Considering an SWCG and a VS pump

[PoolDoc]

What Carl said, plus:

If you plan to purchase the pump yourself, you want to keep in mind that Pentair has eviscerated their product warranties, on products sold directly to consumers. Hayward may be a better choice, unless you purchase through an approved outlet . . . and there's still some uncertainty about what constitutes an approved outlet. Even thhe manager of my local pool wholesale store has not been able to find out.

[DHendrix]

Thank you for the input. I visited 3 local stores yesterday and they all recommended different SWCG. Two of them recommended the Pentair VS pump but one recommended a Waterway pump. His reasoning was that the pump and the drive (I think) are separate on the Waterway so if one fails you don't have to replace both as you do with the Pentair...

[PoolDoc]

Better check the price on the Waterworks electronics module -- replacing it separately is not of much value if the electronics part is, say, 60% of the entire unit.

I should say that I don't know about this pump, one way or the other. But I do know that some of their filter designs are very marginal. And my experience is that a company goes for 'show' and not function in one part of their product line, tends to do so in other dimensions as well. So, look carefully at the WET end of the pump. Poor design or manufacturing there can make efficiency on the dry end sort of worthless.

Frankly, you can achieve very, very high efficiencies on your pool, by purchasing a 3/4 HP 2 speed Whisperflo with a toggle switch, and running it on low (~500 watts) for 4 - 8 hours per day. In many areas of the country, that translates into $6 - $10 per month. And, you'll have a VERY reliable pump.

Pentair Whisperflo WFDS-3

Just remember that the Whisperflo has an abbreviated warranty if you purchase it directly using the Amazon link above or another online source, so if you do buy it directly, be prepared to install it promptly on receipt. Most failures will occur within a week or so (not that I've ever had either a Pentair or Hayward fail prematurely -- discounting the time when I wired one incorrectly!), so if you install promptly, you can still return it within Amazon's 30 day window.

Ben