and filters just fine on low speed. Skimmers are more variable. Depending on your plumbing setup, number of skimmers, etc, there are occasionally problems with the skimmers not working well on low speed, though generally everything is fine with a two speed and this only becomes a major issue with a variable speed.

Dramatically lower filter pressure is normal when running on low speed. Using the pressure reading while on high speed as your indication of when to clean the filter is a good idea.
 

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