New pump, questions on piping.

[hvstle]

Hey all. So, my pump died last Wednesday. Ordered a new one and it came on Friday. I am an idiot and know nothing about electricity - old was 110V, new 220V.

Electrician came Tuesday and ran a new line, so now the new pump is locked in and ready to go. Everything works great, but after backwashing and rinsing - my pressure is MUCH higher than it used to be. The electrician thought I should change out the hoses to 1.5in PVC piping. I went to Lowes today to get the stuff, and the guy there advised against it and said hoses are better. Attached are some pics - feel free to ask any questions, but I am curious what you all recommend, and if I am going to run into issues with my pressure being this high.

(Additional info - since I am in Iowa, I had planned on bringing the pump into the garage in the winter - but now that it's attached the way it is, I am not sure I want to mess with that... if I wrap a tarp around it after getting all of the water out, will it be okay?)

 

[Mdragger88]

Your hoses are fine & pvc is fine- either way you choose.
Hoses have a tendency to fail so many choose to use pvc instead.
Its a 3hp pump so it’s going to have more pressure than before if the other pump was smaller.
Every pool & each equipment setup is different so there is no wrong baseline psi.
Backwash then rinse your filter , then record your clean psi #
Going forward you should backwash when psi increases by 25% over clean pressure, whatever & whenever that is.
Not sure if the little arrows on your gauge are moveable - if they are great
If not - ignore them.

Its hardwired in so you will need to winterize it. You can put a little tarp over it if you wish.

Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool

Closing an above ground pool at season’s end should be a fast and worry-free process. Learn the basics of above ground pool winterization in easy steps.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[hvstle]

Your hoses are fine & pvc is fine- either way you choose.
Hoses have a tendency to fail so many choose to use pvc instead.
Its a 3hp pump so it’s going to have more pressure than before if the other pump was smaller.
Every pool & each equipment setup is different so there is no wrong baseline psi.
Backwash then rinse your filter , then record your clean psi #
Going forward you should backwash when psi increases by 25% over clean pressure, whatever & whenever that is.
Not sure if the little arrows on your gauge are moveable - if they are great
If not - ignore them.

Its hardwired in so you will need to winterize it. You can put a little tarp over it if you wish.

Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool

Closing an above ground pool at season’s end should be a fast and worry-free process. Learn the basics of above ground pool winterization in easy steps.

www.troublefreepool.com

This makes me feel better. So in it's current state I could leave it as is?

 

[GaryV512]

IMHO, just for add'l research, you might look up the specs for your sand filter. They are usually rated at a GPM or GPH flow. The pump you bought is single speed with no speed adjustment, and has a flow rate of 131 GPM or almost 8000 GPH. You can't dial the pressure down even if you wanted to. (My Pentair TA60D sand filter has a rated flow of about 60 GPM). I'm no expert, but over the long term I'd think you might risk shortening the life of your filter due to increased pressure on the laterals? You may have been fine and incurred less expense (no electrician cost), with their 1.5HP 120v pump with a 96GPM flow. Not at all trying to freak you out, but are you still within the return window?

 

[hvstle]

IMHO, just for add'l research, you might look up the specs for your sand filter. They are usually rated at a GPM or GPH flow. The pump you bought is single speed with no speed adjustment, and has a flow rate of 131 GPM or almost 8000 GPH. You can't dial the pressure down even if you wanted to. (My Pentair TA60D sand filter has a rated flow of about 60 GPM). I'm no expert, but over the long term I'd think you might risk shortening the life of your filter due to increased pressure on the laterals? You may have been fine and incurred less expense (no electrician cost), with their 1.5HP 120v pump with a 96GPM flow. Not at all trying to freak you out, but are you still within the return window?

Honestly, if I were to do anything it would be buy a new sand filter. It's over five years old at this point.

Besides wearing my filter out faster - do I run any risk of my filter exploding or anything?

Also - I can't tell what my filter is. All of the labels are sun damaged. We bought the house in Feb with everything already here. Can't find any manuals anywhere, and none of the pool stores near me have our address on record for any purchases in the past.

 

[GaryV512]

With a quick Google image search, I was able to find this that looks quite similar.
Aqua Pro 100 LB 1.5HP Dual Speed Sand Filter System | Easy Set Pool Filters | Pool Splash

Then I found this manual, but it doesn't have any specifications listed so no way to tell what the GPM rating is. I'd suggest that it certainly is not MORE (or bigger) than my Pentair filter, so it's probably in the 40-60 GPM range.

https://poolimages.blob.core.windows.net/insite/Product/Documents/AQ/O-/05/AQO-05-1003-ops.pdf

I'd do regular inspections on the filter and pipes just to make sure no leaks are developing. There's no telling for sure what the excess pressure will do and when. If the pipes look relatively recent, you're probably ok. If any of them look sun-dried, I'd replace them. PVC is (relatively) cheap...

 

[Mdragger88]

I do think your current plumbing is fine although
I agree with Gary to an extent. If wear presents itself- replace. Some hoses wear better than others.
You kinda have overkill going on w/ the 3hp.
Initially I thought you had a variable speed based on the picture until I looked up your pump brand. With a vsp you could just run lower rpms most all the time and reap some energy savings. I would say a 2hp would be the max you need with a single speed.
My 1.5 hp is an energy hog so I can only imagine your electric bill if you’re running for more than a few hours per day.
I want to add one note - many have reported the cheaper off brand pumps to boast a higher hp rating than they actually produce so that may be somewhat helpful in your situation.
If you’re within the return window it’s something worth considering.
Sand filter vessels can last 20 years - 5 is basically new lol. Same thought as with the hoses, leaks in the vessel mean its time to replace.

 

[hvstle]

With a quick Google image search, I was able to find this that looks quite similar.
Aqua Pro 100 LB 1.5HP Dual Speed Sand Filter System | Easy Set Pool Filters | Pool Splash

Then I found this manual, but it doesn't have any specifications listed so no way to tell what the GPM rating is. I'd suggest that it certainly is not MORE (or bigger) than my Pentair filter, so it's probably in the 40-60 GPM range.

https://poolimages.blob.core.windows.net/insite/Product/Documents/AQ/O-/05/AQO-05-1003-ops.pdf

I'd do regular inspections on the filter and pipes just to make sure no leaks are developing. There's no telling for sure what the excess pressure will do and when. If the pipes look relatively recent, you're probably ok. If any of them look sun-dried, I'd replace them. PVC is (relatively) cheap...

Okay. Cool. Thanks. For the record, I don't have any PVC pipes really.. it's all the hoses. But as of now I don't have any leaks - though the bottom of the filter where the drain plug is has a slow leak, but it always has. I put new plumber tape on in the spring but it didn't stop it.

For regular inspections - do I need to open the thing and look?

 

[Mdragger88]

Every couple of seasons or so its a good idea to do a deep clean of the sand filter especially if you’re having filtration issues or have used pool store potions.
You can inspect the sand level at this time & the top side of things like the mpv, oring etc.

Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

This post will walk you through the anatomy of a sand filter, and then provide a video at the end for how to deep clean your sand filter. The filter used in the photos and videos is a Hayward S180T top mount sand filter. The images are of a similar filter. Obviously not all filters are...

www.google.com

To inspect the laterals you must remove the sand. The main symptom of cracked laterals is sand getting into the pool so if you’re not experiencing that things are likely fine and that is unnecessary.

 

[hvstle]

So, IF I leave everything as is... do you think I am at risk of any dangerous explosions? That is my only fear. Since we paid the electrician already I don't want to make that worthless....

 

[Mdragger88]

So, IF I leave everything as is... do you think I am at risk of any dangerous explosions? That is my only fear. Since we paid the electrician already I don't want to make that worthless....

No- I doubt it. Many with your sized equipment run a 3hp variable speed pump & have it on high for several hours per day to run a cleaner or whatever.
I was just mentioning the swap to a lower hp ss or a 3hp vsp if possible to ease your ongoing utility costs.
What the electrician did wouldn’t be a waste as he brought 220v service to your pool area which would all stay in place.
Swapping the pump involves turning off the power at the box he installed & undoing 3 wires at the pump (if you stick with another 220v pump) , pulling the whip out & re installing - re terminating them on the new pump.
A very simple swap, maybe 10 minutes including the hoses. Not sure of your comfort level though.

 

[GaryV512]

So, IF I leave everything as is... do you think I am at risk of any dangerous explosions? That is my only fear. Since we paid the electrician already I don't want to make that worthless....

For keeping an eye on things going forward, a sign of a broken/cracked sand filter lateral (without opening the filter, removing sand, and inspecting), would be sand in the bottom of your pool. (Ask me how I know... LOL!!!)

Depending on how much you do/don't want to know about pools, there's a guy on YouTube named "Swimming Pool Steve" that has an exhaustive set of videos on every pool topic possible. I've found them quite helpful...

I don't think any "explosion" would take out the neighbor's dog, LOL!! Worst possible case you'd probably split a hose, the pump would empty water from your pool until the level got down below your skimmer intake, and you'd maybe burn up your pump if it ran empty long enough?

My neighbor had a pool pipe freeze here in Texas, it emptied his in-ground pool overnight, and he wound up with a lovely abstract 2-story high ice sculpture in his back yard because he wasn't paying attention...

 

[Mdragger88]

As for the hoses luckily I have only ever developed pinhole leaks and unfortunately I have had one come loose & lost a bit of water- thankfully I was home & caught it. Now I always use 2 hose clamps per connection.
If all your connections are higher up on the pool wall something like that won’t be able completely drain the pool - unfortunately for me I have one return near the floor of the pool so it could have been quite bad.