Can high-head pump be replaced with mid-head?

[alosito]

I am trying to replace my inherited single speed high-head pump (Hayward SP3207Z1BE) with a VS pump, and the quotes that I get from local pool companies are all for mid-head pumps. I am being told that since the pump is on the ground above the water and since the distance from the pump to the pool is about 15 feet, a mid-head pump will do just fine. When I chatted with Inyopools, I was told that there must have been a reason why a high-head pump was installed in the first place, and they recommend to replace it with another high-head pump (Hayward SP3202VSP). Will it be safe to go with a mid-head pump, and if so, how can I tell which model of Pentair Superflo I should get? I am being quoted $1250 for part and labor to install Pentair Superflo which seems expensive to me considering how much Pentair Superflo pumps cost online.

 

[azxd09]

I debated the same thing, because I have in floor cleaners, I figured I better go with the Intelliflo, but now that it is installed, I possibly could have gotten away with the Superflo. That said, based on the spreadsheet provided by mas985 which is amazing by the way, it will run at a much lower rpm and use less electricity to move the same amount of water with the Intelliflo than it would have with the superflo, so there's that as well. I would mess around with both scenarios using his spreadsheet to see what would work for you. I did not know what the plumbing characteristics were of my pool (total dynamic head), but I did know my single speed electricity use, so I was able to model the equivalent head for my pool and then apply that to the intelliflo and superflo in the tool.

 

[mas985]

A high head pump is only necessary for high head applications (e.g. spa jets). Pool jets don't require much in the way of head or flow rate so a Superflo VS should work just as well as an Intelliflo VS. The big difference between the two is in features and integration with controllers.