Water feature additions point toward VSPs
When pool professionals talk with their clients about adding potential features during a renovation, water features are always at the top of the list of ways to enhance the beauty and tranquility of the pool in the backyard.
“This is especially true for pool owners whose children are now adults, and the pool is more of a gathering place rather than a swimming hole,” says Belcourt.
Whether it is a waterfall, grotto, bubblers, or laminar jets, all of these features work best if they are running with a VSP. As water features jump to the top of the list of must-have accessories homeowners want to incorporate into their pool renovation, the need for a VSP resurfaces.
“Unfortunately, using a single-speed pool pump to control a slide and bubbler is not ideal because these pumps do not allow the customer to adjust the flow of these other features,” says Belcourt. “Being able to control the flow so water does not gush down the slide or a huge geyser comes out of the bubbler is very important to customers who want to customize the effect of their water feature.”
Customize pool renovations with VSPs
Every family is different and every pool is unique, but a VSP allows homeowners to customize the mechanics of the pool water. Since water features have become one of the top renovation items added to a pool, the ability to customize them by using a VSP allows builders to create a truly unique pool, unique to each client’s desires.
“We like to program the VSP on our water features to create ‘moods’ for our clients,” says Belcourt, whose company added a waterfall and laminar jets to a client’s older pool to create more ambience for the owners who now use the pool to enhance their backyard.
“We helped create several mood options for the client, including one we called ‘The Vegas Setting,’ which was programmed so the water features all turned on at once with the lighting.
“We also programmed a setting that has the laminar jets go on by themselves, which they decided to call ‘The Chardonnay Setting,’ giving them that delicate sound with a small amount of water to enhance the backyard experience,”
says Belcourt.
Pool professionals can program water features with just one VSP using various valves. That said, Belcourt points out the standard circulation mode they programmed for the client will be used about 80 to 90 per cent of the time; however, knowing this client does a lot of entertaining in their backyard, they also added an ‘ultra low’ setting that is as quiet as possible. Although it keeps noise to a minimum, the water is still circulating and filtering actively, so the client’s salt chlorine generator will actually produce chlorine to keep the pool water properly sanitized.
VSPs reduce energy usage and lower operational costs
Because VSPs can be programmed to operate at set speeds to deliver the correct flowrate for each task they perform, the pump consumes less energy and ultimately reduces operating costs for pool owners. These pumps can also be programmed to achieve turnover rates of exactly six hours—even if the filter is dirty. This allows the required motor speed, power, and energy to be less during times when filters are clean, instead of sizing the pump to assume worst-case operating conditions.
Some VSPs even have built-in constant flow software that maximizes the advantages these pumps have, as they will automatically adjust the speed to deliver the required flowrate for each programmed task. These units were introduced about two years ago and are known as variable speed and flow (VSF) pool pumps. For instance, if an arching laminar water feature requires 151.4 lpm (40 gpm) to produce a smooth 1.8 m (6 ft) arc of water, the pump will automatically ramp up its speed when it senses resistance in the circulation system (e.g. as the filter accumulates dirt) to continually provide the proper flowrate.
When talking to consumers about the VSF pool pump, the analogy is much like that of cruise control on an automobile that adjusts its power as the car goes uphill to maintain a specific speed.
With other pump types, the water feature will gradually throw a shorter arc of water as the filter gets dirtier. No matter what type of pump is being used, however, slower pump speeds save electricity because they use less energy. Slow speeds also dramatically reduce noise levels and wear and tear on other pool equipment the water flows through.
