Pools - switching from chlorine to saline

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Setting are now

Regular - 1200 rpm rpm
Pool cleaner - 2600 rpm
Spa - 2600 rpm
Max - 3450 rpm

Power as indicated on the pump is 10-12% lower than in the Hayward calculator. This may be occurring because I have a larger cartridge filter and it is recently cleaned. Pressure gauge at the filter is reading around 6 PSIG (15 ft head) at 2600 RPM. From the pump flow diagram, this would indicate about 95 GPM flow.

I need to get my Fluke current meter and verify the power readings.

Sounds about right. A standard single speed pool pump draws about 2400 watts. A VS pump at 1200 rpm draws about 200 watts. It needs to run Twice as long for complete turnover but saves about 80% in electricity while doing the same work. A slam dunk just like modern LED lighting.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

Black algae shows up because of inadequate filtration and sanitation.
1. Make sure your filter is clean and in good working order.
2. Make sure you turn over (filter) the entire pool water volume every day.
3. Keep pH balanced and cl2 at 5-10ppm for a full year to kill off the established algae roots.

If your pump and filter are 20+ years old, replace it with modern filtration gear.

The pool is 9 years old. it has a chlorine generator with the cloth cartridge type filter.
It is fairly low-maintenance and that is a big part of the problem, especially in the off-season.
I'd set it and forget it for too long and several times I let the FC get down to zero.
Once I get everything back under control and working just right I'm going to hire a pool guy to take care of it once a week just so it won't go too long.

Did I mention I never really wanted a pool, I was dead set against a pool because it would only get used for as couple of years and then no one would care about it and it would become my hassle and cost me a lot of money for ever?

I was right.

[Cajundaddy]

Pools are a lot like lawns, cars and RVs. Once we have em, we have to take care of them whether we use em or not. I enjoy doing the pool, but lawn and yard maintenance annoys me and I am lousy at it. I pay $80/mo so someone else keeps the yard looking nice and it is the 1st check I write every month.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

Sounds about right. A standard single speed pool pump draws about 2400 watts. A VS pump at 1200 rpm draws about 200 watts. It needs to run Twice as long for complete turnover but saves about 80% in electricity while doing the same work. A slam dunk just like modern LED lighting.

Yep. I was probably turning the water 3 times per day. I have the pump setup to give me about 1.5 turns. And the pump speed increases for the spa and the cleaner. Compared to the 1 hp pump it is replacing, which was running about 14 hours a day, it should save a bunch of electricity.

Again, all I need to do now is to setup my older relay only controller to send speed signals to the pump. It needs to run low speed all day long and then speed up for the cleaner and the spa. I think I'll also put in a "fast clean", full power button.

[VincentVega]

Great info on the variable speed pump, I've been looking at those too. I figured I'll swap out the current pump with one when it fails but 200w is pretty impressive. I 'only' run the pump ~8-10hrs/day, the minimum to keep the water clean, not my bill isnt $$$. Still worth looking into, thanks.

[red-beard]

It was an easy swap since I stayed with the same company and model line (Hayward, Tristar). The issue is to make best use of it with my Automation will take a little more work and wiring. I have a reel of 5 wire control cable which will be plenty for this job. Just need to go to home depot for flexible conduit.