Pool Maintenance Tips | Pool Guides » pool pumps

Below Ground Pumps: Jazz up your pool with one!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:55:28 +0000

Imagine that springtime is just around the corner and your family is eager to use your new swimming pool real soon. You are looking forward to inviting friends to a pool party at home with steak, barbecue and burgers on the grille. You have installed a good quality pool heater that works real all right, making it possible to extend your swimming season outside of summertime. Now you have to think about keeping your pool water clean by choosing the right product out of so many available below ground pumps in the market.

It sure turns you off to see your swimming pool turn green literally from dirt and debris. While everyone is going green these days, it means being more environment friendly and high on efficiency. It has nothing to do with your pool being green with dirt and algae. What you are after is choosing from thousands of below ground pumps that will do no harm to the environment and cost less to install and operate. You clean your pool water, save the earth and save some extra dollars on your utility expenses for the long term.

How do below ground pumps work? Pool pumps are considered the heart of the pool system. In general, pool water is pumped out of the pool, through the filtration system and back to the pool as clean water. The filtration system catches dirt and debris, ensuring that pool water going back to the pool is clean.

Now that we have a basic understanding of how below ground pumps work, we should also understand how much pumping power or capacity is appropriate. There are guidelines for residential applications of below ground pumps for pools. These are intended to be guidelines for proper maintenance of pool water by keeping it clean.
Choosing the right pump size depends on the volume of pool water in use. Ironically, there is a common notion that bigger is better. Just like fuel efficiency in your car, it is about the right sizing and usage to maximize on your gas consumption.

Efficiency is not proportional to increasing pump size. Too much horsepower on below ground pumps does not mean optimal efficiency. Selling on horsepower has been misleading consumers resulting to oversized below ground pumps.

There are variable speed pumps available as well, meaning your pump can operate non-stop with less expensive utility bills. These types of below ground pumps may cost more initially but with savings on your bills may be more cost efficient in the long run.

Another consideration when buying below ground pumps is the noise generated by operation. Imagine your pool party and you could barely hear each other during conversations because of the noise from your pool pump. No one wants to spoil a party because of an overly loud pump. This can also be a sensitive issue especially when living in a densely populated neighborhood. Living with irate neighbors because of noisy below ground pumps can cause so much undue stress.

Consulting with a pool professional is a good idea. This ensures that you have the right pump capacity for your pool and that you will have a fun and enjoyable swimming pool season.

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All Things Related to Swimming – July 30, 2009

Guest Blogger — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:37:54 +0000

Welcome to the July 30, 2009 edition of all things related to swimming pools.

Aparna presents Swimming in over-chlorinated pools can have adverse effects on your skin, hair and teeth posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming, saying, “Most swimming pools, especially in the third world countries use chlorine as it is the cheapest and one of the most efficient ways of disinfecting the waters. The chlorine levels in the pool waters have to be monitored constantly and regulated carefully to maintain a recommended pH level. Correct levels of chlorine in waters don’t pose much of a health hazard. But if the level becomes too high, the water can become acidic and swimming in such over-chlorinated waters can cause many problems”

Emma presents First swim: happy baby, scared parents @ Baby-Log| Learning to be a Mother, raise a Baby and live as a Family posted at Baby-Log.

Lazy Man and Health presents Is Swimming a Good Exercise for Women? posted at Bike Swim Run.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of all things related to swimming pools using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: all things related to swimming pools, blog carnival.

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things related to swimming

Pool Pump Replacement Tips

Guest Blogger — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:49:29 +0000

Pool pump replacement doesn’t happen to much. Most of the pool pumps available today are good quality units. Any of the outdoor pumps are sealed so no dirt or water will get in. And all of them come with lifetime bearings and most motors are of the brush less type, so they do not wear out as badly. But as anything that is mechanical, it will eventually wear out over time and will fail. So what do I do when it comes time to replace my pool pump? How do I know what to get? Here are some tips on purchasing a new pool pump replacement motor.

Most of the time, you can get by with just replacing the motor. You can tell by looking if the pump housing and motor are bolted together. I have a Pentair Wisperflow model and the 2 half’s can separate. Then bolting up the pool pump replacement is all you have to do. Some pool pumps are integrated into an all in one housing, and for those models, you will have to replace the entire unit. If this is the case for you, it is a good time to upgrade to a more efficient model. If your pump is 10 years or older, upgrading can save you a large amount in electrical costs. You can look at the bright side as you will save up the extra costs in a few years.

With the case of my father performing his pool pump replacement many years ago, he found out that the original pump was undersized by an entire horsepower. I always wondered why his motor made a lot of noise. So he replaced the entire unit as apposed to just replacing the motor. The pump size on my pool is a 2 hp and mine is whisper quiet, hence the name Wisperflo. The point being always check with a pool expert or the manufacture on properly sizing your pool pump when replacing it. Actually an undersized pump can draw more amps than a bigger properly sized unit.

If you need any assistance, you can always give us a call at 800-890-8185 and one of our experienced salespeople can assist you in proper selection.

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Save Money and Clean Your own Swimming Pool

Guest Blogger — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:17:27 +0000

A lot of us owning Swimming Pools are doing our own maintenance this year. Everyone is saving all the discretionary money that they can. Doing your own Pool Maintenance isn’t all that bad. Here are some steps to ensure you can do it yourself if you never have.

There are basically 4 levels you need to keep an eye on and they are Chlorine, PH, Calcium Hardness and Total Alkalinity. Pool. You can monitor all of these levels with a Water Testing Equipment Kit, or you can use Aquacheck Silver 7-Way Test Strips. Chlorine should be checked daily. PH, Calcium and Alkalinity can be checked weekly. Most kits will tell you what to add to stabilize your water in each of these 4 areas. Make sure you add the right amount of chemicals in the right way to ensure safe and effective use.

To clean the top of the water you will have to use a hand held skimmer. I’m sure most Swimming Pool owners have one of these. Depending on where you live, you will have to clean the top of the water of debris (leaves, bugs, etc.), when needed. We have to skim our Swimming Pool every other day where we live.

Cleaning the bottom of the pool can be done by manually by a hand held Swimming Pool Vacuum. Most people now a days use an Automatic Swimming Pool Cleaner. These pool cleaners either run off of your Pool Pump and Pool Filter, or are self contained, run off of low voltage DC and deposit the debris into their own catch bags. Let your goals and budget determine which one is best suited for you and your Swimming Pool. A quick tip before you vacuum the bottom of your pool is, several hours or preferably overnight, brush the walls of your pool and let the dirt settle to the bottom. That way you can minimize your time spent cleaning the inside of your pool.

Monitor your Pool Filter weekly. Backwash if you have a D.E. or Sand Filter. For Cartridge Type Filters, lots of times you can clean them with a Pool Cartridge Cleaner and a Pool Filter Cleaning Wand. This is very crucial to do this weekly so any algae and bacteria do not build up. If this build-up does happen, you will have to use a shock treatment to your pool.

Follow all the manufacture guidelines with regards to cleaning and maintaining your Swimming Pool. It should only take a couple of hours a week of your time, and you can save money by doing it yourself in the process.

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How to Choose the Right Swimming Pool Pump

Guest Blogger — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:21:09 +0000

Swimming Pool Season is almost upon us, and its time to go out and open up the pool. So you go out uncover the pool, start up your Swimming Pool pump and your ready to add your Spring Start-Up Kit, and you find out your pool pump is broken. Great what next? You could just replace your burned out pump with the same model and HP rating in hopes that it was sized right, from when your pool was installed. Or you could make a conscious effort to make sure your pump is sized correctly, allowing you to get maximum
Pool Filter benefit and to also save energy.

Bigger is not better when choosing a Pool Pump. What you want to do is use the smallest size pump possible for you swimming pool. To choose the correct pump, you can consult a pool pump-sizing chart. In technical terms you want to match the hydraulic characteristics of the pump to the piping and the pool’s flow characteristics. If you are heating you pool by solar, you also need to consider extra capacity to pump the water through the collectors.

A Study conducted by the State of Florida shows that ¾ hp pump is generally sufficient for residential pools. You can decrease the size of you Pool Pump by decreasing the systems hydraulic resistance by, substituting a large filter (50% higher than the designed flow rate) and decreasing pipe length or increasing diameter. Also replace 90-degree elbow pipes with 45-degree or even flexible piping. Besides, decreasing the pool water’s circulation resistance can save you up to 40% in electricity use.

Another way to save energy is to decrease the amount you pool pump runs to 6-hours a day. Basically you run the pump while your adding Pool Chemicals, and for automatic debris filtering. Longer circulation times wastes energy. Many people think that you have to keep the pump running to keep the growth of algae down, but the best energy conscious effort is to use chemicals in the water and scrub the walls when needed. If you have an instance where the water doesn’t appear clean then increase the pump-on time by ½ hour increments. Studies have shown that most of the people were happy with the water quality reducing their pump time down to even 3 hours a day. On average this would save you 60% on your Swimming Pool Pump electricity. You will have to experiment to find the best operation.

If you have a debris problem caused by reducing your Pool Pump on time, you can install a timer on your pump (if you don’t have one already) to run at short periods each day and still keep within your lean pump-on schedule. These short cycle-on times should keep you pool clean all day.

Also remember to keep all debris clear of drains and skimmers. Clogged areas make your swimming pool pump work harder thus using more energy. And backwash only when needed because not enough requires your pool pump to work harder, and too frequently wastes water.

In a nutshell, sizing your Pool Pump to the correct size for your swimming pool, and making energy conscious efforts to reduce pool pump on time can you with lower energy costs and helping our environment, thus helping and doing part in reducing your carbon footprint.