I just replaced my 10 year old Hayward 1 hp with a Hayward 1.5 HP two speed pump. On low speed there is not enough power to use my solar. It may be with a new filter I would not have a problem but the pool has cost me enough for one year.

On the positive side, the 1.5 hp motor is so much quieter than the old pump. We used to turn off the pump if we were setting on the back porch. Don't have to anymore.

kell490-

I would recommend the Jandy SHP series of 2 speed pumps. These have high efficiency motors and the PHP series has standard efficiency motors. There may be other 2 speed pumps out there also with high efficiency motors also. I have the Jandy pumps are they are quiet at high speed and barely audible at low speed.

The 2 speed can be made to work with solar. Valves are recommended to close off any bypasses before the solar panels so that all low speed flow goes to the solar. Also, to prime the solar, it is recommended to run at high speed for a couple minutes then switch to low speed.

ralphdean-

Sorry to hear about your experience with low speed not working for your solar panels. Did you try to prime them first with a couple minutes of high speed first before switching to low speed. Once the panels are primed, the flow and head requirements are not that large.

Hope this helps!

If you upsize the pump does it pump more water at the lower speed? Would a 2hp be better then a 1.5hp at low speed with solor. I found out last night after removing the motor all I did was break the impeller in my hayward super 2 pump so replaced the impeller but I'm still looking into a new pump. I found the intelliflow for $850.00 online about $200 more then the jandy's I wonder what the cost of a driver board would be if it failed out of warranty. I probably would put a surge protector in my sub panel to protect it. The only reason I was thinking of going with the intelliflow is I would be able to adjust it for the solor and the suntouch controls it.

Trhought you said in another post that you felt the intelliflow was not a effecient pump design do you mean the driver is not effecient at full speed do to the power loss in the electronic switching though heat. I asked the local pool supply store about jandy pumps he said they are nice but you wont find any parts in town everyone uses hayward or pentair so I probably have to stock some extra parts like seals and such ahead of time.

Kell490-

Yes. Larger 2 speed pumps have different HP ratings for low speed. There are 3 different 2 speed pumps I know of in the industry (1 HP, 1.5 HP and 2 HP) and their HP ratings at the low speed are 1/5 HP, ¼ HP and 1/3 HP respectively. I have had good luck with the 2HP 2 speed and the 1/3 HP at low speed is enough for my floor system and heater. I donÂt have solar, but others on this forum have used 2 speeds for solar applications. One member on this forum, I think "scal" was using a 1.5HP 2 speed for a solar application without problems. It is recommended to run at high speed for a couple minutes first to prime the panels then switch to low speed. Also if there are any bypass lines that are open that rob flow from the pump at low speed, these should be closed. This is good practice anyway to avoid any additional work that the pump has to do and save energy.

Regarding Intelliflo efficiency or any variable speed efficiency, there is nothing better in the market for low speed, light duty filtering and turning the pool. However, at these light duty conditions, the power consumed is small. So the slight advanatage that variable speed has at low speed translates to small power savings. At high speed, due to the inefficient impeller and drive losses, the variable speed will use more power and if ran for more than a couple hours per day, will erase any power that was saved while running in low speed that day. Depending on your utility rate and how many hours the pump is planned to run at low and high speeds, you can start to determine if the return on investment is worth it for your particular situation.

Regarding the replacement drive cost for variable speed pumps, unfortunately I donÂt know. I and others on this forum have been asking but no one has volunteered the replacement drive costs yet because the drives are being replaced under warranty right now. IÂm sure someone out there knows but no one has come forth yet. From my experience, a drive this size will probably cost as much as a new 2 speed pump.

Finally, a quality surge protector/power conditioner would be needed to protect the drive. I have seen UPS units used successfully in industrial applications to protect drives this size. These units range in cost from $400-800. Not sure what you had in mind for surge protection, but thought this was worth mentioning.

Hope this helps!

A jandy 2hp 2sp motor running at low speed has a power factor of around .60. A 4x160 running at the same flow and head has a power factor around .89-.90, not a little more efficient, but significantly more efficient, and the difference is heat waste. Heat does bad things to motors, all motors. in fact the number one failure on any two speed motor is the low speed winding, if you discount seal failure and the subsequent bearing failure.

The whole point of the Intelliflo pump is to only use as much pump as you need to. I will hazard a guess and say that most people, if you look at the life of a pool will ever spend much more than 1% of their time in their spa. which would be when you would use the higher flow potential of the Intelliflo pump. The rest of the time you would be realizing the substantial energy benefit of having an Intelliflo.

I have never seen one Intelliflo drive fail because of a surge.