Been perusing the threads about switching to 2 speed pumps for energy savings but am wondering: our pool (details in siggy) still has its original late 1960's/early 1970's plumbing - one skimmer, one vacuum inlet, one return, the main drain was shut off by previous owner (prob. because it has the noncompliant cover), valves for adjusting the flow are frozen in place. So circulation is already sub-optimal with the current pump setup. In this case, would it still make sense to change to a 2-speed pump or with our poor circulation should we stick with the current pump?
would 2-speed pump aggravate already-poor circulation?
- Thread starter PoolCleanerMom
- Start date
Only having one skimmer and one return doesn't mean you have to have bad circulation. Careful adjustment of the aiming of the return fitting, to get water moving along in the proper direction, can still give very good circulation, even with only one return.
Good chance that aiming the return in a 1960's IG pool is not going to be an option, unfortunately. On the other hand, an old pump that did "work" for all these years will have been much less efficient and effective than todays pumps. I doubt that you'd have any "more" problems than you have now, and it should work better than what you had/have!
Yup, there's no "aiming" possible - the return is just a 1.5" diameter pipe (no eyeball) that's angled so that the water is directed maybe somewhere between 15-30 degrees to the right of perpendicular.simicrintz said:
Hubby estimates the current pump/motor is probably about 6 years old - has efficiency improved much in the past decade?simicrintz said:
Thanks!
Pumps that are about 10% to 20% more efficient were available 6 years ago, but they were somewhat rare. These days they are somewhat more common, though not universal by any means.
Getting a smaller pump or a two speed pump running on low makes a much larger difference than the efficiency of the pump.
Getting a smaller pump or a two speed pump running on low makes a much larger difference than the efficiency of the pump.
It's "Old School", MITS; they inserted the pipe at an angle to try and "aim" the water (typical of that time, and occasionally still today!). Can't get an eyeball fitting on those, unfortunately.
