Potential electricty savings

My water pressure pump was old (over 10 years) so I thought it was probably inefficient. I bought a new pump for $3600 mxn. My CFE bills used to be between $3800 and $4200 every 2 months. Between 850 and 1000 KWH. I just got my first bill since switching out the pump and it was $2200 (557 KWH). That is a huge difference and will pay for the pump in 6 months. Our CFE bill has never been this low.

I also replaced my pressure tank which cut down on the number of times the pumps needs to cycle to keep the pressure up.

I can't wait to see how much our bill will change then. We also had a new pump installed, repaired some leaky pipe connections, and boosted the pump pressure a small bit so the pump won't come on as often. Our electric bills were about like yours.

CanuckBob wrote:I also replaced my pressure tank which cut down on the number of times the pumps needs to cycle to keep the pressure up.

Our pump is large, is 8 years old and is the biggest electricity hog in the place. Our customary electrician suggested it should be replaced, so we're thinking seriously about doing so. Would appreciate your sharing the name of the new brand you used.

If your pump was old and inefficient you should definitely see some savings. I am going to change out my pool pump next.

gringal wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:I also replaced my pressure tank which cut down on the number of times the pumps needs to cycle to keep the pressure up.

Our pump is large, is 8 years old and is the biggest electricity hog in the place.  Our customary electrician suggested it should be replaced, so we're thinking seriously about doing so.  Would appreciate your sharing the name of the new brand you used.

I can't see the brand name because o0f where it is installed however we got it at the colorful pump place just west of Chapala on the caraterra. You can't miss it. It was $3600 pesos and included a new pressure switch and gauge.

I paid a plumber $400 pesos to install it.

CanuckBob wrote:I paid a plumber $400 pesos to install it.

Who is your plumber, por favor. That's very reasonable.

NEGringos wrote:I can't wait to see how much our bill will change then. We also had a new pump installed, repaired some leaky pipe connections, and boosted the pump pressure a small bit so the pump won't come on as often. Our electric bills were about like yours.

That is a catch 22 situation. Increasing the pressures for start and stop decreases the number of times the pump switches on but increases the time that the pump runs. 20/40 is the standard setting that the pumps are designed for right across North America.

Thanx.

However: Starting amperage is higher than running amperage, so minimizing the number of starts can save electricity.

gringal wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:I paid a plumber $400 pesos to install it.

Who is your plumber, por favor.  That's very reasonable.

Call Chris at 333-378-4741. Of course every installation will be +/- what I paid depending on the situation however they were working on mine for about 2 hours because they had to do some re-plumbing.

RVGRINGO wrote:However:  Starting amperage is higher than running amperage, so minimizing the number of starts can save electricity.

RV: You have to take in to account all the factors. Capacitor start motors use very little more amperage at start than they do when running. If a pump rated at 20/40 is changed to say, 20/45 the extra current used to reach the 45 psi shut off will fare outweigh the amount of current used at start up. Remember you have increased the pump beyond its design limits and it will start to heat up therefore using more amperage to reach its new shut off setting. It will also reduce the operating life of the pump. It will also affect the flexible couplings and the diaphragm in the pressure tank. Remember every action is met with an equal and opposite reaction.

Watch the old pipes with too much pressure.  Tried 45 and that was just trouble for the old pipes. leaks were everywhere.  Fixed all the leaks and dropped the pressure to 35 and no more trouble.  I use 20 for on and 35 for off.  Everybodies house is different but I had very old pipes and they didn't like higher pressure.  I still have good pressure for shower heads even when it falls to 20 before turning back on.  15 and shower heads flow started drooping and was not very good. I also found my current pumped strained to get to 45. Its a balance.

Z

My pressure is set to 30/50 due to on-demand heaters that require 30psi minimum to fire up and stay fired. The pump can handle way more than 50 psi. In fact in the instructions they talked about 40/60 and 50/70.

Also, my old pump was 1/2HP and my new one is 1HP. Even with the higher HP the new one still draws less amps than the old one.

I saved 15% by switching to GEICO

Gringal, my pump cost me somewhere between $3-4000 installed if I remember right. It is a JCR Pedrollo, 1.5hp, JCRm 15M. My maintenance man is Antonio Aguilar, 333-903-3861. Great English.

gvprod wrote:I saved 15% by switching to GEICO

ROTFL!

But their spokesanimal only recommends .04 hp pumps.