Electricity usage

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Good Question Crabboy!

If I ran my pump 6 hrs a day that would add just over 11kw at .12 cents per kw = $1.32 per day x 30 days = $39.60

Now here in Arizona we have a peak and off peak time which we can select in our homes.
My off peak time starts at 9 PM at night and ends the next morning at 9AM.
For the summer I plan on having my pump start about 3AM and end at 9AM for a total of 6 hrs per day.
Now in the cold time with the water temp about 55 degrees I run it for about 3 hrs and I may even not use the Chlorine Generator and just add Chlorine and/or CYA manually. Now until the water warms up I would only run pump sparingly to clean pool dirt etc. I don't know maybe 2 hrs? every other day? What do you think?

I find it interesting for the folks that run 24/7? Why so many hours? You must have 100,000 gallon pool?
My previous pool was not a salt pool and was 20,000 gallons and I kep the chemicals up and ran the pump twice a week and never had a problem for 14 years then sold my house.

I do understand that you need to circulate x amount of water to keep things clean and fresh but 24/7 is a little too much for me.

These are just my thoughts and I do not mean to know it all and do not want to offend anyone here.
This is just my experience with my pools over he past 15 years.

And I thought my 12-13 cents per kw was expensive. Who is paying more?

Iggy
 
Most pool pumps are run way too long each day. In the winter(if you don't have a SWG) 2 hours
a days is probably enough. Since the pool is not used the cleaning load is low. In the summer 5 hours should
be good if you always run the pump while the pool is being used.

A 2 speed pump really won't save you any money, if you calculate the gallons filtered per KW used.
The 2 speed pumps are less efficient at the lower speed.

There is product that replaces your timer in the Intermatic box(most pools have these) it is
call a TightWatt. You can Google for the manufacturer. It is a timer that changes the run time
of your pump during the year so it runs shorter in the winter and longer in the summer.
If you have a home automation you can program your pump run time with the sunrise and sunset.

Everybody wants to sell you some expensive pump but you really don't need one, the secret is
not to run the pump any more than absolutely necessary.

Cliff s
 
cliff_s said:
A 2 speed pump really won't save you any money, if you calculate the gallons filtered per KW used.
The 2 speed pumps are less efficient at the lower speed.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree on this one. A two speed pump is more efficient on low speed than it is on high speed. When comparing low speed to high speed and running low speed twice as long to move the same total amount of water, using low speed will save about 1/3 of the total electrical usage. This is true because the friction, or resistance to flow, increases at higher flow rates. So there is more energy lost to friction on high speed than on low speed.

For example the WhisperFlo WFDS-4 1 HP dual speed pump is spec'd to use 7.8 amps on high speed but only 3.0 amps on low speed. Low speed moves exactly half as much water per unit time, so we need to double the low speed number to 6.0 amps to get the same amount of water moved. 6.0 amps vs. 7.8 amps is a 23% savings. Actual electrical usage varies slightly from the spec and from model to model but the basic savings of 1/4 to 1/3 of the electrical usage on low speed holds up across all two speed pumps.

Switching to a variable speed pump like the IntelliFlo gives even more dramatic savings. Not only does the IntelliFlo allow you to go to even lower speeds for additional electrical savings, it also uses an inherently more efficient design, so it moves more water at any given electrical usage than the WhisperFlo does. Pentair claims that the IntelliFlo VF can save up to 90% of the electricity. That is probably unrealistic, but several people here have seen somewhat lower but still dramatic savings with the IntelliFlo.

These fancier pumps do cost more up front. Depending on your electrical rates they may have very fast or fairly long payback times. If you are in an area with very high electrical rates, like much of CA, they are clearly worth getting.

Your other point is well taken. Many people do run their pumps far longer than they really need to. Reducing pump run time can result in dramatic electrical savings. The actual amount of pump run time required varies from pool to pool, depending on the relative size of your pool and your pump/filter system, and on the water temperature and bather load.
 
There is other reasons to run your pump other then the filter. I live in a part of the country that gets very little sun and it doesn't get as hot all day as most area's. and the night time temps drop very low. I know of no heating made that you don't have to run a pump to heat. I don't have soler but I would think you would still have to run a pump to heat. I have a heat pump and it does a good job in the climate I have, but to heat the pool the pump will have to be running and I think this is so with all heating systems.
 
High Electrical Costs

I have had my MasterSpa Envison for three months now. Each month, my electrical bill has been at least $200 more.
My dealer told me to expect $60 avg for the cost, the electric company says about $150. I've contacted Masterspa and through their rep say that $100-125/month is normal for Winter usage and about $40 for summer. I live in CT, about 75 miles north east of New York City.

I keep my spa at 102 degrees, Filter Cycle set at 2hours, Standard mode.

A service rep came out today and said that all the amperage was fine when the motor was idle, when the heater came on, when the different pumps came on. But all in all they agree $200+ is too much.

Informally, the rep told me to fill plastic garbage bags with sterofoam chips and put them inside the tub. He also stated
that water cover insulated mattress is a waste of money.

I love using my hot tub, but I do not want to see spending $200 extra each month.

I use the hot tub 5 times a week for about 45 minutes each time...
 
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