Was Recomended a Specific Replacement Pump - does it seem reasonable?

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Sarahdeakins

0
Aug 12, 2016
56
Houston TX
Our single speed pump has started leaking. We can probably fix it quite easily, but reviewed the operating costs of the pump and have opted instead to upgrade the pump to a vs model. We had a technician provide a bid and make a recommendation on which pump to install. We were pretty shocked at the bid we received - $1300 to purchase and install a Hayward Max-Flo VS Pump 230 Volt rating. I'm pretty sure i found the same pump on Amazon for about $650, and from what I understand installing a pump isn't that difficult, so we are not having the work done by that bid provider.

What I am trying to determine now is whether the recomended pump is a reasonable replacement- can someone help me with that? im concerned because I have read in a few places where people have a tendency to buy a larger pump than they really need, and I wondered whether I was at risk of doing the same? Most of my pool details are in my signature, but I can provide more detail if it's needed. The equipment and pool are within 10 feet of each other on flat terrain (if that matters). Thank you.
 
Why not just replace the motor with a 2-speed and run on low? You'll still get energy savings, it won't cost as much, and you won't have to mess with the plumbing.
There are options also to change out just the motor with a VS motor. Again you don't have to change out the whole pump. Wet ends seldom go bad.

My energy cost are reasonable at about $0.15 KwH and I'm happy with my 2-speed. It's 115V 3/4 -1/8 hp. Does my pool fine.
 
I'd personally go with the pentair intelliflo vs pump or the jandy variable speed pump I'm not a big fan of hayward we have had a lot of issues with that pump but as far as what you need most the variable speed pumps come standard in a 3hp but they run at different level speeds so you won't use all that power which is fine thats where your energy savings comes into play running at the lower speeds as far as installation goes most the manufactures only give you a 6 months warranty if not installed by a licensed swimming pool contractor
 
Bobodaclown, because I wasn't even aware that was an option! I'm excited to consider this option and glad you pointed it out. We have only owned a pool for the past 6 months (it came with the house we bought and everything I know about I learned from here or Google). Please don't take for granted that I know anything ;)

Is it possible that I already have a 2 speed motor? Looking at the sticker on the pump it reads

volts 230/115
amps SF 9.2/18.4


Does that indicate I have 2 speeds? I'm not sure how to alternate between the 2 if that is the case though.
 
Sarah,

I'm not sure why you are "shocked"?? Assuming your maintenance guy is from a real business, and not some backyard mechanic, his quote is not really out of line. I doubt he can buy the pump, from his distributor, for less than you can find it on Amazon. He has to pay his employees a fair wage plus all the overhead of running a small business. He has to provide warranty service if needed, etc.

While replacing a pump is not brain surgery, it is not necessarily that easy to do. I am a pretty handy DIY kind of guy and have installed/replaced several pumps over the years. None of them were ever easy for me. In my case anyway, ever pump I installed required me to re-plumb a portion of the pad so that the new pump could be made to fit into the old location.

If I were your next-door neighbor, I'd help you install your new pump for nothing.. but if I were in the pool business I doubt I would be doing it for much less than what you were quoted.

Please don't take my response the wrong way, I'm just trying to provide an outsiders view of the situation.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
I THINK that your 230/115 just means it can be wired either way. Doesn't mean it's 2 speed. Got a rocker switch on it anywhere like in the back of it on the bottom? Got a model number?
 
Another option when it comes time to replace the pump is to talk to a local pump repair/rebuild facility. You get to support a local business and I have found that they can be competitive on pricing many times. A place like this Mike's Electric Motor Repair (no relation, I found them using Google) may be able to help you. Most of the places provide friendly personal customer service and will help DIY folks "learn".

As bobodaclown pointed out, changing to a two speed can be a way to attain energy savings without the added cost of a variable speed (VS) pump. VS pumps are very nice and allow you more available speed settings than you will ever need. But, with the available speeds comes cost.

The hardest part of the work is dealing with the plumbing. Do you have valves on both the inlet and outlet side of the pump? This makes it easy to isolate the pump and remove it with little/no water loss. I you don't have the valves, install them during this process. Secondly, make sure the breakers are off while working on th electric connection.
 
Unless you have a Pentair automation system and/or plan to upgrade to a Pentair automation system, the IntelliFlo VSP is really overkill. Pentair makes two other VS pump models (Super-Flo VS and the SuperMax VS) that are meant more for a swap-in replacement of an existing pump. I don't know how the Hayward Max-Flo stacks up to those models. You might try pricing those units as well.

I agree with both bobodaclown and Jimrahbe, you have lots options here and some that are DIY if you want to go that route. It is true that the DIY approach can lead to unexpected extra work, but there is a satisfaction and intimate knowledge that comes with doing your own pool work. Also, warranties are less of an issue if you purchase through venues like Amazon and/or with credit cards as those methods often give you additional warranty protection. Amazon even offers SquareTrade warranties on many of the high-end products they sell for a small additional cost (typically < $100). So I would not worry about getting a "professional installation" as I have found that many "professionals" do their very best to not have to do warranty work.
 
And, just to add, I've noticed that Amazon is advertising a lot lately for "Installation Services" when I go hunting for DIY stuff (like garage door rollers). So you may be able to look up a VS pump and, when you add it to the cart, Amazon could offer an installation service through a local vendor in your area. Being Amazon, you know they will make darn sure the vendor works for them as cheaply as possible and they get as much of a cut of the cost of the service as possible ;-) one of the rare instances when a little monopoly power happens to help out the little guy.... :poke:
 
Jim, appreciate your point of view and insights. I hired the repairman to repair the leak in the pump. My understanding from snooping around the forum was that it would be an easy fix, should be low cost. He told me it would likely cost $500 at a minimum to fix and recomended the new variable speed pump. He didn't mention a 2 speed motor as an option, but I didn't know to ask about it either.

When he itemized the bid he listed the actual cost of the pump as $900. I found it on Amazon for $650. Perhaps that is a standard markup (please keep in mind I'm a pool newbie so this is our first major part to replace), there could be good reason for it but I was surprised by it. Between the bid for the repair being higher than I expected and the markup on the pump, I didn't have full trust that these costs or recomendations were reasonable. I ran it by my father in law who has rebuilt a few pumps and motors and he thought the charges were high as well. I take your point that he has costs he has to pass on to me, and I certainly don't expect anyone to work for me for free (!) but between other posts on this forum and talking with my FIL I was concerned they could be out of line.

So, after taking a look at the cost to run the motor we have it became apparent to me there was good reason to try to increase efficiency there somehow. I paid a service charge just to get him to my house (which is also totally fair), but rather than pay multiple service charges to get bids and recomendations on the work I hoped to come here for a gut check. Thanks for posting.
 

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How is your waterfall feature run? How often do you run it?

A 2-speed might not be the best option over a VSP because you have a water feature. If the water feature requires a high flow rate (and waterfalls typically do) and you like to run the waterfall daily, then you'll likely find yourself running the pump on high a lot which will negate savings. The nice part about the VSP is that you can dial-in the pump speed you need to just do basic pool stuff (run the skimmer and circulate the water) and then find a dialed-in higher speed for the waterfall and then leave the highest speeds for when you might have to manually vacuum. All of that can be done without having to run a 3HP pump on full speed.
 
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