Jandy 2HP Epump Inital impressions

[Davegvg]

Pump is LARGE much larger physically than my Penatair 1 & 2 HP pumps- Its nice the basket is enormous, but I could do without the huge housing. Perhaps this equates to a larger impeller? Not sure.

Pentairs packaging is superior, but the underlying magnet technology is identical, and the Jandy wet end is nicer. I would have totally gone VF if I could have had it controlled natively, but I got tired of fighting that....

....BUT 8 speeds at any rpm I want with a simple flow meter is more flexible than a 4 speed VS (have to get a bigger drill bit this weekend to put in the flowmeter)

Jandy 5,0 Software is a bit arcane,and disappointing at this stage Ive played around with it a few hours now and havent accomplished what I set out to do. Grrrr.

The pump really moves water- at 345 watts (2150 RPM) Im moving enough water for the chlorinator to run and not alarm, I have only about 10lb of pressure on the system at this setting.

The Barricuda and Polaris LCS are functioning well enough to be useful if a bit slow, I can hear the diaphragm snap and see a water swirl in the LCS.

Pump is VERY quiet at this speed the GF didn't realize it was on till she opened the door to the equipment.



Davegvg

 

[geekgranny]

Pump is LARGE much larger physically than my Penatair 1 & 2 HP pumps- Its nice the basket is enormous, but I could do without the huge housing. Perhaps this equates to a larger impeller? Not sure.

Davegvg

Thanks for the report. I've wondered about the different impeller sizes. Perhaps someone(s) can comment. I've always had Pentair Challengers over the years, 1.5 hp SF 1.5, and they have always had major water movement, with huge, in diameter, impellers. Pretty quiet too. I have a new Pentair Intelliflo VF waiting to be installed (by me now that the weather is getting nice) and the difference in impeller diameter is quite significant between the Challenger and Intelliflo. I also have a new 3/4 Challenger that I'll be using for backup/emergency, trash pump, etc., I'm wiring with 120 v, long cord and plug-in making it portable. It, also, has the big diameter impeller; in fact it looks just like my "big" Challenger.

Can someone explain the reason the Challengers (and maybe others) have the huge diameter impellers? Would appreciate.

gg=alice

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

As you noticed, impellers are not all the same. Different pool pump motors provide different amounts of torque at 3450 RPM. The larger the bite size the impeller can make in the flow, the more it will move. If you took an impeller from a 3/4HP pump and put it on a 1-1/2HP pump, you would be wasting a lot of power and your flow volume would be nearly identical to the 3/4HP motor. Reverse it and the 3/4HP motor would bog down because the motor doesn't have the torque available.

There are two main variables with impellers. It's diameter and it's thickness. These factors control the bite size and the velocity of the expelled water. The opening in front also has some say here.

The more power a motor has, the larger impeller it can have. The Intelliflow pumps have 3HP Whisperflow impellers because that is what the motor develops at 3450 rpm with the available current fed it by the controller. If Pentair wanted to, they could beef up the controller, make a larger pump body with bigger plumbing, and go as far as 6 HP with a really big impeller. I expect Jandy could too. For residential pools, there is no need though.

Scott

 

[mas985]

Scott,

I agree with everything you said except for one thing. If you put a 3/4 HP impeller on a 1 1/2 HP motor, you won't be wasting that much power and in fact, the power draw is likely to be nearly the same as if a 3/4 HP motor was used. The reason is that induction motors have a very large operating range. Normally greater than 2:1 in terms of load. By putting a 3/4 HP impeller on a 1 1/2 HP motor, you would be dropping the rated load by 50% which is usually within the high efficiency range of the motor. The power factor may drop a bit and the speed increase a bit but that is all. Plus lower HP motors generally have worse efficiency than larger motors so that will likely negate any efficiency loss that the 1 1/2 motor might have. So putting a 3/4 HP impeller on either motor will probably draw nearly the same power. This is why one of the most cost effective was to re-size a pump is to swap impellers with one for a lower rated HP pump.

Also, the opposite is true as well. If you put a 1 1/2 HP impeller on a 3/4 HP motor, the motor will drive the larger impeller but it will require twice the current to do so. Since that current is well over the rating of the motor, the motor will fail pretty quickly. But the motor will drive the impeller at about the same speed, slightly lower, as the 1 1/2 HP motor but will not last very long.

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Just trying to keep it simple. If I oversimplified, it was for the point of why there are different impellers.

Scott