The Truth About VS Pool Pumps
I think that there are a lot of myths associated with the pool industry like a saltwater pool is not a chlorine pool. Another one that I often hear is that a Variable Speed (VS) pump does not save you any money nor are they very effective.
The pool pump can be the highest energy hog in your house, passing your Air Conditioner and Refrigerator just by the sheer amount of hours it runs each day. If you have a 1 ½ or 2 HP pump installed and you run it 8 hours per day, not to get into complicated conversions of kWh (Kilowatt Hours) and how you are charged each month by your Electric Company, just imagine it as having 20-100 watt light bulbs on every hour. That is a lot of electricity each day and if your bill is tiered by usage, meaning the more you use the more you are charged, your bill can get very high very quickly. On average a pool pump in the Summer will be about 40% of your total electricity bill.
So the best way to save money is to cut into your monthly electricity bill and that is exactly what a VS pump does. Simply put, your standard pump runs at 3450 RPM (Rotations Per Minute) which is about 1800-2000 watts. A VS Pump can be set to different RPM and at every lower RPM, the total wattage used is lowered. So just lowering the VS Pump down to 2100 RPM, cuts the watts down to 685 watts. At 2100 RPM the water will appear to flow just as strong as a standard pump running at 3450 RPM. Cut it down even lower to 1800 RPM and you are down to 165 watts. So instead of having 20-100 watt light bulbs running you only have a little over one light bulb running each hour. So it is hard to optically see the VS pump energy savings but if you look at the drop in your electricity bill each month you will see the savings reflected there.
One thing you may notice is that the pool doesn’t stay as clean with a VS pump and that leads you to believe that the pump isn’t working as well as your old single-speed pump. That is just one drawback of not running your pump at the full 3450 RPM. One way to address this is by running a short higher speed RPM for 2-3 hours (2,800-3,000 RPM). That way the surface debris can be pushed into the skimmer leaving the pool cleaner each day.
Many consumers balk at the higher price tag of a VS pump but that is due for the most part to the “Drive” on the top of the VS motor (some are now internal). This drive allows the pump to run at a different speed and this is the brain of the pump. Many have a controller also mounted to the pump and this acts as the timer for the VS pump. These extra components are what cause the price of the VS pump to be more expensive than a standard single-speed pump. It’s not the manufacturers charging more just to make more money, but that these pumps cost more to the manufacturer and this of course translates into a higher price tag for you.
A VS pump will save you money. It runs much quieter as well and lasts longer than a standard single-speed pump. The truth is a VS pump is a greater investment that will save you 80% on your electricity bill and pay for itself in 2 years.
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