Dangers of an overpowered pump?

[NullQwerty]

A buddy of mine just got a free used pump from his brother. His pump on his inground 20k gallon pool has been giving him troubles, so he wants to switch them out. Only thing is, his existing pump is 3/4 and the new pump is 1.5. Aside from maybe wasting electricity, are there any other concerns with overpowering your pump? Maybe putting undo stress on your pipes? Or potentially doing damage to the filter? Or as silly as this one sounds, even having such higher pressure coming out of the returns that children could hurt themselves?

Thanks!

 

[JasonLion]

The only significant risk with a pump that size is that you can damage the filter. How much of a risk that is very much depends on the size of the filter.

 

[zea3]

Unless he has really tiny pipes the only real danger is to the filter, and then only if it is way undersized. Normal pool plumbing should be able to handle 1.5 hp. Now his pool may look like a lazy river when the pump is on, but it won't hurt anything. The first pump I had on my 10400 gallon above ground pool was a 1.5 hp and there were no ill effects to (hard pvc) plumbing or children. Just don't let the kids stick an eye or ear directly in front of a return!

 

[NullQwerty]

Awesome! Thanks guys