Pump and filter compatability

[tw25]

Hi - We have owned our home for 1 year and are first time pool owners. Our equipment is quite old, maybe original from 1990, but was working until recently. Our pump ended up breaking so we had a refurbished newer one installed. It has more power than our old one, but after using our sweep (hayward ultra vac) the sweep would no longer work (we later found a rock stuck in the turning hose area, it worked for a day or so after, but shortly after stopped working. It was very old so we want to replace it with "The Pool Cleaner" sweep once our replaster is complete (replaster is in process). Also since the sweep stopped working we were manually vacuuming the bottom every few days. When we did sometimes we would see the vacuumed particles coming through the pool jets back into the pool. I wasn't sure if it was the filters being old or the pump being too strong for the filter to keep up.

What I'm wondering is
1- Is the pump we have ok to run a spa and pool?
2- because the HP was increased w/ the new pump is our filter large enough to take this pump on? Should we get a new larger filter? Trying not to have to buy a whole new pool system at once so wanted to check with the experts. We will be buying new filter cartridges prior to our replaster startup which may be part of why I think the Pump VS Filter is not compatible.

Pump we have: AO Smith 1HP, but on the sticker it says HP= 1.65 A.O. Smith 1.0 HP Motor EE (B864SE) - QC1102 - INYOPools.com

Filter we have: Pentail Clean & Clear plus: specs below image



Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Pool: SQ FT 550 - 19,000 gallon free form pool & spa
Chlorine

 

[BoDarville]

One of the most confusing aspects of pumps is HP vs. Service Factor HP (SFHP). A 1 HP motor with a Service Factor of 1.65 has 1.65 SFHP. This is equal to a pump motor rated at 1.65 HP with a Service Factor of 1. Do you recall what the SFHP of your old pump motor was?

BTW, this is explained more fully here: Pump Basics

 

[JasonLion]

Assuming it is in good condition, your filter is fine with the pump you have, or any plausible replacement pump.

The pump is certainly fine for the pool alone. There isn't enough information here to be sure it is sufficient for the spa, which varies a lot with spa design, but presumably it will be fine given that it is larger than the older pump and I assume the old pump was sufficient for the spa.

 

[zea3]

Take out the cartridge and inspect it. There are probably small tears that allow the dirt to pass through. Once you replace the cartridge it should work fine. I don't think you have too much pump for that filter.

 

[tw25]

One of the most confusing aspects of pumps is HP vs. Service Factor HP (SFHP). A 1 HP motor with a Service Factor of 1.65 has 1.65 SFHP. This is equal to a pump motor rated at 1.65 HP with a Service Factor of 1. Do you recall what the SFHP of your old pump motor was?

BTW, this is explained more fully here: Pump Basics

Thank you. I do not recall. It was an AO E-plus, but I imagine that could be anything. The service guy who installed it told us this new one was more powerful, but that's all I really know. The prior pump did run the spa and pool fine so I guess my first questions answer is yes

- - - Updated - - -

Assuming it is in good condition, your filter is fine with the pump you have, or any plausible replacement pump.

The pump is certainly fine for the pool alone. There isn't enough information here to be sure it is sufficient for the spa, which varies a lot with spa design, but presumably it will be fine given that it is larger than the older pump and I assume the old pump was sufficient for the spa.

Thank you! That makes sense. The old pump was sufficient to run the spa and pool so I think my answer to #1 is yes.

 

[tw25]

thank you! The filters look pretty dirty even though we cleaned them 3 weeks ago. Pool guy said it was probably time to change so hopefully that's the only problem. Maybe just a coincidence with our sweep breaking at the same time as new pump was going in.

While I'm here asking about this I thought I would ask about my spa jets. I have 5 openings in the spa. 3 out of 4 jets push out water when running and 1 does not work. The 5th from what I read is not a jet. Do you have any ideas how I can see if its something lodged in the 4th jet or if it's an actual damaged pipe? I haven't looked w/ a flashlight now that it's drained, but I put a stick through to see if I could dislodge something...whatever was there did not budge. I did not put much pressure because I didn't want to break anything.

 

[yangcha1]

@Jason,

I notice that your pump has very low horse power-- 0.5HP = 380 Watts. Is it powerful enough to keep the pool clean? How long do you run it every day?

My old pump is 2HP and I replaced it with a variable speed pump recently. I run it around clock at 300Watts speed.

--Yang

Assuming it is in good condition, your filter is fine with the pump you have, or any plausible replacement pump.

The pump is certainly fine for the pool alone. There isn't enough information here to be sure it is sufficient for the spa, which varies a lot with spa design, but presumably it will be fine given that it is larger than the older pump and I assume the old pump was sufficient for the spa.