Swimming pool Gurus

[Ralph1Malph]

I am going to replace the pump on my 55000L inground pool.
It's a Poolrite PM40 and still works ok but at 10-15 years old, is the single largest user of electricity in our house.:( The PM40 were about 1KW ~280/300LPM. Thirsty and inefficent.:mad:

There are two inlet pipes on the pool pump, one mid way along the side and currently sealed at both ends. The other is the skimmer basket which we alternate between skim and vacuum using a plate to run the creepy crawley.

I have a train of thought I'd like to share and get advice. Rather than one largish single speed 300 LPM 0.75/1 KW pump which could simply replace our current one and all be well, I'd like to purchase two smaller pumps of around 0.5 kw/150 LPM.

Plumb one to the existing skimmer box line and have it purely for skimming, running at a lower lpm.

The second I'd plumb to the closed line and use specifically and only for vacuum (creepy crawley).

My reckoning and research is that I need to cycle the pool every 6-8 hrs which we currently do during summer but mainly this is with the crawler on.
In winter, I could just run the crawley a few hours a week.

Leaving pump one on for 4-6 hours skimming and augment with only a few hours of vacuum as required.

Before asking, I would love a dual or multi speed pump but alas, I am but a poor working man! Incidently, all the plumbing is easily accessible in the pool shed as is the pump and power points!

Thoughts? Advice?

Ralph

[adm333]

Sounds like a lot of mucking around for what should otherwise be quite an automated process.

I replaced my old pump with a Davey Silensor, which is a high efficiency and super quiet pump. I'd be surprised if it used more energy than your proposed 2 pump solution.

Plus I only run my filter for 4 - 5 hours a day in summer and I never have a problem (salt water chlorination).

I am also led to believe that pool pumps should be connected to a different tariff circuit, but I haven't fully investigated that as yet.

Dave

[91ramjet]

Hi there give us a pm with your no and ill have a chat with you i work with swimming pools. cheers jake

[Ralph1Malph]

Sounds like a lot of mucking around for what should otherwise be quite an automated process.

I replaced my old pump with a Davey Silensor, which is a high efficiency and super quiet pump. I'd be surprised if it used more energy than your proposed 2 pump solution.

Plus I only run my filter for 4 - 5 hours a day in summer and I never have a problem (salt water chlorination).

I am also led to believe that pool pumps should be connected to a different tariff circuit, but I haven't fully investigated that as yet.

Dave

Maybe mucking around, that's why I am sounding it out!:D
We are already on T33 Qld but this dog of a pump is still the largest draw on the grid we have!

Cheers

[Ralph1Malph]

Hi there give us a pm with your no and ill have a chat with you i work with swimming pools. cheers jake


Cheers
PM sent

[loanrangie]

I'm no guru but i went for a larger pump than the one that caught fire (yes i did write that) my reasoning was that it would need less time to filter the whole pool which equals less running time. If one pump is only for occasional use you will still need a pump the correct size to maintain your pool.

[Ferret]

Will you get enough flow through the creepy crawley to keep the 'knocker' thing working properly with the reduced flow of a smaller pump?

[kenleyfred]

I tried Kreepy Krawly, barracuda and another robotic type that I forget the make of over the years. Never with much success, For the last 18 months or so I have had a dolphin, runs on 12V. this way no Kreepy living in the pool with it's hose, the pump runs as usual, but only does the skimming, thus it doesnt clog up as often, has better running pressure for filtering and chlorinating.
Once a week,generally when doing household chores anyway I throw the cleaner in to do its thing. If the pool has gotten quite grubby it will often need two 3 hour cycles.
Works for me.