Thanks for your advice Mark. While lurking I noticed that you seem to be one of the gurus on pool science. So I'm going to pick your brain as long as you'll listen.
I'm familiar with pump curves, head loss, efficiency, etc. and I think I've reached the conclusion that I'm going to upgrade from the MaxFlo XL pump to the Hayward EcoStar pump. There seems to be a fair amount of negative press about the EcoStar pump though, hence the reason for this post. I'll take your advice and install a surge protector as cheap insurance and cross my fingers that we'll get many years of trouble free service out of this rather pricy pump.
Where I'm a novice is how the pump operation relates to pool chemistry, particularly with regard to the salt water system.
Speaking with the pool company about pumps, they made a remark that in the ideal situation the pump would run all the time. I guess this theoretically makes sense since the water needs to be flowing for the SWG system to make chlorine. But it isn't realistic. I read the Pool School article about run time. Does the 8 hour recommended run time for variable speed pump use apply to salt water systems? Should this 8 hours be broken down to smaller segments at various speeds? I notice from reading other posts on TFP that users will run their pumps at different speeds over the course of the day to to accommodate vacuums, solar heaters, SWG's, varying electric rates, and the like; and it seems like a lot of it is based on trial and error?
Your feedback, and those of the others that replied, is much appreciated.