Living in California with extremely high energy costs, I am looking to replace pool equipment for energy efficiency. I now have a Sta-Rite pump/motor that pumps about 4-6 hours a day. The motor is a STA-RITE MAX-E-PRO 1 HP 3450 RPM Model K48L2PA105.
Do I just need to replace the current single speed motor with a variable speed motor, or do I need to change out the pump too to variable speed?
Can you advise on the best scenario please?
Hi Roger,
The variable speed route is a great way to go as you can save some serious money in California where energy costs are high. Here is a Good Article Showing the Expected Savings on a Variable Speed Pump vs. a Single Speed Pump.
In your scenario you would just need to swap out your Sta-Rite Max-E-Pro Motor with the Century 1.65 HP Variable Speed Replacement Motor when replacing your motor you will need to replace your Sta-Rite Max-E-Pro Shaft Seal as if you use your old shaft seal there may be leaking.
You may also want to swap out your 3/4 HP impeller to a 1.5 HP Max-E-Pro Impeller because if you stay with the 3/4 HP impeller and ramp your pump up to full RPM’s you will only be outputting 3/4 HP but paying for 1.5 H.P. 99% of the time you could run at the lower HP but if you want to vacuum or get an algae bloom you would have the full 1.5 HP available to you.
A final thought…
You might want to check with your power company to see what rebates are available for variable speed pumps, I have seen rebates of up to $500 back from the power companies and if this is the case it may make sense to swap out the entire pump. If you go this route the Raypak Variable Speed Pump is a great option.
Thank you
Patrick
The current motor is actually a 1 HP. It splits output from the filter to an elevated spa that has a waterfall into the pool and also powers a pool vacuum as well as pumps water thorugh a passive solar water heating system on the roof of the house.
I checked with our Electric supplier and it appears they have $200 rebates on selected pumps. The list is here:
What do you recommend?
Out of these I would select the first one under Speck Pumps labeled Raypak 1.65 HP Variable Speed Pump we currently have this on sale for $489
One more point: The pool pumps (filter/vacuum pump we want to replace, The Spa Pump, Water Feature Pump) on our system are all connected to a compool cp3800 control unit. I wonder how that will integrate with a new variable speed pump. All the times for the pump are controlled by that Compool unit.
Roger,
You would set your times within the Compool to when your pump should power on and off and then on the controller of the motor you would program the speeds for when the pump is powered on.
For example you could set the Compool to power your pump on at 8AM and turn off at 8PM then on the controller on the motor you could set the pump to run at 3450 RPM’s from 8AM to 9AM and then 2200 RPM’s from 9AM-7PM and 3200 RPM’s from 7PM to 8PM. I just put in random times and settings but you get the idea.
Thank You
Patrick