Where's a good online place to buy a pump/motor?

[barnhillld]

I have a 15 x 24 above ground that came with a 200#sand tank and 'generic' 1 1/2 hp motor & pump. The motor had a bearing making noise at the end of last year and it's almost time for spring start up here in Connecticut.

I've seen advice from Ben and others here about getting a 2 speed pump/motor that can be run at 1/2 hp for normal operations and saving some electricity.

Question I hope ya'll can help me with is: Where is a good place online to order such a pump/motor without getting ripped off? What's a good brand without overpaying for an above ground in this size arrangement?

And did I mention I don't want to over pay? :-)

Thanks and here's to a fresh new spring!

Lloyd

[CarlD]

I've had pretty good luck with www.LeisureLiving.com (http://www.LeisureLiving.com), also called www.IslandPools.com (http://www.IslandPools.com). I bought my FantaSea from them with a 200# sand filter and 1hp 2sp Hayward SuperPump--it's an expensive pump but I think it's well worth it.

[Jimmy C]

I converted my 2 HP IG pump to a two speed set up. I bought a motor from Perrys Pool Pump store on Ebay. Their prices are very competitive. Always replace the seal with a motor change.

http://stores.ebay.com/Perrys-Pool-Pump

My plan is to run my pump about 18 hours a day on low speed (3/4 HP), and only use high speed during prime, and Kreepy Krauler. The KWH power meter barely moves on low speed, and it spins very fast on high speed. My current draw is about 3 amps low, and 10 amps high for a 220 volt motor.

The use of a two speed pump has one drawback. If started on low speed, and if the pump is not primed, it may not prime itself, and could burn up the seal for lack of water. To get around this you may need to start the motor on high speed until primed, and then switch to low speed.

I am currently re-designed my Intermatic PF-1102T timer with freeze control to accomadate the 2 speed motor. I will have an additional switch and 2 relays, one which is a 3 minute time delay. The idea is IF the switch is set to low speed, and the pump comes on, it will do so for 3 minutes, and then switch to low speed.

Once I am done with this, I can post the wiring diagram in case anybody wants to know how I did it.

[rockg]

Once I am done with this, I can post the wiring diagram in case anybody wants to know how I did it.

I would love to see your wiring schematics when you get that done.... great idea. I think i'll be in the pump buying business soon... so that will give me something to shoot for. Thanks

Rock G

[Katy-Texas]

Jim

Good idea, any way to ballpark measure the economics to payout at todays power rates:mad: ?

I have a 3/4 HP booster pump for my Legend Platinum cleaner so do I need to worry about using the high HP for it? If not then I probably have two issues, the pump priming one like described and second my current main filter pump also drives the water up into my 1 foot raised spa and thus spillover. So at low rates it may look pretty wimpy?

I'm going to read my controller handbook, maybe it could control a two speed pump . . . .

[Jimmy C]

The following link discusses the benefit, and payback of a 2 speed pump, and some real world examples are given.

http://www.smud.org/residential/saving/poolspa.html

I wonder if it is widespread for utility companies to have a peak demand charge for residential customers as is suggested in the article?

I also wonder if anybody has a pump timer that can program a 2 speed pump, and make the operation automatic? By automatic I mean so that it starts up in HIGH speed to insure prime, and then switches to LOW speed after some period of time (like 3-5 minutes). It could also program the speeds independant with two timers. It might be nice to run say 10 hours / day on low speed, and 2 hours on HIGH speed to get a little extra skimmer action, and do so automaticially. Does such a Gizmo exist, or do we need to invent one ourself? The run of the mill Intermatic mechanical timer, although reliable, is too simplistic for this application.

Jim

[mas985]

Thats a good article but I think they are wrong about solar. While it is true that you may have 10-20 feet of static lift on pump start up, if you use high speed to prime the solar, the static lift goes away because you have +10 going up and -10 coming down so they offset each other. The low speed can then kick it to circulate and should be fine.

My Aqualogic controller has the high speed priming setting for 3 minutes, enough time to fill the solar .

Mark

[barnhillld]

I always know I can count on this forum for my pool advice... now if I just had a forum for dealing with college aged kids!

Seriously, thanks. I just ordered this pump from Perry's:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSAA:US:11&Item=7755280487

Almost time to start bringing the water level up again!

Cheers,
Lloyd

[coolguy]

JimmyC, read you earlier post...did you actually convert a single speed pump/moter to a two speed one? Or did you replace the old motor with a new two speed motor? Just curious if you can convert a single speed motor to a two speed and how to do it if possible. My pump is a hayward 1.5 superpump that I'm currently running on 220. I suppose that maybe if I just run it with just one of the 220 leads, maybe that's how to do it, but I'm afraid to burn it up.

Appreaciate your help.

[mrduffin]

Ruuning a single speed pump with one lead unhooked will not burn your motor up. It just will not run at all.........but you will save money for sure! :)

Another idea some people have about pump operation cost is that it is cheaper to run a motor off 240 volt than it is to run the same motor off of 120 volt. At the power meter the cost is the same. (This is assuming you have a dual voltage motor)

[Jimmy C]

Coolguy,

I just replaced my motor with an equivelant HP 2 speed motor. I'm beginning to think I should have went down to 1.5 HP for my application, but now that I did it I will make the best of it. I purchased a relay, and a switch to deal with the speed selection. Now I need to make a time delay circuit so that the pump comes on at HIGH speed from anywhere between 3 minutes to 1 hour, and then switches to low speed for the rest of the pump ON time. Time delay relays are usually large, and expensive, so I plan on making my own timer circuit. The idea is to hide all this inside my Intermatic 1102 timer (the one with freeze protection).

Playing with motor speed with a single speed motor is possible, not recommended, and pretty complicated. This is often done with commercial 3 phase motors that employ variable speed by changing the voltage, and frequency simultaniously, i.e. lower speed means lower voltage, and lower rotating field frequency. I have actually done this with a single phase induction motor, but doing so took a lot of equipment, and it was only to prove the concept. Starting the motor is tricky too. For us pool folk, pick a motor designed for two speeds, and go for a swim!

Does anybody out there know or have data relating power factor of 2 speed motors for both LOW and HIGH speed?

Jimmy

[Brock]

Just keep in mind if you change out just the motor it will use the same HP no matter what is connected (given the same RPM). Say a 2hp pump and motor assembly is connected. You pull the 2 HP motor and put a 1HP motor. It will try to do the exact same work the 2HP was doing since the pump is the same, and should take approximately the same power. The way two speed motors get around this is speed. A single speed is typically the same at 1/8 HP to 2 HP.

[Jimmy C]

Brock, You make a lot of sense. My pump is pretty old, like 22 years old, and when I bought the house here in 2004, there was a 2 HP 1 speed motor on the pump. I have had two different folk tell me that my pump was supposed to have a 1.5 HP motor, not a 2 HP. I guess I forgot about that when I upgraded to a 2 speed pump. So I guess this means that my motor would be lightly loaded on high speed, and this would likely decrease the power factor. Then again maybe the impeller was also changed to match the motor. Who knows. I guess I'll take a amp-clamp to see if the motor draws rated amperage on high speed. I guess if the power factor is low, the current draw will remain high even if the motor is lightly loaded. I got some motor starting capacitors around to see if the they can decrease the current draw when placed across the motor wires. If that happens, maybe I can correct for low power factor. Do you or anyone out there ever get into this power factor correction stuff with pool puimps?

[Brock]

Honestly I don't think you will be to far off power factor wise. I am sure it will have a decent load running in high. I never thought to check the power factor running in low on mine, but never had an issue.