Electricity Charges and Pool pump

[Mike J]

I know that an electric pool pump is the most costly electrical item in any household with a pool . I have just had to switch to using my electric back up pump as the solar pump has blown up and probably understandably my landlord is not prepared to buy a new one as all the benefits come to me the tenant and as he says there is a perfectly good pump in the pool room .
So my question to you is is it worth switching to the two tariff level offered by the Electricity Authority rather than stay on my single tariff rate and programming the timer to operate at night time ? This according to research on Google also saves me money on chemicals etc. I have done some simple sums and it seems it wouldn't but I'm wondering if anyone who has changed to the two tariff rate has managed to make the electricity work in their favour by lifestyle changes, washing clothes at night etc ?
Cheers
Mike

[Dominic]

If the solar pump came with the rental then the landlord should fix it.

[cyprusmax47]

A Solar pool pump should run ca 10 years without problems and can also be repaired. Sometimes it needs only a new impeller. The damage can be worse if the pump was running dry (not enough water in the pool)
If you run a normal AC pump then you can reduce your electricity bill if you run it with the timer setting :" 15 min On, 15 min. Off" to avoid algae growing in summer (they grow when the water in stagnant)

Max

[Mike J]

The pump was apparently 13 years old so had had a good innings, did run dry as well as seal had gone and impeller broke plus there was a fire in the solar electricity box all very exciting at the time as was the noise from the pump room. New pump circa €2,800 on Amazon hence landlord not over eager .
Most " experts" on Google say to run the pump for at least 6-8 hours though the Americans benefitting from much cheaper electricity recommend at least 12 hours . If it's mainly about stagnant water I guess swimming every hour would help . Have already switch to granules rather than putting the chlorine cakes in the skimmer so pool chemicals levels are kept high without using the pump.
The duel tariff really doesn't look that interesting , at least in the UK the tariff off peak is half the normal daily cost. This €0.02 per kWh saving looks like an electricity board going through the motions of an EU directive rather than grasping the nettle and encouraging consumers to change how they use electricity but i guess the water pump, the washing machine, the dish washer (if you have one) and of course the other biggy air-conditioning could fit into the 2300hrs-0900hrs opportunity . I just wondered if anyone out there had tried it.

[cyprusmax47]

There is a Solar company in your area which perhaps can help you. Depending how many panels you already have and how big your AC pump is you can also go for an so called driver unit, which runs your existing AC pump with Solar panels. If you phone Mr. Evros, perhaps you can sort things out...

http://www.vasconsolar.com.cy/products- ... r/?lang=en

Max

[Dominic]

The pump was apparently 13 years old so had had a good innings, did run dry as well as seal had gone and impeller broke plus there was a fire in the solar electricity box all very exciting at the time as was the noise from the pump room. New pump circa €2,800 on Amazon hence landlord not over eager .
Most " experts" on Google say to run the pump for at least 6-8 hours though the Americans benefitting from much cheaper electricity recommend at least 12 hours . If it's mainly about stagnant water I guess swimming every hour would help . Have already switch to granules rather than putting the chlorine cakes in the skimmer so pool chemicals levels are kept high without using the pump.
The duel tariff really doesn't look that interesting , at least in the UK the tariff off peak is half the normal daily cost. This €0.02 per kWh saving looks like an electricity board going through the motions of an EU directive rather than grasping the nettle and encouraging consumers to change how they use electricity but i guess the water pump, the washing machine, the dish washer (if you have one) and of course the other biggy air-conditioning could fit into the 2300hrs-0900hrs opportunity . I just wondered if anyone out there had tried it.

Surely the need for aircon is much greater during the day though?

[Dominic]

The pump was apparently 13 years old so had had a good innings, did run dry as well as seal had gone and impeller broke plus there was a fire in the solar electricity box all very exciting at the time as was the noise from the pump room. New pump circa €2,800 on Amazon hence landlord not over eager .
Most " experts" on Google say to run the pump for at least 6-8 hours though the Americans benefitting from much cheaper electricity recommend at least 12 hours . If it's mainly about stagnant water I guess swimming every hour would help . Have already switch to granules rather than putting the chlorine cakes in the skimmer so pool chemicals levels are kept high without using the pump.
The duel tariff really doesn't look that interesting , at least in the UK the tariff off peak is half the normal daily cost. This €0.02 per kWh saving looks like an electricity board going through the motions of an EU directive rather than grasping the nettle and encouraging consumers to change how they use electricity but i guess the water pump, the washing machine, the dish washer (if you have one) and of course the other biggy air-conditioning could fit into the 2300hrs-0900hrs opportunity . I just wondered if anyone out there had tried it.

Surely the need for aircon is much greater during the day though?

[PaphosAL]

Surely the need for aircon is much greater during the day though?

I would say that the need for aircon is greatest at night, in the bedroom. And then on Economy Mode, which isn't really about pulling room temperature down so much, but addresses us human's main reason for an uncomfortable night's sleep- humidity!

In this mode, with the bedroom door firmly closed, the ambient difference is amazing when you pop out to the bathroom in the wee hours... It doesn't hammer the leccy bill too much, either!

AL

[Dominic]

We only have the fan on at night in summer. Mind you, in Polemi it isn't humid like what you get in Paphos.

[trevnhil]

In our experience Aircon is needed usually in the afternoons and early evenings. It cools down when darkness arrives..

[trevnhil]

Last year was the first time we had Aircon in the bedroom. It was good to put it on a timed for 30 minutes at the beginning of my siesta's

[cyprusmax47]

Back to the topic, it is nice to hear that the solar pool pump did for 13 years the job, saving thousands of Euro in that time and would perhaps still work if it was not running dry.. the solar panels will last another 20 years or so.

Max

[Uncle D]

It should take 4 hours for a total circulation of the water through the filter, if there is only 2 people using it that is adequate on a daily basis, if there are 6 people it may need some more.
As long as Ph and chlorine levels are ok, its really all trial and error that works.

[J B]

It should take 4 hours for a total circulation of the water through the filter

Isn't that dependent on a) how big the pool is and b) how big the pump is??

[Lincoln]

It should take 4 hours for a total circulation of the water through the filter

Isn't that dependent on a) how big the pool is and b) how big the pump is??

Yes the amount of water in a pool will determine what amount of time a pump has to run. With regards to how many people use the pool then that factor is down to testing and so the amount of chemocals alotted to the pool to keep it free of contaminants.

[Uncle D]

It should take 4 hours for a total circulation of the water through the filter

Isn't that dependent on a) how big the pool is and b) how big the pump is??

If the pool is designed correctly with the correct size pump and filter to suit the M3 of the pool, 4 hours should be enough for one circulation. If not the pool hasn't been designed correctly.

[J B]

If the pool is designed correctly with the correct size pump and filter to suit the M3 of the pool, 4 hours should be enough for one circulation. If not the pool hasn't been designed correctly.

So, we just need the "this is Cyprus" and shrugged shoulders then!!!!

[Uncle D]

Yep

[Mike J]

There is a formula online which I found, length x width x depth x 7.5 which gives you gallons in the pool. Mine has 8,910 gallons as it is only 4 foot deep throughout. So if you want to calculate the gallons per hour that go through the filter to completely filter the water in four hours you divide by 4 ( this is the kind of maths I enjoy - simple ) so 2,210GPH but it seems to discover if your pump is up to it you then divide by 60 to give you Gallons Per Minute mine is 37GPM . There is then a rather difficult formula to calculate the resistance as the water moves through the pipes and where in the relation to the pool your pool house with the filter is either below , alongside or above. Suffice to say I couldn't figure that out but my electric pump is 1/2 a HP which is way more than sufficient to drive the water through the filter in 4 hours so I reckon I can ignore resistance rather than dig the pool up to work it out. What is obvious is that the weakling that was installed for the solar system takes 8 hours at least to push the whole pool through the filter and on a partly cloudy day it had no hope of doing so. Cyprus Max47 I will contact Vasconsolar tomorrow but I only have four panels on the roof generating on a totally cloudless day almost 110 D.C. so no hope of running my mighty half a horsepower pump on 240 AC but maybe they can suggest something to do with the now wasted solar energy ? On the all important siesta question personally i like mine outside in the shade of a tree and the aircon comes on in the house but bedroom only at 11 p.m. an hour before we hit the hay hence my interest in the dual tariff now on offer.

[cyprusmax47]

There is a formula online which I found, length x width x depth x 7.5 which gives you gallons in the pool. Mine has 8,910 gallons as it is only 4 foot deep throughout. So if you want to calculate the gallons per hour that go through the filter to completely filter the water in four hours you divide by 4 ( this is the kind of maths I enjoy - simple ) so 2,210GPH but it seems to discover if your pump is up to it you then divide by 60 to give you Gallons Per Minute mine is 37GPM . There is then a rather difficult formula to calculate the resistance as the water moves through the pipes and where in the relation to the pool your pool house with the filter is either below , alongside or above. Suffice to say I couldn't figure that out but my electric pump is 1/2 a HP which is way more than sufficient to drive the water through the filter in 4 hours so I reckon I can ignore resistance rather than dig the pool up to work it out. What is obvious is that the weakling that was installed for the solar system takes 8 hours at least to push the whole pool through the filter and on a partly cloudy day it had no hope of doing so. Cyprus Max47 I will contact Vasconsolar tomorrow but I only have four panels on the roof generating on a totally cloudless day almost 110 D.C. so no hope of running my mighty half a horsepower pump on 240 AC but maybe they can suggest something to do with the now wasted solar energy ? On the all important siesta question personally i like mine outside in the shade of a tree and the aircon comes on in the house but bedroom only at 11 p.m. an hour before we hit the hay hence my interest in the dual tariff now on offer.

Usually solar pool pump systems, installed the last 10 years, consisted of 3-4 panels @ 180-190 Wp to run the DC pump from Lorentz Germany perfectly,for this size of pool. In full sunshine this pump circulates 15-17 tons per hour, which means the content of a standard pool 8x4 m, with ca 40 tons of water, will go through the filter 3-4 times.
Recently panels are larger with 250-280 Wp and in this case one needs only 3 panels for this pump to work perfect.

A second choice is to install a so called driver, a device which is able to run the existing old AC pump, adding perhaps one or two more solar panels depending what is already installed on the roof.

Max