One of the largest consumers of energy in your home is the pool pump. It can run anywhere from 6 to 8 hours per day and consume 3,000 to 5,000 kW per year. As many Orange County pool owners know, current California Appliance Efficiency Regulations (Title 20) prohibit the sale of single speed pool pump motors over 1 horsepower. This means that if you need to replace or upgrade your current pool filtration pump, you will need to decide between a two-speed pump and a variable speed pump.

If you are looking to maximize your energy savings, select the variable speed pump. Unlike old single speed motors or two-speed motors, a variable speed motor can run at many speeds. Since a motor needs more energy to run at a higher rate, you only want your pump running at maximum speed when necessary. If your pump is always working its hardest, it is always using the most energy. Variable speed motors help you avoid this. They also tend to be more efficient at lower settings than two-speed motors. At lower settings, you are obviously saving money with less energy usage, but at that setting variable speed motors run at a lower rpm rate, which means you save even more! For those who like technical details… the relationship between the rpms and energy used is not linear. For example, if you have a 1 ½ horsepower pump that uses 2,000 watts running at 3,450 rpm and you reduce the speed to 2,400 rpm (a 30% reduction), you will reduce the energy consumed to 593 watts (a reduction of 70%).

With a variable speed pump, you control the speed and energy used. You can program the high speed to be no higher than necessary for proper operation of the skimmer, filter, and any water feature the pool might have. The minimum speed can be programmed as low as possible for proper water turnover. Once the speeds are set, you can then program the time that you want each speed to operate. This way, the pump is never pulling more power and operating faster than necessary for proper pool maintenance. You can even program the motor to operate at off-peak energy hours to save even more on your energy bill. The Pentair Intelliflo VF variable speed pumps installed by Beachside Pool Service can be for programmed for pool tasks such as filtering, heating, cleaning, and operating spa jets and water features. Beachside Pool also sells and services the Hayward EcoStar pumps that can be programmed for up to 8 functions in every 24 hour period. Both brands carry the Energy Star certification.

If you are ready to save money on the energy used by your pool equipment, then it is time to give the Orange County pool equipment experts at Beachside Pool Service a call at 949.939.0023.