Pump Sizing Question

[mas985]

For most spas, you will need about 15 GPM/jet for a medium strength jet. So for 6 jets, this is 90 GPM. If you have one pump for everything, I would go with a 2 HP 2 speed pump. If you have a separate jet pump, then you could get away with a 1.5 HP pump for the jets and a 3/4 HP for filtration.

I prefer the two pump configuration as it will allow you some flexibility with the spa and pool. I have this and once the spa heats up, sometimes I put the filter back on the pool, I have solar, and use the jets in the spa. You can only do this with a two pump configuration.

As to your last question, to determine the pump size properly, a full head loss calculation is required for the pool and spa. Once the head loss is known, you should be able to determine the pool turnover rate and the spa jet strength. Unfortunately, many pool builders do not know how to do this so they will usually go with a high HP pump to make sure they have enough flow.

Given the size of your pool, you only need 33 GPM for an 8 hour turnover. This is not very much and a 3/4 HP pump will provide more than that even on low speed. However, you need the HP for the spa jets depending on how strong you want them. The Intelliflow will give you some flexibility in case you sometimes want weak jets. Some people will complain jets are too weak will others, too strong so it is somewhat of a personal preference.

There really is no one answer only a lot of options. One thing I would strongly suggest is to have a low speed on the filtration pump. This will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Hope this helps.