Small pool (4 Meters circular) - .45 kw pump -- too much?

[Paul7]

Hello.

We have a 4 meter, round, (.8m high) above ground pool. (about 12,000 liters) At present we have an intex filter/pump (using the 'A' type cartridges) which just isn't doing a good job -- we have lots of 'stuff' at the bottom of the pool as a result -- so we'd like a different pump / sand filter combo.

Someone gave us a .45 kw Speck porpoise 90/10 pump (It turns over the water at 18,000 liters per hour.) Just wondering if this is too powerful for our small pool? I mean, I'm sure it is, but it's hard to find anything else smaller here in South Africa ...

Is this pump ok to use, or should we try and get ahold of something smaller if we find such a creature....? I suppose we'd connect it to a 2 or 3 bag sand filter as well?

Considering just using this setup to somehow vacuum the pool when needed (without mounting it in to the intake / outflow connections) and just leaving the little intex filter connected and running otherwise. Ideally we'd like a properly paired pump/filter we could leave running, but just thought to ask about this pump since we do have it on hand.

From what I gather, it's better to have a smaller pump which runs longer? Rather than something powerful like this on such a small pool?

Thanks in advance for the input! Much appreciated...

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Small pool (4 Meters circular) - .45 kw pump -- too much

That pump should be fine IF you change the filter to a larger filter. Either a sand or much larger cartridge (or even DE) would work much better for you.

 

[Paul7]

Re: Small pool (4 Meters circular) - .45 kw pump -- too much

Thank-you for the reply. If I were to find such a thing as a .2 kw pump, would that be a better solution? .45 isn't overkill in regards to electricity use and possibly blowing a hole through the side of our pool? From what I understand a pump should get the water in the pool to completely circulate twice per day; this would do that in about 1.5 hours. Could I run this pump through a 2 or 3 bag sand filter for just two hours a day and be fine?

My dilemma is this: We have this .45 kw pump and what looks like a 1 bag (or less?) sand filter (they're not connected, I bought this filter thinking it was a 2 bag, but was recently told it's not -- but smaller). I went to a pool place and they said a .45 kw pump might be too big for this filter ... therefore I'm trying to decide whether to get a different (smaller) pump (hard to find) -- or rather a larger sand filter (easier to find, but still concerned if the .45 kw is overkill for our pool (electricity wise, etc..)

Thanks for your expertise!

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Small pool (4 Meters circular) - .45 kw pump -- too much

If you get a larger filter the pump will be fine for your pool. You could possibly run it 3 ours a day and be fine but you'll know more once you get it hooked up and see it running.