Electric Co rebate on Variable speed pumps.....worth pursuing?

[timthek]

I have a 3/4hp Pentair Whisperflo (single speed) pump currently. It is 10 years old and can be a little noisy. My utility company is offering a $200 rebate on a Variable Speed Pump and I am wondering A) if it is worth replacing, and B) which pump is recommended? Seems like they are all $600-1000 but I have no idea which one is for me.

I've got an inground pool with between 20-25,000 gallons running through a 48sf DE filter. I've got a Polaris booster pump for my pool cleaner. There is also a Minimax 7 Natural Gas heater. There are 3 return jets, 2 skimmers and the required 2 bottom drains. There is also a waterfall feature.
I run the pump about 6-8 hours a day from May through September. My Electric rate is 13.9c per kWh.

I don't have a clue how many feet of head I have as the pool was built 20yrs before I bought the house and has had all the equipment replaced at least once as well. All of the exposed PVC is 2" though the original plans all called for 1 1/2".

Feedback appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[DeanP66]

Don't know about Pennsylvania, but here in California, the rebate was easy as pie to get. I just filled in an online form at the PGE website (electric company) and I had the check in 10 days. My friend bought a variable speed pump a month later and had no trouble with her rebate as well.

The savings is definitely worth it. At 8 hrs/day, your current pump is probably using anywhere from 400 to 500 kWh a month depending on the wattage of the pump. My old pump was using 320 kWh/month at 5 hrs a day (2139 watts). I installed a Hayward Tristar VS SP3202VSP pump and now I run my pump for 18 hrs/day at a low speed (1000 rpm as opposed to 3400 rpm with old pump). It only uses 57 watts at 1000 rpms so for 18 hrs/day, it comes out to slightly over 30 kWh/month. For me that translates to over $115 savings every month from where i was before. The pump will pay for itself in no time.

Even at your lower rate (mine is .40/kWh ), you'd still be saving anywhere from $50 to $80 per month.