As of July this past year, the Department of Energy required new pool builds and or replacement motors to be a variable speed type. There are some exceptions on motor sizes.

Whatever pump manufacturer your contractor quoted you for, will have specific information on their product on their website. You can even call their tech support for specific questions.

We use Jandy products and they have on their site a breakdown of costs to operate and energy consumption as well as detailed information on their pumps.

I'm guessing you have a separate pump for the spa jets which requires the need for the second VS pump.

We have been using variable speed pumps for close to 15 years and they are worth every penny. Now, the pumps are even better.

We also have used sophisticated variable frequency drive systems on commercial projects which result in incredible energy savings. Amperage draw in some cases is close to 60% less than typical draw.

The idea with a VS is to run 24/7. You'll find it uses less energy to run continually over a conventional motor running 10-12 hours per day.

@Mystic Pools, LLC The quote just says Jandy or Haward variable 2 speed pump for circulation. No model numbers are provide and I'm not asking for more details from him because I decided not to use him.

I was wrong about the two pumps. There is just one for the pool in the quote. I think he mentioned there would be three pumps total and maybe the other two were smaller ones for the water features. It's been a while so my memory is fuzzy.

Anyway, I am sure the manufacturers have power specs but I have no idea what model would be appropriate for my size pool. Would you mind taking a guess at what the right pump for my size pool is, and then I'll try to figure out the electricity needs.

I know nothing of pool pumps, but we added solar to our previous house in CA. Everything looked great on paper. What we didn't realize was that the power company would require/force us to put in a new meter. Guess what, that new meter tracked usage considerably different than our old one and, of course, the discrepancy measured in favor of the power company. The "old" meter wasn't that old either! The payback time increased considerably!

I would make sure you have the latest type of meter or one that is solar ready, before you do anything. Run that for a few months for true numbers.

Solar and pool owner here. The pump draws about 300 watts on the skimmer setting, 600 on vacuum setting. Variable speed, 3 years old. 17k gallons. Iphone Pentair app shows wattages (android does not).

I run the pump 8 hours a day in the summer, about 3 in shoulder seasons. This is a huge variable. I tried going lower but because I have a copper pool, the builder recommended at least 8 hours in the summer. The copper only gets added when the pump runs.

I switched to a dolphin type vacuum - much less energy draw.

In winter, freeze protection draws something like 180 watts. In my area, it runs about 200 hours a season. So 40 kwh.

I can't imagine your power company will install a meter ahead of time...

The real issue is cars, a pool is less than 2 panels worth in my area. The nice thing is that you use it more when the solar is generating more - a bit like a/c. Cars are more like 10 panels a piece (gross estimation, YMMV etc )

@David Cary Thank you so much for this information. But I'm still a little technically illiterate here so need a little follow up info.

When you say 40kwh is that for the entire winter? And is that "freeze protection" using more power? I am in Los Angeles where I do not have to worry about that.

I'm not sure what to do with your 300/600 watt figures on your pump either.

All I really know is how many kwh I am using today and how many kwh I am projected to produce. I'm just trying to figure out what the pump adds in terms of kwh to see if I will be covered by my solar install. Say in those heavy 8 hours/day months, do you know how many kwh that uses in a month?

@chispa Sounds like you were switched to time of use metering. In my case I don't think it will matter much because I have batteries to store power with the goal of running off of solar as close to 24/7 as possible. Time of use calculates your electrical usage very differently so I could see how it might throw things off but that shouldn't apply to me. Or I could be totally wrong about what changed for you and I'm making numerous bad assumptions...

We are in Sacramento County, CA. Our pool was built in 2004, and at that time variable speed pumps were not required. We have two pumps - one for the pool and one for the waterfall. (The waterfall can be on when the main pool pump is not running because it's on its own pump.) I can't remember how many years it was after the pool was put in, but the pool pump failed, and was replaced with another single-speed pump. We hated that pump because it was louder than the original pump. Thankfully, it failed early this year and was replaced with a variable speed pump. It's so quiet that we don't even hear it at all. I have no idea how much it costs to run the new pump, or how much it used to cost with the old pumps. I'd have to ask my husband, but he's not home at the moment.

40 kwh is for the whole winter. When below 37 degrees, the pump runs at lowest speed to prevent freezing. In LA, not a consideration but I suspect you should have freeze protection just that it will almost never run. Elevation and distance to ocean probably matter a bit.

But here is my math example for July.

30 days, 8 hours a day, 300 watts. So 30x8x.3 = 7.2 kwh for July.

Obviously, if you run for 12 hours a day, your usage will be 50% higher. If you use the vacuum at the higher rate for some time, your usage will be higher. We have leaves, bugs etc that I would expect to be less in LA. But at the same time, you may need to run yours for longer in the winter because it doesn't get as cold.

Fun fact - Raleigh and LA have a temp factor or 1.0. Meaning that we are both identical average high temp extremes and the exact middle of the country - specifically when it comes to lithium battery life expectancy. Neither of us gets over 100 with any regularity. LA feels a bit milder in the summer because of humidity but batteries (and other electronics) don't care. Solar panels probably included in that.

I had two 1500W single speed pumps – one for filter and one for solar boost

I swapped them for a low flo filter pump (Davey pm eco), which runs at 220W, and a 400W boost solar pump.

It cut the power bill by several hundred dollars a quarter. But I have a reliable power supplier here https://Strøm24.no