Pump motor question

[Brentr]

Swapped my single speed motor for a two speed this weekend; so far so good. The new motor is MUCH quieter on low speed, yet still moves enough water to sufficiently skim, run 3 sheer descent falls, run the heater and SWG. Easily the most difficult part of the switch was step 8 of this guide - installing the new seal to the seal plate. All the rest was as straightforward as could be.


Thoughts?

no-mas, are you saying that on low speed you can run all of your water features and sufficently skim???? I may have to switch to a 2 speed , however I am not sure that I would be able to run the solar on the low speed

 

[no-mas]

Yes Brent; on the return side I have 3 sheer descents, 3 wall returns, 2 floor returns. I can run the 3 descents alone; or the returns (wall with or without floor). I can't run everything at the same time, but was never able to, even with my original motor... I was just hoping to be able to run the falls on low, and am easily able to do so. If I recall, the falls need 10 gpm per foot, and I have 4 feet, so 40 gpm are required. Certainly seems as if I have at least that much.

On the suction side, I have 2 skimmers, a cleaner line and a main drain. Again, I get good skimming action even with the cleaner running. Most importantly, I have enough flow through my heater and swg that both operate on low speed. This was my goal, as I now can look forward to substantially longer pump run times at a lower overall cost.

According to Mark's pump cost comparison spreadsheet, my pump will be consuming around 440 watts on low instead of around 2300. Based on my run times, this should save me around $55-$65 per month between late spring, summer and early fall. In the winter when I run the pump for shorter times, it won't save me as much. We'll see what the real world savings are.

I hate looking at stagnant water, so I just wanted the ability to run the pump a nice long time throughout the day and not feel as if I was throwing $ down the drain by doing so. Same thing if we were going to freeze, if I want to heat the pool around the clock, or need to shock for some reason - if/when I choose to run the pool around the clock, I don't care nearly as much about how much it will cost me to do so.

It would be great for you if you could run solar on low; but I truly have no idea. Might be too much head loss there. What if you ran on high for 10-15 minutes to fill the panels, then switch to low?

 

[Brentr]

Yes Brent; on the return side I have 3 sheer descents, 3 wall returns, 2 floor returns. I can run the 3 descents alone; or the returns (wall with or without floor). I can't run everything at the same time, but was never able to, even with my original motor... I was just hoping to be able to run the falls on low, and am easily able to do so. If I recall, the falls need 10 gpm per foot, and I have 4 feet, so 40 gpm are required. Certainly seems as if I have at least that much.

On the suction side, I have 2 skimmers, a cleaner line and a main drain. Again, I get good skimming action even with the cleaner running. Most importantly, I have enough flow through my heater and swg that both operate on low speed. This was my goal, as I now can look forward to substantially longer pump run times at a lower overall cost.

According to Mark's pump cost comparison spreadsheet, my pump will be consuming around 440 watts on low instead of around 2300. Based on my run times, this should save me around $55-$65 per month between late spring, summer and early fall. In the winter when I run the pump for shorter times, it won't save me as much. We'll see what the real world savings are.

I hate looking at stagnant water, so I just wanted the ability to run the pump a nice long time throughout the day and not feel as if I was throwing $ down the drain by doing so. Same thing if we were going to freeze, if I want to heat the pool around the clock, or need to shock for some reason - if/when I choose to run the pool around the clock, I don't care nearly as much about how much it will cost me to do so.

It would be great for you if you could run solar on low; but I truly have no idea. Might be too much head loss there. What if you ran on high for 10-15 minutes to fill the panels, then switch to low?

Any idea how to do that without automation?

 

[mas985]

Under certain situations it may be possible to run solar on low speed but it is somewhat difficult to setup. If the panels are on the ground, there is no issue running on low speed. However, for elevated panels with a vacuum release valve, the VR has to be at a very low height (< 8') and you have to have a controller that will prime the panels on full speed and then switch to low speed. Most automation systems will force you to run at high speed with solar although you may be able to bypass that. You could rig up a dual timer which would switch after the priming but that would be tricky.