A: There are many factors to consider when choosing a pump,
but looking purely by price we have a Waterco Supastream 1-1/2 Swimming Pool Pump for $293.44.
Q: If not looking just at price what brand would you
recommend? I currently have a Hayward pump 1 1/2 HP. Also, what would
avialability be?
A: There are a lot of factors I use to size a pool pump. I
will put a few questions below that can guide us.
How many gallons are in your pool? (around 26,000)
What area of the country do you live in? (AZ Tucson)
Is the pump in a place where noise is a factor? (yes)
Do you run a pool cleaner or pop up heads? (kreepy crawler)
Do you get a lot of leaves in the pool? no Do you have a spa? no
Which Hayward pump do you have now? (1-1/2 hp Hayward Super II Pump)
...also, have water fountain runs with pump.
A: Here in Tucson we size pumps for 4 hour "turnover" that is where all
the water can go through the filter in a four hour period. So for your pool we
want in the neighborhood of 108 gallons per minute (26,000 Gallons/4 hours/60 minutes = 108 Gallons Per Minute). This is plenty of pump to
run almost any fountain and still provide water to returns.
If you have a Full Rated Super 2 Pump you should be
getting just about 120 GPM from your current pump. There is some variance on pump outputs due to plumbing configurations.
Knowing our desired flow we can look at replacement
pumps:
The most economical choice would be the Waterco Hydrostorm Swimming Pool Pump.
You get the 1.5 Hp version for $455.60 and get about 130
GPM which is a bit more water than you had before. The trade off is that the Hydrostorm
can be a little louder while operating than lower output pumps.
If you want a very high performance pump the Whisperflo Swimming Pool Pump
is a great money saver for the long term for your application. The one
horsepower Whisperflo pump should be moving about 100 Gallons per minute, this
is a small amount under our projected flow but will yield very good power
savings in long term because we are dropping a half a horsepower, this will be
easily seen on you electric bill. It is also a very quiet pump for $596.60.
You could also drop to to a one horsepower Super II but
it costs about the same as a Whisperflo and the Whisper has the advantage of
being quieter.
Both the Whisperflo or the Super II I can get to you in
1-2 days, the Hydrostorm I am out of and have to get in from Georgia and it
would be about a week.
If you have questions or concerns feel free to let me
know.
We could also have a side discussion about the large
power advantages of 2 speed or variable speed pumps but the initial outlay is
quite a bit more so it takes a while to work it off.
