Variable speed pump - min energy savings??

[chem geek]

When you hear savings of 40% at the same GPM and pressure, that's talking about 2-speed pumps on low-speed or if a single-speed pump, then a very low HP pump both compared to the IntelliFlo set for the same low speed. The IntelliFlo isn't particularly efficient at high speeds, but really shines at lower speeds. When I switched to the IntelliFlo for my own pool, I did get around 200-300 Watts savings at high speed by tuning the flow rate down somewhat for my solar panels (48 GPM, 3000 RPM, 1500 Watts), but if I ran at the same flow rate as my older pump the IntelliFlo would actually use somewhat higher energy (because my old pump was designed for high head -- 54 GPM, 3300 RPM, 2000 Watts for the IntelliFlo vs. 1800 Watts for my older Jandy HHP 1 HP 1.65 SF pump), but the really big savings was around 1400-1500 Watts when my solar system is off (26 GPM, 1500 RPM, 275 Watts). I also got rid of a booster pump for the pool sweep and instead use the IntelliFlo with The Pool Cleaner (15 GPM, 2200 RPM, 540 Watts). Overall, I save around 50% overall from around $1600 per year to around $800 per year (my marginal electricity rate is high at 40 cents per kilowatt-hour).

[CarlD]

2 hp? How big a pool? 45,000 gallons with an attached spa? Wow! Unless it's that scale in size it's WAY too much pump! More HP in a pump is NOT like a car. It's not necessarily a good thing and can be a really bad thing. I run a 1hp 2 spd pump on 19,000 gallons and not only does it work well, it works BETTER on low speed (I have a 200# sand filter). Yeah it runs longer but sand filters do much better when they aren't running near-capacity.
Carl