I need help with adding a new pump

[mkelley]

Or motor. My old motor on the 2 1/2 hp pump I had died (after less than four years. Sigh). Now they want to replace it with a 1 1/2 hp motor and pump (I guess the pump part is the impeller, etc.). The theory is that it will cost just about the same AND I get a whole new pump, whereas I just get a new motor if I replace it with the same size 2 1/2 hp model. And they say I don't need that big a motor.

This raises the following questions:

1) My pool is 15x30' average depth of 5' which is apparently around 18K gallons. I have solar panels on roof and in-floor cleaning system but no other water features. Is 1 1/2 hp enough for this pool?

2) Assuming 1 1/2hp is enough, will it be more expensive to operate than with the 2 1/2 hp, about the same, or cheaper? I figure I'll have to run it more hours, but I also figure the cost of running it per hour will be cheaper. But I can't find any figures anywhere on the web to determine how it breaks down.

3) More being curious than anything else, but is it typical to replace a pump this soon? I hate to think that every three or four years I have to go through this (although, if I do, a cheaper pump is definitely going to be the way to go).

TIA for any info.

[mas985]

This raises the following questions:

1) My pool is 15x30' average depth of 5' which is apparently around 18K gallons. I have solar panels on roof and in-floor cleaning system but no other water features. Is 1 1/2 hp enough for this pool?

Without the in-floor system, it would still be too much. You could probably go lower but I would need to know the flow rate requirements for the in-floor system.

2) Assuming 1 1/2hp is enough, will it be more expensive to operate than with the 2 1/2 hp, about the same, or cheaper? I figure I'll have to run it more hours, but I also figure the cost of running it per hour will be cheaper. But I can't find any figures anywhere on the web to determine how it breaks down.

It should be cheaper to run even though you will need to increase run time for slightly lower flow rates. Figure about 15% more run time.

3) More being curious than anything else, but is it typical to replace a pump this soon? I hate to think that every three or four years I have to go through this (although, if I do, a cheaper pump is definitely going to be the way to go).

Most pumps should last at least five years so it does seem a bit short but some event might of caused the failure.

TIA for any info.

So I can help a bit more on pump size if you can give me the following:

In-floor cleaning system minimum flow rate
Current pump model and filter PSI when pump was running
Distance from pool to pad
Plumbing size and # of runs from the pool to the pad

[mkelley]

I'm not sure how to figure out the flow rate of the in floor system. It has about 8 pop up nozzles but only one at a time is ever active (it cycles among them constantly). The nozzles have an opening of around half an inch and shoot pretty forcefully. This is the site for it:

http://www.1paramount.com/

Unfortunately, the current pump is unreadable (pretty rusted) so I can't tell you the model. The PSI is very high (so high that the last time I mentioned it here people said it was impossible) so I hesitate to mention it.

The piping is at least three inches on all pipes, maybe even four. The pad is about fifteen feet from the spa/pool, and it has runs for the pool and the solar (straight up on the roof) as well as returns.

I realize so much of this is so vague it won't help you help me, but perhaps you can at least answer me this. The pool guy said that if for any reason the pump is underpowered he'll make it good but how can I tell this myself? If the in floor cleaning valves don't pop up is that what I'm looking for?