Hayward Northstar pump install: Review

[mwsmith2]

Holy schmoley. I've been contemplating changing my pump. From what I can gather, it's a 1983 pump (original!) and is likewise a 2HP unit. I did some research on replacing mine, but maybe I should have looked harder. Pretty amazing that you can go from 2HP to 3/4HP and gain flow and pressure! With that kind of cost savings, the payback on the pump is pretty short. Seems like I may need to look in to this again. Thanks for the info!

Edit: Ok, I did some quickie research. Seems like my results will be spookily similar to yours. I too can get away with a 3/4HP unit and will save right at $40 a month! Payback on the pump is an astounding 8 months. Looks like I may be in the market for a new pump soon!

Michael

[pj1016]

Glad that you found the info useful, Michael.

Saving the $$ is good, but I still can't get over how much quieter this pump is compared to my old one.

I cracked open the old pump, but the pump head looked pretty good. Maybe I get more flow and pressure because the new pump has a better impeller and volute geometry? Beats me...

Wish I had installed it last year when I bought the house...

pj

[chrisexv6]

When we bought our house the pool was already there, but the SuperPump (so old it wasnt even a SuperPump II) clearly needed to be replaced.

I originally bought a 1.5HP SuperPump II replacement (matched the HP of the existing pump). On the advice of a couple people here, I returned it for the .5HP (brand new at the time) Northstar. You can probably guess, it was a gigantic leap of faith to go from 1.5HP to .5HP, add in the fact that I had never run the pool before so I had no clue how much head was in the system, etc.

The Northstar was so powerful that even the liner installer said it might be too much. I told him its .5HP and they dont make smaller so I guess I have to live with it. 2.5 seasons later, I still cant hear the pump when its on (I let the grass behind the pump grow a little higher so I can see the grass moving from the air exiting the pump). Probably the second best investment I made in regards to the pool (1st being Bens test kit of course!)

I think the key is to do the research instead of just buying whats already there. Maybe pump technology hasnt changed much over the years, but the motors attached to them definitely have!

-Chris