In today’s article, we discuss ways to increase your pool pump pressure. We’ll cover how you can boost water pressure using simple maintenance tips, replumbing, or upgrading equipment like your pump motor, impeller, or the whole pump.
Why Would You Want to Increase Your Pool Pump Water Pressure?
There are three main factors for wanting to boost your pool pump pressure, them being: Circulation, Sanitation, and Conservation. The two factors, Circulation and Filtration, deal more with the health of your pool water and, consequently, of your swimmers; whereas Conservation is concerned more with the health of your wallet. Let’s dig deeper into the three.
Circulation
Thorough circulation is vital to maintaining healthy pool water; the pump should be capable of turning over your pool’s volume at least once in an 8-hour period. That cycle should ensure your water has been filtered and treated at least once a day, but the pressure and water agitation is especially important to prevent circulation dead spots.
A common symptom of a pool circulation dead spot is a corner of your pool where debris settles and collects; this usually demands the pool owner to manually vacuum to clean it. If your pool has a circulation dead spot, your pump’s flow rate may be an issue, or a simple tweak to the angle of your return jets could clear the issue.
Sanitation
Sanitizing your pool involves your pool filter’s ability to catch dirt and the pool chlorinator (or salt system), keeping your water bacteria-free. If your pump’s flow rate drops, a portion of your water will not be filtered or cleaned; if the low flow is not corrected, that percentage of untreated water increases over time, leading to pool chemistry imbalances and the dreaded green pool.
Conservation
Maintaining your pool’s optimal water pressure and coupling it with a fine-tuned pump run schedule ensures you’re getting the most bang for your buck. The lower your flow rate, the longer you’ll be required to run your pump; for single-speed pump owners, low water flow translates to a higher electric bill.
How to Increase Water Pressure/Flow Rate With the Equipment You Have
Always start with the simplest (and the cheapest) solutions first and for pool pump pressure issues, that starts with ensuring your PVC plumbing, skimmer, pump, filter, and main drains are clean and obstruction-free.
Clean Your Pump & Skimmer Baskets
Remove any debris from your pool pump stranger and skimmer baskets to maximize the potential water flow to your pump. If you’re having pool pump priming issues, this is always the first place to start.
Clean Your Pool Filter
One of the most common bottlenecks in your pool’s plumbing is a dirty filter. Your pool filter has only so much space to hold the muck it’s sifting from your water; backwashing your sand or DE filter or hosing down your pool filter cartridge should fix the most common pump pressure issues.
If your filter tank’s water pressure spikes shortly after backwashing or a cartridge cleaning, that could be a sign you need to change your filter sand, replace DE grids, or replace your cartridge (but first, try giving your cartridge an acid soak).
Pro Tip – To verify that your filter media is the cause of water pressure problems set our filter to bypass your filter media. If your water pressure remains low, then the filter is not the cause of your low water pressure.
For SAND or DE filters with a multiport valve, set the handle to BYPASS or RECIRCULATE. For cartridge pool filters, remove the cartridge from the tank before attempting this test.
Inspect Your Pool Pump
If your pool pump impeller, diffuser, or gaskets are clogged or damaged, you can see a dramatic drop in return line pressure.
The pool pump’s impeller is the spinning disc attached to the motor shaft. The impeller is what turns your motor’s RPMs into actual pump suction. The vanes inside the impeller can become clogged with mud or smaller debris, leading to a drop in water pressure. You may use a wire pipe cleaner, toothbrush, or a thorough hose-off to clean it out
The pool pump diffuser is a shroud that sits over the impeller, which focuses its suction down the suction line. The diffuser increases the impeller flow rate, which si what helps make inground pool pumps self-priming. Diffusers are only found in inground pool pumps; above ground pool pumps sit below the pool’s waterline, removing the need to self-prime.
Inspect the pool pump gaskets and o-rings for cracks, warping, pinches, or excessive wear. A pool plumbing gasket not sealing correctly on the suction side of your plumbing creates sucking air leaks; air in your pool plumbing saps your pump’s water pressure and, if left to worsen, can lead to pool pump priming issues. For more information, read – How to Test for Suction Side Air Leaks.
Pro Tip – To check your o-rings for excessive wear, clean them in water to remove any obvious dirt and grime. Once dry, rub your fingers along the rubber; if you see black streaking on your fingers, it’s time to replace the gasket. That streaking is a symptom of the rubber degrading.
How to Increase Flow Rate Using New Equipment
If the plumbing inspection and pool equipment troubleshooting didn’t help, then an underpowered pool pump could be the issue. An undersized pump is usually the result of a miscalculation of pressure requirements or a more aggravating cause, such as the previous owner or pool builder cheaped out on pool equipment.
Pool Pump Replacement Motor Kits
Increase your pump flow rate with a pump motor upgrade kit; Inyo offers single-speed motor kits (for select models), and variable-speed replacement pump motor kits for the top ten most common pump models.
Inyo’s Variable Speed Replacement Motor Upgrade Kits include:
- Century V-Green EVO Variable Speed Motor – Offered with 1.65 HP or 2.2 HP Options
- Compatible Pump Gasket Kit – Includes Salt-Friendly, Heavy Duty Shaft Seal
- Compatible Impeller, Matching VS Motor HP
- Diffuser – If Required for Your Selected Pump Model
- Teflon Gasket Lube
If you’re interested in either the single-speed or variable-speed pool pump motor upgrade kits, speak with one of Inyo’s pool experts via live chat, email, or over the phone.
Variable Speed Motor Upgrade Kits: Hayward Pool Pumps – Pentair Pool Pumps – Jandy Stealth
Modify Your Pool PVC Plumbing
If you’ve experienced pressure issues since the installation of your pool or equipment, your plumbing could be the issue. Simplifying your pool plumbing could be an option to consider. The two main ways you could modify your PVC plumbing are:
- Move your equipment pad closer to the pool
- Reduce the number of suction or return lines in use
Move Your Equipment Pad
The closer you move your pool pump and filter to the water basin, the less it should have to work to pump the water. To make it easier, think of your pump as a drinking straw, going to be a heck of a lot easier drinking from a 5-inch straw compared to a three-foot one.
Reduce the Number of Active Suction Lines
Reduce the number of open suction lines while your pump is running to help Focus it’s limited suction power. If possible, use your diverter valves so that your pool pump is pulling from as little as one of your suction lines, whether it be the main drain or your skin.
This is only a short-term fix because a healthy pool would likely require both your main drain and skimmer to be operating at the same time while the pump is operating.
This is by far the most intrusive method of increasing your pool pump water pressure; I not recommended unless you can get a good deal on PVC, have easy access to a digger, or know a lot of friends with a lot of shovels.
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