Two speed pump (Hayward) on new pool

[barco]

I've got a new pool and it has a 2 speed Hayward pump on it. I'm not experienced with what to do with this, as my last pool's pump just had on and off. The low speed is on a timer and the high speed is on a timer.

Questions:

1. Is there a problem if the low speed and high speed are both turned on or does this create a 3rd higher speed?
2. What speed should the pumps be on initially on startup? I'm guessing high speed...or should it be low speed day and night for awhile.
3. I believe when they sold us this pool they said this different speed rating was a way to save electricity as the pool could use less electricity and run at night when rates were cheaper....so when do I run high speed? and how long? When do I run low speed? and how long. Is that an amount of time when both should be on? Also I have a booster pump which I believe would need to be run when the pump is at the higher speed...and I think usually you clean during the day.
4. I don't understand how this is going to save my electricity as the cleaner and high speed will probably need to run during the day?

I'm sure this is a cool feature that I just don't understand.

 

[lovingHDTV]

I have a two speed pump and here is my $0.02

1. You cannot run both speeds at the same time or you will burn up the motor. My timer supports two speed pumps and does not allow this to happen.

2. I start my pump on whatever speed I plan on using it at.

3. I run my pump on low for 6 hours a night for filtering the water and generating chlorine. I run it for 2 hours per day on high to run the booster pump and the cleaner. I do this in the early afternoon to clean up the pool for the kids to swim in.

4. The pump on low will move 1/2 the water as on hight, but at 1/3 of the electricty, thus saving you $$$.

Hope this helps a little,

 

[JasonLion]

Actual run times need to be determined for each pool. A good starting place is 12 hours of run time on high speed or the equivalent on low speed. High speed moves twice as much water so low speed run time counts for half as much as high speed run time. Your actual run time will depend on your mix of high and low speed (use low speed if you can) and the relative size of the pump and pool.

Run time is really a subjective question. Does the water look good at this run time? Once you set a baseline and get used to what the water looks like you can vary the run time and see how things go.

 

[barco]

I have a two speed pump and here is my $0.02

1. You cannot run both speeds at the same time or you will burn up the motor. My timer supports two speed pumps and does not allow this to happen.

2. I start my pump on whatever speed I plan on using it at.

3. I run my pump on low for 6 hours a night for filtering the water and generating chlorine. I run it for 2 hours per day on high to run the booster pump and the cleaner. I do this in the early afternoon to clean up the pool for the kids to swim in.

4. The pump on low will move 1/2 the water as on hight, but at 1/3 of the electricty, thus saving you $$$.

Hope this helps a little,

Hmm...sounds good.
I must assume when both timers are on...its really just running the high speed. So you have (1) timer that is smart enough to choose between the speeds?

 

[JCJR]

I have the basically same advice from LovingHDTV.

1. Running both speeds will cause damage to your motor.
2. My setup has two manual on/off switch, one for each, high and low. I keep it on low all the time. My timer turns the pump on from 8am to 8pm (12hrs). Again, since I have the low switch on the pump will be on slow speed at all times so it starts on low. I do get a large air bubble visible from the pump cover (lid) when on low, but on high the water fills up the pump basket and no air bubble. I do not know if that is good or bad.
3. I manually flip off the low power switch and turn on the high power switch when I need the pump on high. I usually do this when I turn on my water features or have larger bather load. I only run it on high a couple of hours at a time (maybe 2-3xs a month). I vacumn on low speed, but i need to close all my suction valves except the cleaners to get enough suction to move my Navigator.
4. I run my cleaner twice a week around 6pm after work. Again, my set up is manually (valves and pump speed) so I have to be present. Since I run my vac on low I have no issues. If I need to vacumn in a hurry, I just flip the switches manually for an hour or two.

I would like to automate these tasks, but it is not in my budget yet. I would say I run my pump on low 12 hrs a day during summers and on high maybe 1 hour a week.

 

[lovingHDTV]

I have a two speed pump and here is my $0.02

1. You cannot run both speeds at the same time or you will burn up the motor. My timer supports two speed pumps and does not allow this to happen.

2. I start my pump on whatever speed I plan on using it at.

3. I run my pump on low for 6 hours a night for filtering the water and generating chlorine. I run it for 2 hours per day on high to run the booster pump and the cleaner. I do this in the early afternoon to clean up the pool for the kids to swim in.

4. The pump on low will move 1/2 the water as on hight, but at 1/3 of the electricty, thus saving you $$$.

Hope this helps a little,

Hmm...sounds good.
I must assume when both timers are on...its really just running the high speed. So you have (1) timer that is smart enough to choose between the speeds?

Whether it runs on high if both timers are on really depends on how the timers were hookedup.

I use the Intermatic 1353 which can be configured to control a two speed pump with booster pump. The nice thing about it is that the timer will ensure that both speeds don't turn on at the same time, and that the pump has run on high speed for a short time prior to the booster pump turning on. The only downside to the timer is that it only switches on leg of the 200v circuit.

 

[barco]

Ok, I got cheap timers...I guess I will need to open it up and check.

Also it appears that the electrician hooked up the Ozonator to the "high speed" timer. So I only have Ozone/cleaner with the high speed pump is on. Automatic Chlorine tablets all the time the pumps are on. I would think it would make more sense to have the ozone with the low speed....

1. It would run at night better.
2. It would provide a high concentration of Ozone to water probably giving it better "scrubing" power.

 

[mikester]

The way it's probably set up (or should have been set up) with 2 timers is that one timer controls the pump on/off time, and the other timer switches between high and low speed. That is how mine is wired up, with a standard Intermatic T104 timer for the on/off and an Intermatic 106 for the low/high switching.

The fact that you say your ozonator is wired to the "high" speed makes me think this is case even more. It looks like most of my equipment is wired to the main pump timer, which makes sense because you don't want most of that equipment running without the pump.