Pump Size

[waterbear]

I want to test my understanding about pump size and line size with some of the "forum experts" and get some feedback from others about this...

I just had an 18x36 IG vinyl liner pool installed and the pump and line size is different from what the sales person said...

What got installed is:
-- 1 hp sta-rite pump

The sales person said we would get 2" plumbing & 1.5 hp pump (the contract says 1.5hp pump, but does not specify plumbing size). The guys that did the work said they always use 1.5" plumbing.

The question for the forum is, should I complain to them and if so, how much of a big deal should I make of it? They may offer to swap out the 1.0 hp pump for 1.5 hp, but I don't know if I would want that.

Opinions please.

Thanks

There is a numbers game that manufactuers play with pumps. It is called the service factor. Without going into too much detail it means that there are 'full rated" pumps and 'up rated' pumps. What that means is a 1.5 HP uprated pump is EXACTLY THE SAME PUMP as the 1 HP full rated one in the same model line. (same impeller, volute,housing, etc...You can check the parts numbers on replacement parts to verify this). They only difference is the faceplate on the motor (even though the motors are the same). An example would be a full rated 1 HP motor with a service factor of 1.65. This gives a brake HP of 1.65 (rated HP x service factor). The uprated 1.5 HP model will have a rated HP of 1.5 with a service factor of 1.1 for a brake HP of 1.65! (rated HP 1.5 x service factor 1.1= brake HP 1.65!) Sta-rite has both full rated and up rated pumps. If the contract called for a 1.5 HP uprated pump and they put in a 1 HP full rated pump from the same model line you did get what the contract called for. Believe it or not, even though the full rated pump one size down from the uprated model is the same pump with identical parts the two pumps will have different costs so a substitution like this is not really a bad thing.
If they substitued a smaller full rated for a larger full rated or a smaller up rated for a larger up rated then you did not get what the contract specified.
Hope this helps.