Intelliflo VF monthly cost

[Belldiver]

This is just a FYI,

I am running my Intelliflo VF to cycle 30,000 gallons 2x per day, so 60,000 gallons total in 24 hours. The onboard flow meter says 41 gpm at 290 watts. My filter pressure at this slow filter setting is around 2-3 psi. Almost can't read the gauge.

So...at the $0.0751 Kwh that I pay for electricity, this figures out to be $15.68 per month. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by this. I know this will go up when I crank the pump up to run water features, but the base cost is less than I thought it'd be.

Does this math look correct?

290 watts x 24 hours = 6960 watts
6960 watts x 30 days = 208,800 watt/hrs or 208.8 Kwh
208.8 Kwh x $0.0751 per/Kwh = $15.68

I wonder how accurate the wattage meter on the pump is??? I hope they don't 'fudge' it to make it seem better than it really is. I haven't received my first total monthly bill yet to determine things, and the first two weeks the filter ran at a much higher rate so I'm sure it will be higher.

Anybody see problems with my math on this?

Jim

 

[chem geek]

Jim,

The math looks right. Too bad you can't give me your $0.0751 per KWh rate; my marginal rate is close to $0.32 per KWh.

My Intelliflo VF runs at 275 Watts for 26 GPM (your pipes are probably shorter than mine) but I only have the pump on for about 8 hours per day. However, my solar is usually on 4-6 hours per day and that's 48 GPM and 1500 Watts so water features or solar definitely make a big difference in power consumption. Nevertheless, I've saved about half on my pump electricity costs from around $1400 to $700 per year.

If you want to verify your pump's power consumption, you can look at your electric meter with the pump on and off. You may find that the meter says something like "Kh 7.2" which means 7.2 Watthours per revolution. Just keep in mind that things like a refrigerator can turn on or off during your measurements so do them more than once to make sure they are consistent. I have found that the power reading on the pump appears to be consistent with the electric meter.

Richard

 

[tmoss]

Why are you running 2 turnovers daily? Is it necessary to keep your water clean? I have found that I can run my VF at 21k daily for a 28k pool during the summer (with daily swimmer loads) and the water is crystal clear. In the winter I drop the volume to 13k with the same results. I'm yet to have any type of visible algae, residual debris or CC after 15 months of pool use. I realize many people believe that a full turnover volume is necessary; but, if the water is clear and clean and CC remains at zero (and adequate FC if SWG) is it really necessary? My run times are 16 hrs and 8 hrs. And I'm yet to see the cost differential since adding the pool on my electric bill, even in the shoulder seasons w/o hvac running. Thanks to this site I started my own testing and now that my CYA is 80 (my first test was 30<) I have a FC of 5+ with my IC20 at 20%, even on 100 degree days. Kudos to the gurus here.

 

[Belldiver]

I keep the pump running at low low speed to keep the skimmers working. Living in south Louisiana...we've got plenty of bugs. It's love bug season right now, and at night with the pool lights on, the June bugs constantly kamikaze dive bomb the pool.

For less than $16/month, not a problem. If my rates go up significantly, I guess I'll re-evaluate.