Pool pump replacement from single speed to VS: Worth it?

[hiddenoaks]

Hi all,
I currently have a 3 year old single speed Hayward (W3SP2607X10) that works fine, however, with rising energy costs I am considering replacing it with a Variable Speed. Having a hard time determining my running costs and associated savings I'd get from switching. The current pump runs for about 12h per day, on a 22Gal pool, on 115v service.
The replacement pump I am looking at is Sta rite by Pentair SuperMax 2.2 VS 343002 model, which is supposed to be a drop in replacement for the SuperPump.

The VS pump can be had online for ~1k, and I would do my own install - seems simple enough. So, is it worth the cost, and will I see savings?

 

[HermanTX]

Take your current total energy cost from your electric bill. That varies from 0.10 to 0.30 per KWh.
Your single speed pump is estimated to draw at least 2000 watts so multiple that times your hours and the electric cost to cost to run it daily.
A VS pump has varying speeds and watts used. However, it is not straight line. At speed (for example 3000rpm) it may be at that 2000 watts but at 1500 rpm the energy used may only be 500 watts. So it is not linear. So now multiply 500 x hours x $KWh and that will be the cost. The difference will be the savings and then you can divide the total cost of the new pump and installation by the savings to determine how long it takes to pay it off.

Now you will never run your VS pump at just 1 speed but also, you will never run it at maximum speed. So the above is just an average. I actually created a chart for mine with specific hours at various speeds. People on the forum have reported that the monthly cost to run a VS pump is $20-30.

Also, look for a rebate from your electric company for installing a VS pump. I got $300 back.

 

[drsipe]

The choice is two fold:

1. Aesthetics, a variable speed pump runs much quieter in lower speeds, so your pool are will no longer have the pump sound and this is important to some people.
2. Economics, a variable speed pump will run and keep your pool water filtered for much less money, some estimates are as much as 85% less power consumption (this depends on how you operate the pump and run time hours). Your payback time will depend on the cost of power in your area, and the price of the equipment purchased. There are areas in the US where payback time is very short and there are areas in the US where payback time is so long that it exceeds equipment life expectancy.

If you are interested in making your oasis more pleasant, then it's quite simple, a variable speed pump will enhance your pool experience, but if you are looking purely at economics, the answer is not so simple. In my area, power prices are low so payback time is quite long, for me, I'm waiting till my current single speed pump begins to fail before I switch to variable speed,,,,, unless my power price climbs, in which case I will re-evaluate.

Good luck in your decision, and one more thing to consider. Your current three year old pump can either be converted to a pump for mixing chemical into the pool during winter closing, or you could sell the pump.

Here is an image of the Hayward Super Pump manual, I believe this shows power consumption for a 1HP pump at 750 watts per hour or .75KW.

https://lesl.a.bigcontent.io/v1/static/SuperPump-ISSPSERIES

 

[DavidArmenB]

Let me give you my pool’s example.
When I moved to this house the pool had a WhisperFlo single speed pump.
The timer was set to run 8 hours a day, every day.
When on, it drew the aforementioned 2kW. So each day, the pump was consuming about 16kWh of energy while pumping about 28,000 gallons. On my area, with energy costing about $0.35 per kWh, that pump was costing me $5.60 per day and around $168 per month (!!).

When it came time for pool renovations during my whole house remodeling, I changed everything in the pad: pump, filter, blower, heater, and I added an SWG. I purchased the IntelliFlo 3HP VSF.

Currently I have the Intelliflo running at 1600rpm 9am to 12pm, 1200rpm 12pm to 4pm, it’s off during peak hours of 4pm to 9pm, and it’s running at 1000rpm from 9pm to 9am. With this schedule, my pump draws a grand total of 2kWh per day, while pumping 31,000 gallons. This costs me about $0.70 per day and about $21 per month.

In other words, I am pumping a larger quantity of water while using dramatically less energy to do so. This is mainly due to the earlier comment stating the fact that the pumps rpm to energy ratio is not linear. It is much closer to being exponential. So at half the rpm, you are using much less than half the energy. I also have the benefit of not ever hearing the pump because it is extremely quiet at lower speeds.

 

[HermanTX]

@hiddenoaks As a follow up, here is my cost to run my pump daily.
Also, since you have a SWCG, you will have more flexibility to run longer hours and set your output of your SWCG at a lower %.

Circuit Name	Hours	RPM	Watts	Total Watts	Schd. Time
Pool	17	1550	188	3,196	9pm to 6pm
P_Med	3	2350	661	1,983	8am to 11am
Cleaner	1	2750	1068	1,068	3pm to 4pm
P_Slow	0	1950	368	-
Cleaner	0	2750	1039	-	Cost per day
	21			6,247	$ 0.69
Booster Pump	1	3450	2400	2,400
			with booster pump	8,647	$ 0.95

 

[HermanTX]

@hiddenoaks Here is a representative example of the non-linear energy consumption of a VS pump. Every pump is a little different but this shows the cost to run at a lower speed is significantly lower then a pump running at 1 high speed.
Personally, I would not try to calculate a pay back period other then having that data point but instead, sell the old pump as those can still be used for water features, or someone just wanting the motor to replace theirs.
Those daily cost savings plus the flexibility with a SWCG and quite running is a huge advantage.

 

[1poolman1]

Hi all,
I currently have a 3 year old single speed Hayward (W3SP2607X10) that works fine, however, with rising energy costs I am considering replacing it with a Variable Speed. Having a hard time determining my running costs and associated savings I'd get from switching. The current pump runs for about 12h per day, on a 22Gal pool, on 115v service.
The replacement pump I am looking at is Sta rite by Pentair SuperMax 2.2 VS 343002 model, which is supposed to be a drop in replacement for the SuperPump.

The VS pump can be had online for ~1k, and I would do my own install - seems simple enough. So, is it worth the cost, and will I see savings?

Yes and yes. When your existing pump quits you won't have a choice and prices are likely to continue going up. If you are in a position to do so, do it now.

 

[gkw4815]

I replaced my single-speed pump with a Calimar VS pump last year. In my case it has been consistently saving me 600 kWH = $60/month in electricity. It is whisper-quiet, allows me more flexibility in running my SWG, and offers better overall skimming (with running the pump more hours at lower speed vs a single-speed pump).

My previous single-speed filter pump was about a decade old with a ~2 year-old motor. I certainly wasn't about to toss it. I retired my nearly 30-year-old (though still working!) waterfall pump and replaced it with the old single-speed filter pump. You could do the same with your old single-speed, sell it on facebook for a couple hundred $, or keep it as a backup in case your VS pump fails and you need to order a replacement.