VSF runtime and RPM settings?

[salvela]

Hello everyone, new pool owner here. I did a search and didn't find my answers so I will ask here. My pool was recently completed at the end of May 2019 and my pb set up and programmed all my equipment but I don't think my vsf pump is being used for what it was designed for. My VSF is set to turn on at 8am and turn off at 8pm at 2450 rpms. I would like some recommendations on settings such as runtime and rpms please? Given I have a variable speed pump, do i have a good schedule as-is ?

Thank yall in advance!

Sal

 

[Edc1911]

Every pool will be different and you'll have to play around with your setting to find the sweet spot. You want the minimum for your skimmers to still function. I currently run my pump at 1100 rpm 24/7. Wattage is around 80w. 2x day it jumps to 2750 rpm, 45min for my cleaning mode along with my Polaris pump.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Sal,

Tell us why you are running so fast??? 2450 RPM costs about 4 or 5 times what it cost to run at 1200 RPM..

You should have a slow speed which you use when running to just generate chlorine... You should have other speeds for when you want to run your sheers, etc.. Each pool is different, so no one here can tell you what your schedule should be.. The great part about having ScreenLogic is that you can change things on the fly and see how they work.

Have fun and play with it and see what happens.. You can't hurt anything..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[salvela]

Sal,

Tell us why you are running so fast??? 2450 RPM costs about 4 or 5 times what it cost to run at 1200 RPM..

You should have a slow speed which you use when running to just generate chlorine... You should have other speeds for when you want to run your sheers, etc.. Each pool is different, so no one here can tell you what your schedule should be.. The great part about having ScreenLogic is that you can change things on the fly and see how they work.

Have fun and play with it and see what happens.. You can't hurt anything..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hey Jim, im not sure why my builder set the speed at 2450, maybe because my spa has a cascade that pushes the water back into the pool? This is all new to me so its like OJT for me. I can run it at 1200 but how will I know if that is enough? My sheers run off a booster pump so I am good there. I'm trying to understand when do I know the pump has run enough time and how do I know if the rpms are enough?

thanks again!

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Here is a discussion I wrote about setting pump speeds and run times that might be helpful.

pooldv texas pool thread

Re: pooldv pool thread Thanks - appreciate the info and feedback. I feel like I need to recover some of the sun hitting my roof to make up for the sun that my tree is blocking. It's too late for this year, mainly for the budget, so I'll read back through your thread and I know there are...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[salvela]

Welcome to TFP!

Here is a discussion I wrote about setting pump speeds and run times that might be helpful.

pooldv texas pool thread

Re: pooldv pool thread Thanks - appreciate the info and feedback. I feel like I need to recover some of the sun hitting my roof to make up for the sun that my tree is blocking. It's too late for this year, mainly for the budget, so I'll read back through your thread and I know there are...

www.troublefreepool.com

Thank you!

 

[BowserB]

FWIW, I have that pump. Besides the functions of the pump, one of my objectives is to minimize the cost of running all this stuff. According the Pentair tech support guy, running the pump at half speed uses 1/8 the electricity. I've logged the power at a few speeds, as reported by the Link2O app. At full speed 3450rpm, it uses 2620w; at 2900rpm 1499w; at 2000rpm 420w; at 1725rpm (half speed) 316w; and at 1300rpm 111 watts. Clearly the speed makes a difference way out of proportion to the water being filtered, so running the pump slower but longer gets the same amount of water through the filter but at a substantially lower cost. Other consideration. Paramount recommends at least 40GPM water through the UV2, although I've read elsewhere that slower is better for UV-C disinfection. I run mine at 1725rpm which by one calculation I found just barely gets to 40GPM--which of course varies due to several factors including how clean the cartridge filter is. BTW, that Whisperflo draws about 2200 watts, so I only run the water features for 10 minutes a day unless we are in the pool and sometimes not even then.

 

[salvela]

FWIW, I have that pump. Besides the functions of the pump, one of my objectives is to minimize the cost of running all this stuff. According the Pentair tech support guy, running the pump at half speed uses 1/8 the electricity. I've logged the power at a few speeds, as reported by the Link2O app. At full speed 3450rpm, it uses 2620w; at 2900rpm 1499w; at 2000rpm 420w; at 1725rpm (half speed) 316w; and at 1300rpm 111 watts. Clearly the speed makes a difference way out of proportion to the water being filtered, so running the pump slower but longer gets the same amount of water through the filter but at a substantially lower cost. Other consideration. Paramount recommends at least 40GPM water through the UV2, although I've read elsewhere that slower is better for UV-C disinfection. I run mine at 1725rpm which by one calculation I found just barely gets to 40GPM--which of course varies due to several factors including how clean the cartridge filter is. BTW, that Whisperflo draws about 2200 watts, so I only run the water features for 10 minutes a day unless we are in the pool and sometimes not even then.

Thanks Bill, great info! Agreed about minimizing the costs, one of my goals as well. Last night I lowered the speed to 2000rpms and at that speed the I can "see" the skimmers working. Anything less and they don't seem to do their job -visibly. I could be wrong about the skimmers (wouldn't be the first time) but I will try this speed and see how it goes. How can I find out the amount of hours per day I need to run the pump at this speed? what am I looking for as far as results or do I need to do some math?

sidenote -According to my screenlogic app, at the moment it is currently using 489 watts at 2000 rpms

Great info about the whisperflo, I don't turn on the sheers unless we are swimming and now I will be more aware of its power consumption.

Thanks again!

 

[tcason]

I run my pump 1 hour in AM at 2400 to "deep" skim and 1 hour in PM at 2400 to "deep" skim and then 10 hours at enough flow to allow salt generator and heater to work about 1200 RPM.