What Pump/Filter Should I Purchase?

[Russ.Stevenson]

Hello Everyone,

I bought a bank owned house with an inground pool, the size of I which I guess to be 15000 gallons. The pool was a real mess, with three or four feet of mud and frogs and mosquitoes. But the biggest problem is that the pump and filter are missing. The 1 1/2 PVC appears to be intact.

I've never had a house with a pool and I have lots of questions, the first of which is what type of pump and filter should I buy?

Thanks In Advance For Yor Help
Russ Stevenson

[Poconos]

Hi Russ and welcome to the forum.
First, congrats on the house. Hope it works out well for you. What kind of pool is it? Liner, fiberglass, concrete? You mention the plumbing looks OK but could there be hidden freeze damage? Should probably pressure test the lines to be sure. With that much mud it may be easier to just rent a sludge pump to get rid of most of the crud. As for the pool pump and filter, go sand. A sand filter is best when dealing with yuck. Cheap to maintain and easy to backwash. They do a good job of catching things but won't do as good a job as DE or a cartridge for water clarity. However, you can improve the filtering by adding a little DE to the sand filter and get the finer filtering benefits of a DE filter. You're far from being concerned about that though. As for the pump, what is your budget like? Also, the power to the pump is it wired for 120 or 240 volts? If you just have the pool and no additions like waterfalls and your budget allows it, then probably a 1 HP 2 speed should work. Others may have different suggestions. The other thing to consider is you can never go too big on the filter. I don't know the prices or specified flow rates but I think I would go with a 300 pound sand filter. Again, others may have different ideas. Let us know if we're heading in the right direction and we'll home in on a solution.
Al

Edit: Just saw you're in Floride. Forget anything I said about freezing. You still may want to pressure test though.

[Russ.Stevenson]

Thanks for the reply.

The pool is a gunnite, kidney shape about 8 feet deep in the deep end. No spas or waterfalls - just the pool. It is powered by 240 volts on a double 20 amp breaker (which I will change to a GFI). I rented a pump and had a heck of a time getting the sludge out, but I finally got it empty and pressure washed and acid cleaned. It looks pretty good. I will do a pressure test on the plumbing.

Back to the pump and filter, Lowes and the Depot around here sell Flo-Tec and they seem expensive compared to what I find on the internet. I would like a two speed pump and I am leaning toward a Hayward. I had a fella quote $1100 to install a 1 hp single speed pump and an oversize cartridge filter. I would rather do it myself, though. Seems like it would be a good learning experience. Is Flo-Tec a reliable brand?

Thanks Again,
Russell

[aylad]

I'll have to leave the Flo-Tec question to someone who knows the answer, but I just wanted to encourage you to compare the cost of a cartridge filter against a sand filter. Sand filters are the best if you have messes to clean up, and I'll put my water clarity up against any DE or cartridge filter's water anyday. (Ask Poconos and Watermom, they've both seen my pool in person!). With sand, once you get the sand in the filter, there's virtually no maintenance except an occasional backwash, and if you do have an issue with clarity, you can always toss in a handful of DE to get the clarity of a DE filter. I have just read so many posts about people having issues with having to clean/soak/replace the cartridges, that I would really think through that before you commit to one. My down the street neighbor has an Intex pool with a cartridge too, and after helping her clean up a bad algae bloom last year, swore I'd never own a cart filter.

Just a suggestion.....

Janet

[Watermom]

I am going to second (or actually third) the recommendation to go with a sand filter rather than a cartridge filter. It does a good job and is way less trouble than a cartridge filter.

[mas985]

Sorry but I am going to have to defend cartridge owners everywhere. I find a cartridge to be much lower maintenance then some of the others at least from some of the postings that I have read but the key is to oversize the filter such you don't have to clean it so often. I clean my filter twice a year and I never close the pool. Each cleaning takes about 45 minutes so overall, I bet I spend less time per year then many sand filter owners. Of course following the great advice about maintaining pools from this site has resulted in an algae free pool for the last 5 years so I have never had to fight that problem. But I do agree that could be a problem with a cartridge.

[mshumack]

It is powered by 240 volts on a double 20 amp breaker (which I will change to a GFI). Russell

You are not required to use a GFI breaker on pool pumps located more than 10 feet away from the pool (on residental pools). You need a GFI on pool light circuits and convienence outlets located within 20 feet of the pool edge.

I'm not saying don't put in a GFI - only that it is not code required, and if budget is tight you can skip this step.

The GFI concern/requirement is for those devices where you can touch the electrical device while your "in" the pool/water.

[CarlD]

Check with you local building codes. In my town a GFI breaker in the box is an ABSOLUTE requirement, as are the pump distances from the pool and even the length of the pump's power cord--must be 3' or less. Even a timer for the pump is required near the breaker box. Codes differ from town to town, and from state to state. Some are loose, ours are very, very strict.