taxgod4u Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Was wondering if we have too much pump and are waisting electicity. We have a 18,000 gal ingound and 430 square feet of solar panel on a single story roof. The pump set up and solar are about 15 feet from the pool. It has a 2hp pump. Is there a rule of thumb on pump size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Was wondering if we have too much pump and are waisting electicity. We have a 18,000 gal ingound and 430 square feet of solar panel on a single story roof. The pump set up and solar are about 15 feet from the pool. It has a 2hp pump. Is there a rule of thumb on pump size? The pump size is very much a function of the plumbing, filter type, pool size, etc. If you use larger diameter pipes, then you generally can use a smaller pump since their is less flow resistance. In my pool which is 16,000 gallons I have 2" pipe going out of the pump to the solar system with around 500 square feet on the roof with rather long runs (and then splits to 1.5" pipe to each of 3 returns in the pool) and have two 1.5" pipes coming in from the skimmer and two floor drains, respectively, that combine to 2" to the pump. I have a cartridge filter with 340 square feet. I also have a gas heater. My main pump was originally 1 HP (and a booster pump for a pressure-side cleaner at 3/4 HP) though now I just have a variable speed/flow Intelliflo pump. When the solar is on (4-6 hours a day), the pump runs at 48 GPM (4 GPM per solar panel plumbed in parallel), 3000 RPM and 1500 Watts while with the solar off (2-4 hours a day) the pump runs at 26 GPM, 1500 RPM, and 275 Watts. The same pump also runs a pressure-side The Pool Cleaner (on a dedicated return line) for 3 hours a day at 15 GPM, 2180 RPM, 540 Watts. This always results in somewhat more than one turnover of water per day which is usually reasonable. By replacing my fixed speed pumps with a variable speed pump, I've saved around 50% on my electricity bill which was substantial (went from $1400 down to $700 per year just for pump electricity cost). Normally you wouldn't have as large a pump as 2 HP unless you had some major water features or spa jets or poor narrow plumbing. Your pump does sound oversized to me. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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