Question About 2-Speed Pump Motors and Timers

[WaterWoman]

We're real newbies here (if you've seen my other threads, you already know that!), and are in the process of restoring the pool that came with the house we bought last year. We have to replace the pump motor (it was frozen up). The pump itself seems OK, but not the motor. We are thinking of replacing the old 1-speed motor with a new energy efficient 2-speed motor. (We've been looking at A. O. Smith's line of energy efficient 2-speed motors.)

The pool guy we're working with is telling us we'll have to put in a timer to use a 2-speed motor. Is that true? I asked him if we couldn't just operate it manually and he said he didn't know but would try to find out. I've since done some online research, and from what I've read and seen in diagrams, most (if not all?) of the 2-speed motors have a toggle switch for low and high speeds. Couldn't we just use that rather than a timer to operate it?

I understand how a timer is really nice to have, especially if you have a really busy lifestyle, but we are home most of the time and adding one more chore to the daily list (feed the dog, feed the cats, feed the birds, feed the fish, water the gardens, etc.) is not that big a deal to us. We are trying right now to get this pool up and running as cheaply as possible, and if the timer is not absolutely necessary, we'd rather save that for something to add down the road rather than right now. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[derekm]

I have a 2-speed pump with an A.O. Smith motor and a two-speed switch. I can assure you that a timer is not necessary. I have a timer, which I only use when I am going to be away for a few days, but it hasn't been used in a couple of years. My normal routine is to turn on the pump (on low) on my way out of the house in the morning, and to turn it off when I am putting the solar blanket on at night. High speed is used only when heating the water, vacuuming, or distributing chemicals quickly. The two speed pump has resulted in both lower electrical bills, and better water, as the skimmer is skimming more and the chemicals are circulating more.

 

[Rob]

I also have a two speed pump with no timer.

Ironically, we got it when we bought the house, and thought it was a one speed pump, then opened up the switch box to it and saw that it had been hardwired to one speed. I added a switch, and now our electric bills have dropped dramatically.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I run my 2 speed on low 24/7.

 

[WaterWoman]

Thanks, you guys. I appreciate your advice. I'm pretty sure now that I can get by without a timer. 8)

 

[Cherie]

Our pool came with a 2-speed last May and our electric bill was running about $80/mo to run the pump for 10 hours. We replaced it last fall with a 2-speed and now run the 2-speed on low 24/7 and it only adds about $30/mo to our bill. So we went from 10 hrs/day to 24/7 with a much lower bill.

We don't use a timer, obviously.