Need help, Swimming Pool Pump

[Wazza1152]

Hi, new to the Site, we live in WA (Perth Western Australia), and as our generous Leader of Liberals wants to kick us in the Gut with more Power rises, we are on Pensions (disability for wife), we need to Pool for her ongoing treatment, we both have spinal damage, lucky hey
Anyway back on to the subject, we have a 60k ltr Pool, Salt water chlorinated, running a 1.5 pump, which according to estimates costs about $1k a yr minimum to run, if we can afford to change it over to Solar it might be worth it
Have checked out Solar Pumps, they run into the $450 range (roughly), am wanting to do it myself to cut down on costs, is there info out there in the Solar winds on wiring up and setting up a system? how many Panels will I need and what type are best, would fabricate a rack to sit the panels on
Run the pump in Summer about 6 hrs daily, split into two 3 hr run times, less in Winter
Do these pumps work ok with kreepy krawler type cleaning systems?
Apologies for so many questions, don't want to go half cocked and miss something important
Thanks in advance, hope someone can help out

[inetdog]

running a 1.5 pump, which according to estimates costs about $1k a yr minimum to run, if we can afford to change it over to Solar it might be worth it
Have checked out Solar Pumps, they run into the $450 range (roughly), am wanting to do it myself to cut down on costs, is there info out there in the Solar winds on wiring up and setting up a system? how many Panels will I need and what type are best, would fabricate a rack to sit the panels on
Run the pump in Summer about 6 hrs daily, split into two 3 hr run times, less in Winter

1. A 1.5 what pump? Not sure what the standard measurements are down there. Over here, it would probably be 1.5 Horsepower, which is quite a few watts. Or else 1.5 inch, which does not tell us much at all.

2. The best operating time for the solar panels would be maybe four hours centered on solar noon in Summer and less than that in Winter. So your idea of two three-hour periods will probably never fly unless you throw in batteries. But if you do that, the system will end up costing you a lot more than the $1K/year you are already paying.

3. I think that the first step would be an accurate determination of just how much voltage and current your solar pump is going to take, and the detailed calculations can go from there.

4. One serious problem is that pumps for chlorinated pool water have to be pretty special to avoid corrosion damage, and I would bet that chlorinated salt water will be even worse. Are the solar pumps you are looking at OK for pool use?

[Wazza1152]

1. A 1.5 what pump? Not sure what the standard measurements are down there. Over here, it would probably be 1.5 Horsepower, which is quite a few watts. Or else 1.5 inch, which does not tell us much at all.

2. The best operating time for the solar panels would be maybe four hours centered on solar noon in Summer and less than that in Winter. So your idea of two three-hour periods will probably never fly unless you throw in batteries. But if you do that, the system will end up costing you a lot more than the $1K/year you are already paying.

3. I think that the first step would be an accurate determination of just how much voltage and current your solar pump is going to take, and the detailed calculations can go from there.

4. One serious problem is that pumps for chlorinated pool water have to be pretty special to avoid corrosion damage, and I would bet that chlorinated salt water will be even worse. Are the solar pumps you are looking at OK for pool use?

Thanks for the reply
Yes it is a 1.5 HP Davey Pump
Will put a killowatt thingymajig on the Pump to see what it uses
Don't want to go with batteries, too expensive, in Summer we get a lot of Sunshine and constant temps of between 36 and 41 degrees celsius
Saw this on Ebay, same as I want to get

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-HP-SWIMMING-POOL-SOLAR-WATER-PUMP-/200749018518?pt=AU_Pool_Spa_Beach&hash=item2ebd92ed96

Will post results of killowatt multimeter
Cheers

[russ]

Saw this on Ebay, same as I want to get

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-HP-SWIMMING-POOL-SOLAR-WATER-PUMP-/200749018518?pt=AU_Pool_Spa_Beach&hash=item2ebd92ed96

Cheers

That is a standard pool pump - nothing to do with solar

[Wazza1152]

That is a standard pool pump - nothing to do with solar

Thanks, doing more research and found relevant info on DC Pumps, sellers of these systems want $3,500 plus delivery
Minimum requirement in Panels by One seller is 4x190 panels
More research to be done

[SunEagle]

That is a standard pool pump - nothing to do with solar

russ

Your are correct except that is a really BIG pool pump at 2hp or 1500watts. I have a pump rated 1hp at 220v which I could never justify running on solar.

I believe our sponsor sells Solar DC water pump kits but I don't know if they are rated for the salt and chlorine.

[bahamasolarnoob]

Thanks, doing more research and found relevant info on DC Pumps, sellers of these systems want $3,500 plus delivery
Minimum requirement in Panels by One seller is 4x190 panels
More research to be done

There is a guy on youtube running his pool in florida (I believe) on 4 120 watt panels, running a Hayward ecostar pump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REJSPQDJibc

[russ]

russ

Your are correct except that is a really BIG pool pump at 2hp or 1500watts. I have a pump rated 1hp at 220v which I could never justify running on solar.

I believe our sponsor sells Solar DC water pump kits but I don't know if they are rated for the salt and chlorine.

Both of mine are larger but a few thousand miled awsy at present

[Mike90250]

Pool pumps are often way oversized for the pool. you should be able to research what size pump you NEED, and not what the original installer made the most profit from.

Variable speed AC pumps are likely the most miserly electric consumers. Add a couple of solar panels for a Grid Tie system, and you will likely shave your electric bill some. PV panels cost a lot, so a large install will be a huge expense that will take 10 years or more, to repay from savings.

[SunEagle]

There is a guy on youtube running his pool in florida (I believe) on 4 120 watt panels, running a Hayward ecostar pump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REJSPQDJibc

I find it hard to believe this guy is getting enough sunlight to run his pump for the hours he claims. Even with a variable flow rate pump it must slow down to a very low rate when the sun is not fully shining on his panels or he has another power source to keep the pump running.

[bahamasolarnoob]

I find it hard to believe this guy is getting enough sunlight to run his pump for the hours he claims. Even with a variable flow rate pump it must slow down to a very low rate when the sun is not fully shining on his panels or he has another power source to keep the pump running.

Yeah I found it hard to believe too, I tried to reach him on youtube but he never responded.

[russ]

There is a guy on youtube running his pool in florida (I believe) on 4 120 watt panels, running a Hayward ecostar pump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REJSPQDJibc

Like most things on you tube it is a sick joke - mostly blather and questionable 100%

[SunEagle]

Yeah I found it hard to believe too, I tried to reach him on youtube but he never responded.

My other concern is his use of those "Grid Tie" inverters. If connects them back into his house electrical circuits he is creating a big chance of an electrical fire. The whole set up looks more like a piece by piece installation that is ripe for failure.

[inetdog]

My other concern is his use of those "Grid Tie" inverters. If connects them back into his house electrical circuits he is creating a big chance of an electrical fire. The whole set up looks more like a piece by piece installation that is ripe for failure.

It is really hard to tell from the video, but the way he talks it sounds as if he is just saying that the net power is zero rather than that the pump is not connected to POCO. Or else he has figured out how to deliberately island those GTIs.

[Texas Wellman]

Here's an idea for you instead.

Replace the motor on your current pool pump with a 2-speed motor. This can cut your electricity usage in half.

Here's the information I learned when I did mine. My 1-HP Pentair Whisperflo pump uses about 8 amps and pumps about 50-60 GPM. When my motor went out I opted for a dual-speed motor that fits right onto the same pump. At full speed (3450 rpm) I get full flow, about 50-60 GPM. The motor consumes about 8 amps. At 1/2 speed, about 1725 rpm, the pump pumps about 1/2 the water but only consumes 1/8 of the electricity.

3450 RPM about 8 amps 50-60 GPM
1725 RPM about 1 amp 20-30 GPM

I have a BW flowmeter on my pump discharge that verifies this fact. Since you are not pumping as much water as before you will need to run the pump longer, but I found that I only had to increase my daily usage by 3-4 hours, which still cut my power usage by 50% or more.

You will need to upgrade your timer to be compatible with a 2-speed pump. Mine starts on high speed and then switches to low after a pre-set time. You need to start on high-speed to ensure that the pump is fully primed, it may not prime fully on low speed. The other negative is that my skimmers don't work quite as well so I plugged one and simply run off one skimmer now. The flow detector for the SWCG (salt water chlorine generator) is a switch that works off of flow and sometimes they won't work well when the pump is on low speed (it flutters).

Good luck!!