After about a year in my new (to me) house, my booster pump motor bearings are giving out. The booster pump drives a Polaris 280.
My electricity costs are quite high for the pool; about $200/month, and I'd like to bring them down.
I've got a 2 HP filter pump, which the pool guy says is going through a much too small cartridge filter. The pressure gauge shows 25 to 30 PSI while the filter pump is running. The electric meter shows about 2KW being used, going up to 3.5KW when the booster pump is also on.
I have FAFCO solar panels on a one story house, approximately 12 feet high.
The spa is about 18" above the pool, and it has a waterfall about 6' wide spilling into the pool while filtering.
There is one skimmer with three returns in the pool and one in the spa. I'm not sure whether all the water going to the filter comes from the skimmer. There is something in the deep end that might be a main drain.
I also have 2.8KW of PV solar electric panels, so I'm on E6 time of use billing.
I have a 6 or 7 year old Jandy RS6 controller.
My pool maintenance guy doesn't like like Jandy, although he didn't say why. He prefers Pentair. When I told him I would like to reduce my power usage, he suggested getting a variable speed pump, which he thought might be able to run the Polaris without booster, but he wasn't sure.
The Jandy RS manual indicates that it can do 2 speed operation. From what I've seen online, the Pentair variable speed pumps can only be controlled by Pentair controllers. I would not like to spend good money replacing the Jandy controller if it's not necessary.
If going to a variable speed pump would save me significant electricity charges, then waiting to swap the filter pump doesn't make sense.
The options I've thought of are:
Abandon the booster pump and Polaris and buy a robot. Perhaps saves energy costs if robot is less power hungry than the booster pump.
Replace the bearings in the booster motor.
Replace the booster motor. This was the initial suggestion of the pool guy.
Upgrade to a variable speed pump if it can provide solar heating at a lower energy cost than the current pump. I'm not sure what the total costs of this would be. That depends on whether I need a new controller and whether I still need a booster pump.
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Fred
My electricity costs are quite high for the pool; about $200/month, and I'd like to bring them down.
I've got a 2 HP filter pump, which the pool guy says is going through a much too small cartridge filter. The pressure gauge shows 25 to 30 PSI while the filter pump is running. The electric meter shows about 2KW being used, going up to 3.5KW when the booster pump is also on.
I have FAFCO solar panels on a one story house, approximately 12 feet high.
The spa is about 18" above the pool, and it has a waterfall about 6' wide spilling into the pool while filtering.
There is one skimmer with three returns in the pool and one in the spa. I'm not sure whether all the water going to the filter comes from the skimmer. There is something in the deep end that might be a main drain.
I also have 2.8KW of PV solar electric panels, so I'm on E6 time of use billing.
I have a 6 or 7 year old Jandy RS6 controller.
My pool maintenance guy doesn't like like Jandy, although he didn't say why. He prefers Pentair. When I told him I would like to reduce my power usage, he suggested getting a variable speed pump, which he thought might be able to run the Polaris without booster, but he wasn't sure.
The Jandy RS manual indicates that it can do 2 speed operation. From what I've seen online, the Pentair variable speed pumps can only be controlled by Pentair controllers. I would not like to spend good money replacing the Jandy controller if it's not necessary.
If going to a variable speed pump would save me significant electricity charges, then waiting to swap the filter pump doesn't make sense.
The options I've thought of are:
Abandon the booster pump and Polaris and buy a robot. Perhaps saves energy costs if robot is less power hungry than the booster pump.
Replace the bearings in the booster motor.
Replace the booster motor. This was the initial suggestion of the pool guy.
Upgrade to a variable speed pump if it can provide solar heating at a lower energy cost than the current pump. I'm not sure what the total costs of this would be. That depends on whether I need a new controller and whether I still need a booster pump.
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Fred