Help! My pool pump died 2 days ago...

[speakerman1]

Hi - I'm new to the forum and I'm just learning about taking care of the pool in the house we moved into.

2 days ago my 10y old pool pump quit (it was a 1.5HP Hayward Northstar 2 speed, 230V, with 2" diameter connections). I need to quickly buy a replacement pump and I'm looking for some recommendations for the best pumps for the money. The most important things I'm looking for are are energy efficiency and reliability. I'd like to keep the purchase price under $1,000. I've heard good thing about the variable speed pumps, but most of them are over budget. I ran across the Ecopump EP6 for about $800, but it doesn't provide the same water flow as the north star. Apparently you just run them longer time to make up for it, but I'm not sure if the Polaris will work well enough with the lower flow rate?

A few details about my pool: no spa. 20k gallons, has a solar water heater located about 40 ft away and about 10 ft higher in elevation than the pool is. The filter is a Hayward ProGrid DE6020 filter (60 sqft, design flow 120GPM). I'm also running a Polaris 360 robot.

Please suggest the best pump for me - before my pool turns into an algae pit!

thanks for your help everyone
Alex

 

[jblizzle]

You should be able to find the Pentair variable speed for around $800. Although does not sound like you would need it, depends on the electricity costs.

A Pentair Whisperflo 2 speed would likely get you most of the savings for less upfront cost.

Btw, you should keep adding chlorine to the pool and brush really well after putting on the bleach to mix it ... might stall the algae some.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[guilleus]

wow i was in the same situation that u are now one year ago! i had a brand new Hayward energy efficient and works perfect...i had a rebate for 200 so i paid kind of 900 but my elec bill is 50 a month running almost 11 hours x 225 watts per hour.

 

[mas985]

One thing to keep in mind is that flow rate is directly tied to energy use. So if you want to reduce energy use, you must reduce flow rate and either go with a smaller pump or run a VS at lower speeds.

The Northstar is a pretty efficient pump so if you want about the same flow rate, then you could just replace the motor with a two speed and use low speed when you don't need the cleaner. However, my guess is that you could probably run the cleaner on a smaller pump, but you may need to redirect more of the water to the cleaner.

 

[speakerman1]

thanks for the tips everyone.
I found that my home warranty may cover replacement of the pump motor (not the entire pump, just a new motor) for the dead Northstar. I didn't realize I could do that - seems like just replacing the motor, even if not covered by the warranty, would be the most cost effective way to go? Or is there a reason that it's preferable to replace the whole thing since it's 10 years old already?

If I do have to replace the entire unit, I'm leaning now towards getting either a Pentair Intelliflo or maybe a Haward Ecostar instead of the lesser known Ecopump. Any suggestions on which one to choose - reliability concerns?
thanks again
Alex

 

[mas985]

Both the EcoStar and Intelliflo have extra electronics so more thing to go wrong. In either case, I would definitely put a surge protector on the lines.

But your choice is dependent on your selection criteria and what is more important to you. A VS pump has a lot of flexibility to set flow rates for optimum energy use. But they cost a lot more too. If your energy rates are low, the break even could be a long time away. But really you can't go wrong either way. If money is tight, I would just replace the motor with a two speed. If money is no object, then go with a VS.