On Dec 13, 7:36*pm, sms wrote:
On 12/13/2012 4:07 PM, wrote:

On Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:06:33 -0600, gonjah wrote:

The advantage of a DC is you can turn it down WAY low and let it run
constantly like during a freeze. We don't empty our pools here.

But you're right, it's usually a fine line between up front costs and
overall savings. With pumps running $1600 it's real hard to recoup the
difference.

That is basically what the solar collector system does for you. The
only real "controller" is that it shuts down at a certain low voltage
where you would just have the motor sitting *there humming. There is
no inverter.

A pool pump needs to be able to circulate 2x the volume of the pool per day.

For example, my pool is 40,000 gallons, so I need to circulate 80,000
gallons per day.

I don't know where that rule came from. I though the
"general rule" was to circulate it once over. And I've run
pools where they circulated a lot less than even that with
no problems. It all depends on the particulars of the
pool, climate, if people are using it, debris getting in it,
etc.





The solar pool pump I saw online is rated at 11,000 gallons per day, and
I'm sure that's based on the maximum sun day in June.

It's an interesting idea, but there's no free lunch. If you want a solar
pool pump the best thing to do is to install solar panels on your house
that put power back onto the grid and that generate enough electricity,
on average, so that you're not buying any power from the utility.

That's pretty much my way of looking at it too. Instead of
screwing around with powering individual things, certainly
anything large like a pool pump, I think it's better to go with
the solar array back to the whole house/grid.