Other energy savers: Variable speed pool pumps

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LTLFTcomposite

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
4,780
Location
Central FL
I've been eying the Hayward eco star pool pump as a way to save on electric. It was mentioned elsewhere here the payback on these is pretty quick. They cost a bundle, $1100+, so I'm trying to see how it pencils out...

I put an ammeter on my existing conventional 3/4 hp pump and found it's drawing 5.4 amps, so:

5.4A x 240A = 1296W x 6 hrs/day x 30 days/month = 233.28 kWh/mo @ $0.11/kWh = $25.66 / month

That would be four years payback assuming the new pump uses zero. It isn't clear from the literature how much these new pumps actually draw. There is some suggestion it is in the 200-300 watt range, which would put the payback around five years.

Does anyone have one of these and can comment on what their actual current draw is? Also, do you run them more hours/day on slow speed? I'm also wondering what makes them more efficient. Sure people say they use less electricity because they are running slower, but presumably they are pumping less water in the process, so couldn't I accomplish the same thing by reducing the number of hours my existing pump runs?

Thanks in advance for any insights.
 
I agree with run the existing for less hours. Otherwise why not just get a 1/2 hp motor instead of some complex variable speed.

I don't have a pool but at the office the VSD airconditioning did not really live up to the hype.
 
The efficiency gains are likely overstated and I don't think your 3/4 HP motor is pulling 1200 watts either. Induction motors have a significant power factor so what you measured was VA. 3/4 of a HP is around 550 watts and even with an efficiency of 0.8 that would result in 690 Watts of real power. I keep watching for a DC motor that plugs into a string of PV panels and runs when the sun shines but no one is making one yet. Another helpful way to reduce the time the pool needs to run is to use a robotic pool sweep that doesn't depend on the main filter. The drawback is the system is no longer automatic, the sweep doesn't like to stay in the water all the time and pool covers get in the way of deploying the sweep and removing it at the end of a clean cycle. The advantage is the robotic sweep is using about 100 watts to clean the pool.

What makes the system more efficient is moving the water more slowly puts more energy into moving the water rather than heating the water. It's similar to driving a LEAF at slower speed to reduce the amount of energy lost to wind friction.
 
I replaced my pool pump with the Pentair Intelliflo about three years ago when LADWP was giving a $1,000 rebate. It did in fact drop my overall energy use by the pool by more than 2/3.
 
I changed the motor on my pump from a 1 1/2 HP to a 2-speed, so now it runs at 1/3 HP most of the time. I also reduced the hours to 4-5 hours/day, seasonally adjusted. Those 2 things together put a big dent in my FPL bill. There are websites that specialize in pool motor swaps, which really isn't as difficult as it sounds because almost all of the motors are made by A.O.Smith, so many are interchangeable.
 
Nekota said:
The efficiency gains are likely overstated and I don't think your 3/4 HP motor is pulling 1200 watts either. Induction motors have a significant power factor so what you measured was VA. 3/4 of a HP is around 550 watts and even with an efficiency of 0.8 that would result in 690 Watts of real power.
I put one of those clamp meters (digital) around one of the wires and it read 5.4 amps. Is that not an accurate way to tell how much juice it's pulling?

If it really is only 690 watts my upside is even more limited.

Nekota said:
What makes the system more efficient is moving the water more slowly puts more energy into moving the water rather than heating the water. It's similar to driving a LEAF at slower speed to reduce the amount of energy lost to wind friction.
So you pump the water slower over a longer period of time?

Thanks to all for their feedback.
 
Pool pump motors are usually 240 volt so it would be about 1,300 watts...

LTLFTcomposite said:
I put one of those clamp meters (digital) around one of the wires and it read 5.4 amps. Is that not an accurate way to tell how much juice it's pulling?
 
Yes, due to lower pressure and volume, it takes less total energy to do so, even considering the longer running time. It is like driving the Leaf somewhere at 75 versus 30...

LTLFTcomposite said:
So you pump the water slower over a longer period of time?
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
Nekota said:
The efficiency gains are likely overstated and I don't think your 3/4 HP motor is pulling 1200 watts either. Induction motors have a significant power factor so what you measured was VA. 3/4 of a HP is around 550 watts and even with an efficiency of 0.8 that would result in 690 Watts of real power.
I put one of those clamp meters (digital) around one of the wires and it read 5.4 amps. Is that not an accurate way to tell how much juice it's pulling?

If it really is only 690 watts my upside is even more limited.

Nekota said:
What makes the system more efficient is moving the water more slowly puts more energy into moving the water rather than heating the water. It's similar to driving a LEAF at slower speed to reduce the amount of energy lost to wind friction.
So you pump the water slower over a longer period of time?

Thanks to all for their feedback.


The clamp on current meter is an accurate way to measure the current but not an accurate way to measure power since the current and voltage in an induction motor are not in phase or mismatched making the measurement not as simple as volts x amps. A killawatt meter is an accurate measurement device for power (watts), VA (volts x amps) and power factor but it works only with 120V.

The recommended practice for pool filtering is to turn over the water once per day. So if you are pumping more slowly then yes you have to run the pump longer with the effect of more of the energy goes into moving the water through the filter rather than losing the energy to friction in the pipes and filter.
 
Nekota said:
The clamp on current meter is an accurate way to measure the current but not an accurate way to measure power since the current and voltage in an induction motor are not in phase or mismatched making the measurement not as simple as volts x amps. A killawatt meter is an accurate measurement device for power (watts), VA (volts x amps) and power factor but it works only with 120V.

The recommended practice for pool filtering is to turn over the water once per day. So if you are pumping more slowly then yes you have to run the pump longer with the effect of more of the energy goes into moving the water through the filter rather than losing the energy to friction in the pipes and filter.
I don't have a killawatt meter; I've been meaning to get one, but isn't that just for 120v stuff you can plug in? The pool pump of course is hardwired 240v.

If my low efficiency pump really is only pulling 690 watts as you suggested, it's costing me less than $14 a month vs $26 a month with the higher number. Either way if that's the upper bound to my savings it will be 5-9 years payback, seems I should be looking elsewhere for energy savings. I'll revisit it when my current pump craps out, maybe prices will have come down.
 
I installed the Haywood Variable Speed pump a couple of months ago. For me, the savings are dramatic.

My old pump ran about 2kWh for 8 hours per day (this is Arizona, and the temps are consistently above 100).

The new pump runs about 90 watts per hour for 9 hours and 2kWh for 3 hours daily.

The rate of kW is programable. The 3 hour cleaning cycle and the 9 hour recycle works great here.

I could reduce the cleaning cycle to 2 hours and the recycle to 7 hours, but the pool is sparking and well maintained now.

While the pump is running, the readout actually displays the electric usage in real time. There are many settings for timers and for pump speed. Our utility company provided a $200 rebate. The added bonus is the super quiet operation.

BTW - On 1/1/2012, Arizona changed its law that all new pool pumps must be either dual speed or variable speed.
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
If my low efficiency pump really is only pulling 690 watts as you suggested, it's costing me less than $14 a month vs $26 a month with the higher number. Either way if that's the upper bound to my savings it will be 5-9 years payback, seems I should be looking elsewhere for energy savings. I'll revisit it when my current pump craps out, maybe prices will have come down.

A 3/4 HP pump isn't "really" bad. As I said, mine was 1 1/2HP! :shock: Florida recently passed a law prohibiting anything larger than 1 HP. They should have gone further and mandated dual-speed or variable speed pumps as some other states have.
Most pump motors have their efficiency rating on them, if I recall. I think mine was a 1.3 Power Factor, which I believe can help you make a correction to your readings to calculate the actual power consumption.
Speaking of which, has anyone ever tried the KVAR devices? They are supposed to correct the Power Factor, to make the motors more efficient. They are made here in Jupiter, so I can buy them fairly cheap.
 
keydiver said:
Most pump motors have their efficiency rating on them, if I recall. I think mine was a 1.3 Power Factor, which I believe can help you make a correction to your readings to calculate the actual power consumption.

Be careful you don't confuse power factor with service factor. Most-all pool pump motors list a service factor, many do not list a power factor. The service factor is explained here:

http://franklin-electric.com/franklin-aid/just-what-is-a-service-factor.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Hi,

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Hello...

The vitality funds that are picked up by supplanting a solitary speed pump with either a double speed or variable speed pump depend on a building rule known as the Pump Affinity Law...
 
Hi,

I am thinking of buying Hayward SP2610X15 with 1.5 HP, a dimension of 10 x 12.3 inches and a weight of 40 pounds. Should I buy this?? What about its performance??

Thanks
 
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