Hi All, I introduced myself here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/105333-Happy-newbie-pool-owner-in-Westchester-NY
I'm working towards ditching my pool service for next season (just bought the house and will finish out the existing contract in a couple of weeks). I have a couple of changes I'd like to implement and a couple of questions.
Changes:
1. Replace single speed Hayward pump (says 2hp in my sig, but its 1.5 hp actually...need to fix that) with a variable or 2-speed pump.
2. Add a heat pump for maintaining 80°F temp during the season. I currently have a 400k BTU propane heater in the system. I have room on the pad to add the heat pump and keep the propane heater.
3. Find a way to add chlorine through either a SWG or Stenner pump.
My questions:
1. Do I need automation to integrate the pump with the heating options? Currently, the previous owners had a single speed super pump II running 24/7. If I start playing with a variable speed pump, it seems I now need to think about how to activate the pump when the heater kicks on (or the SWG if I go that route). Does it make sense to get a larger pump that can loaf along in low speed and maintain a flow of 30-40 gpm? If I ran such a pump 24/7 at such flow rates I'd get a full turnover daily. I think that flow rate would be sufficient for most SWG and heaters, yes? If so, I could just have the heaters or SWG system kick in when they felt the need. It seems there are some advantages of running the pump on high for a few hours to improve skimmer efficiency. No reason not to do that, but if I drop flow during other times less than 30-40 gpm, then I need to have the heaters or SWG be able to "talk" to the pump I'm sure that is trivial, but I don't know what would be involved.
2. Is there any trick to making a propane heater and a heat pump play "nice" together to share the load? I figure the propane heater would be used in the early season to get the pool up to temp and the heat pump to maintain. Is there any consensus about heat pump brands? Or how I should size the heat pump?
3. I'm on the fence about SWG versus Stenner. I'm exploring options. See my crazy Stenner post (scroll to bottom): http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/88248-Bleach-Prices-2015/page18
Thanks!
Jay
I'm working towards ditching my pool service for next season (just bought the house and will finish out the existing contract in a couple of weeks). I have a couple of changes I'd like to implement and a couple of questions.
Changes:
1. Replace single speed Hayward pump (says 2hp in my sig, but its 1.5 hp actually...need to fix that) with a variable or 2-speed pump.
2. Add a heat pump for maintaining 80°F temp during the season. I currently have a 400k BTU propane heater in the system. I have room on the pad to add the heat pump and keep the propane heater.
3. Find a way to add chlorine through either a SWG or Stenner pump.
My questions:
1. Do I need automation to integrate the pump with the heating options? Currently, the previous owners had a single speed super pump II running 24/7. If I start playing with a variable speed pump, it seems I now need to think about how to activate the pump when the heater kicks on (or the SWG if I go that route). Does it make sense to get a larger pump that can loaf along in low speed and maintain a flow of 30-40 gpm? If I ran such a pump 24/7 at such flow rates I'd get a full turnover daily. I think that flow rate would be sufficient for most SWG and heaters, yes? If so, I could just have the heaters or SWG system kick in when they felt the need. It seems there are some advantages of running the pump on high for a few hours to improve skimmer efficiency. No reason not to do that, but if I drop flow during other times less than 30-40 gpm, then I need to have the heaters or SWG be able to "talk" to the pump I'm sure that is trivial, but I don't know what would be involved.
2. Is there any trick to making a propane heater and a heat pump play "nice" together to share the load? I figure the propane heater would be used in the early season to get the pool up to temp and the heat pump to maintain. Is there any consensus about heat pump brands? Or how I should size the heat pump?
3. I'm on the fence about SWG versus Stenner. I'm exploring options. See my crazy Stenner post (scroll to bottom): http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/88248-Bleach-Prices-2015/page18
Thanks!
Jay
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