zoom,
Unless your pool is very shallow it is probably closer to 24K gallons. Your pump is probably moving about 120 gallons per minute or 7,200 gallons per hour. You need at least one turn so 3 1/3 hours would be the minimum. I personally like to turn pools over twice. 12 hours is a little much at 3.6 turns.

My experience suggests that the head loss will be higher which will reduce the flow rate some. What size is the plumbing, how far is the pool from the equipment, what size are they returns? Did they use flex pipe or rigid pipe?

8 hours during the meaty part of the day should be enough unless you have high heat in which I would bump it up a couple to 10 hours.

The run time isn't just for filtering. It's also to circulate the pool chems and add chlorine.

Scott

First, I'd get rid of the 2HP stealth and get it replaced with the Jandy ePump. I had one of those 2HP stealths, and they are power hungry. In california, with our tiered pricing, that pump (with everything else) was putting me into tier5 pricing, or about $0.30 per kWH, so that 2HP was costing me about $3-4 per day to run. Ouch!!!

I'm now running the ePump, running about 10 hours a day at a super-low RPM (about 40 gpm), still getting a full turn of the pool, and it's costing me about $0.75 per day (yes, under one dollar). With the SCE rebates and such, I figure it's going to pay for itself in less than six months.

I've included a link to Jandy's ePump site. On the list of documents is a nifty excel sheet for calculating energy savings. I'd download it and put in your numbers and see where it puts you. Using your builder's 12 hour a day runtime and my energy costs, I'd be looking at $9.00 per day ($270 per month!).

Jeff

Here is a link that might be useful: jandy savings caculator

Thanks for the replies.

just-a-pb,

Our pool's shallow end is 3' and the deep end 6'. The PB said it's 600sqf. When the takers filled the pool we paid for 18K gallons. In addition to the tankers we filled the pool with our hose, I didn't think we added 6K gallons with the hose but I guess it's possible.

NE power rates are usually a lot less than Califonia's.

A 2HP E-Pump costs about the same as Pentair's 3 HP VS. which runs at a still lower speed for the same fow volume.

Jandy has poor support and it's been that way for some time.

Pentair is very responsive and has knowledgeable staff. They get back to you quickly if they don't have the answer to a difficult set of circumstances.

Jandy's products, across the board, over the last five years, in my experience have not been as reliable as either Hayward or Pentair.

Pentair keeps getting better.

Until I see Jandy make marked improvements in product quality, durability, and customer service policies, I can't see risking my reputation suggesting their products except for valves. The NeverLube is still a solid product.

Poolguynj - given that the pentair is 3HP (3200 max watts) and the Jandy ePump at 2HP (2200 Watts), it would make sense that the Pentair could turn slower for any given flow i.e. greater torque plus larger impeller. But, given the 3HP Pentair would consume up to 33% more power per RPM, I would guess that the costs may wind up nearly the same... Yes/No?

Jandy's and Pentair's own cost calculators come within a penny a day of each other for a 20K pool.

As for the whole Jandy vs Pentair, my builder is as passionate about his distaste for Pentair as you seem to be for Jandy. I think this comes down to the equivalent of the Ford vs Chevy debates, and I suspect the truth about the products lie somewhere in the middle.

I don't think that it's that simple. A 2HP doesn't quite turn twice the water a 1 HP does given the same head. I don't have all the formulas but I do know that I have a customer's pool running nicely at about 250 watts, and 800 for his spa. I am pretty sure if it was an E-Pump, the wattage used would be somewhat higher. Not much, since they both use somewhat similar technologies in the motor and controller function and the Pentair will run at a lower rpm for a given flow rate.

I'd be willing guess that at 2200 watts, the Pentair will push more water and will be quieter than either the E-Pump or Hayward's multi-speed offering.

I wish I had the resources to do the test.

Scott

I've got a Jandy flowlink sitting in a box so I think I'll install it and do a little testing. The new Jandy "P" software displays a pretty accurate wattage number for the pump at a given RPM, so that's handy.

I've got my normal pool circulation set to 1700 RPM and that's reporting 238 watts. Of course, with no flow meter, I don't have an accurate GPM for that. With the flowlink is in, I'll post what I find.

In my mind, even if the Pentair is slightly more efficient, when I shopped around on-line, they were consistently $130 (VS+SVRS) to $275 (VF) higher than the ePump. Assuming the cost calculators are correct, the Jandy might cost me an extra $3-5 per _year_ to run, which means 40+ years to recover the higher initial cost on the Pentair.

As for noise, at the lower RPMs the ePump is so silent that I sometimes need to look at the filter basket (and operation light) just to tell that it's running. I suspect that's the same for the Pentair, so no matter what's quieter, it's already to the level that it's no longer an issue.

It's funny, these pumps are such a huge improvement over what we had before that the debate points are now about a couple dollar savings per year, and if the pump is running at the sound level of a whisper or leaves rustling. :)

Save your money on the VS. Get a 2-speed motor. They are cheaper and from what have seen more efficient than VS pumps. Since you did not list a lot of features I am assuming you are only running your filter, which would be perfect at a slow speed. Without having to worry about added feature a 2-speed pump will work nicely.

I run my 2-speed 14 hours a day and it cost just under $50.00 per month. This keeps the water circulating during daylight hours.

Sorry edpa, they are not as efficient, not by a long shot. An Intelliflow, any model, is far more efficient than any two speed on the market.

Will a 2 speed save on electricy over a single speed? Yes
Is a 2 speed less expensive to buy? Yes
Will it last as long? NO WAY. All two speed and one speed residential pool pumps that I know of use induction motors. The wasted current turns to heat. The heat is what kills them.

The Pentair and now the Jandy, multi speed pumps use computer controlled/generated three phase power and motors. They run at low speeds at efficiencies induction motors only wish were possible. This is where the cost of operation savings come in. THe motors will last substantially long and use a fraction of the current needed by other pumps.

Scott