Advice on New Pump or Motor

[scwilhoit]

New to the forum. After year and a half of algae and excuses from pool guy I found TFP and figured what was really going on. Got the TFtest kit, found CYA and FC were 0, fired pool guy, cleaned and balanced pool in 8 days and more recently installed a SWG.

Now the 8 yr old single speed Marathon motor is on its way out. Bearings have been going for awhile and as of yesterday I can only get an hour or so a day before it overheats and shuts off. Rather than rebuild it I want to replace it with a 2 speed pump/motor for power savings. I've read through a lot of other posts and my question is should I replace the entire pump or just replace/upgrade the motor?

My existing 10 yr old Hayward Super Pump SP2607X10 hasn't had any real problems as far as I can tell. It looks like a 2 speed replacement motor (AO Smith 2 speed 1 hp STS1102) would run about $307, and once I add Hayward Go Kit (salt water type - is that really necessary?) and a switch for the 2 speed I'd be at about $365 just to replace/upgrade the motor. Alternatively for an entirely new pump I was looking at the Pentair Superflo 2 Speed 1 hp (340042) which would run about $428. I'm new to all this so I worry that I'm missing something, but it seems like it would be worth the extra $60 to go ahead and replace the entire pump.

Also any thoughts on the choice of the Superflo and motor size would be appreciated. Existing motor is already on 230V so that's not a problem.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tim5055]

I won't comment on the equipment specifics, but I agree - for $60 go for a new pump.

 

[scwilhoit]

Thanks. I'd appreciate if anyone has any thoughts on the size/type of the new pump. I read the Hydraulics 101 posts and tried to apply the pump curves for the different models to my system but frankly I'm having a hard time putting it all together. After reading a lot of other posts, it seems like for my application (no spa, waterfall, solar, heater, etc. - just one skimmer and one main drain coming back to the pump on separate 1.5" lines on flat ground) the Superflo 1 hp would be the better choice than say the Whisperflo 1 hp, but I don't really understand why. Looking at the pump curve for low speed on the Superflo and trying to assume a level of head loss for the filter, pipe runs, etc. it leaves me with the impression that at the low speed it would be underpowered.

I'm probably overthinking it, but I'd appreciate any thoughts.

 

[Agent99]

I think either pump is likely fine but I don't know the specifics of either one. You don't have any special accessories to run so you can likely get by with a fairly low powered pump. In fact, for SWG, running the pump LONGER at minimum power (slow) is beneficial. You can turn down your SWG cell to make it last longer and still make enough FC to keep you properly sanitized. As to anything special in terms of seals and such for SW, I wouldn't hesitate to go for it. No matter how you slice it, saltwater is harder on metal than freshwater...even saltwater that is 1/10th the salt level of the ocean. If there are seals that are better at isolating the saltwater from metal, get them. Again, that is just my gut as I don't know anything about "saltwater" seals over regular ones. It could just be marketing.