Solar pool pump

SosuaJoe

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Feb 24, 2005
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Howdy!

I am looking to retrofit my pool (approx 14m x 5m and averages 1.5m deep (2m on the deep end, one on the shallow end) with a solar pump.

I have been told a lot of conflicting things from a lot of different people:

Solar will not give me enough circulation to keep my pool clean
Solar will not give me enough flow to backwash properly and might not give me enough flow to vacuum properly.
Solar will not amortize in any reasonable amount of time

Well, given my ridiculous power bill, I am thinking the system will pay for itself sooner rather than later.

With regards to circulation for backwashing and vacuuming, as I already have a "standard" pump, I was thinking of simply installing the solar parallel to the regular pump with valves -- voila! I use the regular pump for backwash and vacuuming, and the solar for regular use.

Thoughts?

Since the websites I have been looking at say the water has to be completely circulated at least once a day, what kind of flow are we talking about?

Also, can anyone recommend a decent solar pool pump? I will be bringing down a container so I can pick up just about anything sold in Canada. I tried talking to some alternative power companies in the DR, but was unconvinced -- sure, they sold the stuff, but couldn;t give me clear answers to my questions. I am not going to invest in a system only to have it not meet my needs.

Any help, as always, would be appreciated.
 

SosuaJoe

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Feb 24, 2005
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Thanks for the link -- I've been looking at the Lorenz, actually.

Could I impose on you to PM me either your friend's email address or your own so that I could ask some follow-up questions?

Thanks!

Joe
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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For a pool your size (100m3), at those temperatures (our warm climate), you'd ideally need a 1Hp or better a 1.5Hp pump which would run an average of 8Hrs a day to maintain a clean and sanitized pool using traditional filter systems and chlorinated water.
To run such a pump, you would need some major solar installation to supply a around 10KW a day (not even taking AC/DC conversions and the need of batteries into account.).
If someone tells you (or wants to sell you to the idea) that it works, have them show you an installation which works (and call me, I want to see it too!).

There are new alternate filter and chemical systems recently on the market which are touted to need about half the pumping traditional systems do, but so far I have not been shown one which works in our climate.

If you have standard pool lights, you may want to replace them with LED-pool lights (they're not cheap either). IF you are using pool illumination often, they will pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time.

If you want to save energy, you will probably have other items in and around the house which will be cheaper to address, like solar heating you water etc.

... J-D
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com


Interesting link, gmiller.

I, however have to warn against taking their "guidelines" as a generic value.

Their "calculation" is based on the most minimal requirements under the most ideal circumstances.

We here are NOT facing the most ideal circumstances, with relatively high temperatures year round, water of questionable quality and maybe not so regular pool cleaning service.

Lowering the pool filter cycle water pressure requires a pool-jets and skimmer layout which is optimized. Lets not forget that the water coming out of the jets is supposed to move surface dirt towards the skimmers BEFORE it falls to the ground of the pool, where it only can be cleaned out using a vacuum system. Unless, the jets have been laid out in the most optimal manner and taking a low pressure pump into account, results may not turn out to be satisfactory.

If then, one is facing other problems, like trees dropping all sorts of dirt, leaves and/or pollen, sandy ground, kid often playing in and around the pool, the minimum requirement of filtering a pool's water volume only once, may also prove insufficient.


You may prefer to explore the possibility of assisting your general power consumption with windmills, solar water heaters and so forth.

... J-D.


... J-D.
 

gmiller261

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Dec 29, 2002
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I think they are a reasonable start

You do not believe they are 100% off or more, do you?

I had a A/C pump with 2K watts solar and doubled the size of my filtering system. Worked very well, but still had to sweep the pool.

I do feel that the solar hot water heater I installed made the biggest energy difference.

But you still have to run that pool filter or you get green water. Which to me was worse than the cold showers.
 

J D Sauser

Silver
Nov 20, 2004
2,940
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com
You do not believe they are 100% off or more, do you?

I had a A/C pump with 2K watts solar and doubled the size of my filtering system. Worked very well, but still had to sweep the pool.

I do feel that the solar hot water heater I installed made the biggest energy difference.

But you still have to run that pool filter or you get green water. Which to me was worse than the cold showers.

No gmiller, I don't think they are 100% off. Just that their calculation is based on minimum requirements under the best circumstances.

A solar (water)-heater will not make the biggest difference if you run big items like A/C, large fridges and a pool. But it will make a difference, works and all that at a reasonable price.


USD 6000.oo (for the OP's pool size) for a system that may most likely nor return a satisfying result is may a high poker.

... J-D.
 

SosuaJoe

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Feb 24, 2005
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Thanks for the feedback so far, gentlemen, please keep it up.

As I am retrofitting this pump, I am considering installing it in series with the current pump which I would leave installed. This way I could run the 'normal' pump for such tasks as backwashing and vacuuming, should the solar pump prove not strong enough for these tasks. I would also think that I could then run the 'normal' pump for a few hours at night on a timer should I find that I am not getting enough flow with the solar pump to keep my pool from turning green.

Of course, this presupposes I can run them in series without having the one interfere with the other. Thoughts?
 

Reidy620

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Mar 30, 2008
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Hiya, Wouldn't it be more logical to install the pump in parallel with your original; using valves that allow you to isolate them from each other or, if necessary, run them at the same time? In series I would have thought they would interfere with each other.

Tropical Regards
Reidy
anpalmisl.gif
 

gmiller261

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Dec 29, 2002
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Parallell seems more of the correct way

With a larger size DC pump, as JD pointed out, you will have no problem with back washing and vacuuming.

If you have a large battery reserve you will not see a difference when the sun goes behind clouds. Because I wanted to go all solar I had a 450 amps @48 volts, single string.

I changed my 1hp pump to a 1.5hp pump (AC) and had more than enough power. I wanted to go DC but at the time no one knew where to get one.

The backwash shot the water across the street.
 

SosuaJoe

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Feb 24, 2005
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The reason I would want to run them in series rather than parallel is to obviate the need to manually switch over the valves.

If they are in series, that would allow me, for example, to run the electrical pump every night for a couple of hours on a timer AUTOMATICALLY to supplement the solar pump should it prove necessary.

The solar pump would not be working at night, and the timed electrical pump would not work during the day, so they would never both be working at the same time.

Of course, for this to work, both pumps would have to allow water to pass through when they are not working without creating significant resistance and without damaging themselves over time. Both these are iffy propositions, and I have recently been advised against the series installation due to just this long-term damage potential.

Sometimes I really wonder why it is that the world doesn't work the way my own logic tells me it should.

Ideally, I should be able to hook up two pumps in series, work one from solar, and spill the leftover energy (if any) into my home grid. This while maintaining the regular pump as an in-series redundant back-up. All the while setting it up cheaply enough so as to amortize within three to four years. That;s what my brain tells me. Now, to squeeze reality into that box...

As an aside, I would really like to know why there are no import exemptions or incentives on solar and wind technology in a country that cannot produce enough power for it;s population. ARRRRRRGH!!!!
 

georgios

New member
Oct 2, 2004
201
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Howdy!

I am looking to retrofit my pool (approx 14m x 5m and averages 1.5m deep (2m on the deep end, one on the shallow end) with a solar pump.

I have been told a lot of conflicting things from a lot of different people:

Solar will not give me enough circulation to keep my pool clean
Solar will not give me enough flow to backwash properly and might not give me enough flow to vacuum properly.
Solar will not amortize in any reasonable amount of time

Well, given my ridiculous power bill, I am thinking the system will pay for itself sooner rather than later.

With regards to circulation for backwashing and vacuuming, as I already have a "standard" pump, I was thinking of simply installing the solar parallel to the regular pump with valves -- voila! I use the regular pump for backwash and vacuuming, and the solar for regular use.

Thoughts?

Since the websites I have been looking at say the water has to be completely circulated at least once a day, what kind of flow are we talking about?

Also, can anyone recommend a decent solar pool pump? I will be bringing down a container so I can pick up just about anything sold in Canada. I tried talking to some alternative power companies in the DR, but was unconvinced -- sure, they sold the stuff, but couldn;t give me clear answers to my questions. I am not going to invest in a system only to have it not meet my needs.

Any help, as always, would be appreciated.

I installed a few of them on the North Coast, PM me for details.
Georgios
 

donpool

New member
Jan 18, 2009
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I have installed the solar powered pumps in Hawaii. I also installed a standard pump as well just in case it was needed. It has never been needed. obviously it will depend on what size your pool is and what your solar radiation is. If you want the solar pool pump to filter your pool it will work fine, but if you want it to work a waterfall or an automatic pool cleaner you have to accept what it will do one day it may not do the next day. The systems I install with a seperate pump for backup I plumb so that either the solar pump can be used, or the standard ac pump. I did not feel good about connecting the two pumps with only check valves. If you do not feel that you would have enough solar power to filter your pool properly all year round, you can purchase an ac power pack for the solar pump that will allow you to run the solar pump off the solar pv panels or ac power or a combination of both.