6 Best Above Ground Pool Pump That Will Serve You The Best And Longest

Having a pump is unquestionably important

How do you suppose to keep your pool healthy and clean without a good pump, or even worse, without a pump at all? Well, there are some alternatives, but none of them is something you want. Of course, you can always entirely change the water and refill the pool, but it is so archaic and inefficient method. No need to mention it will cost you a lot of time, energy, and nerves. All joy will extinguish and you will get nothing in return.

It doesn’t sound attractive, does it? Well, there is a very simple solution for that. It’s called a pool pump. If you have above ground pool and don’t have a pump, you just have to get one. The benefits of using a pool pump are countless, and I can name them until tomorrow. However, I think many of these benefits are self-evident so I will move to choose the right pump.

What happens when you have the wrong pump?

Well, obviously, many things can go wrong when you have wrong or bad above ground pool pump. First of all, if you have a too weak pump and too big a pool, your pump can easily get broken. I can’t forget how tough time a friend of mine had several months ago when he “overdosed” his pump. Namely, he had to change his old pump and buy a new one, but it turned out he bought an inadequate pump. He has a very big pool, over 28-feet probably, and his new pump was too weak.

It had less than 1000 gph pump rate, and I was very suspicious about that. I warned him many times that he maybe should reconsider which pump he is buying, but he just didn’t listen. He is one of those stubborn people who think they know the best and don’t accept suggestions very well. I was explaining to him that he has a too big pool for such a weak pump. He thought he would save some money buying a weaker pump, but it wasn’t a case. He ended up buying a completely new pump, and in the end, he just wasted money instead of saving it.

You also should choose the right pump housing mount. You need a top-mount pump if your filter is located above ground pump. Otherwise, if your filter is on the same level as your pump, you need a side-mount pump. This is kind of obvious things you should take care of.

Also, I recommend you to not use pumps you get in above ground pool package if there is any. Simply, most of the time, those pumps are maybe adequate, but they are low-quality and inefficient pumps. You should always check on Internet how good your pump is, and compare it with some of the pumps from this article. So many times, these pumps are too noisy, unpractical, hard to maintain, and so on.

You definitely don’t want broken jukebox instead of the pump. Plus, it’s very questionable whether these pumps clean your pool properly. It’s further dangerous because you will think your pump does everything how it’s supposed to do, but you will perhaps be wrong without even knowing it.

What types of pumps are there?

Whenever you want to buy something new that you have never bought before, you should

research that product as best as you can. By knowing as many facts as possible, you will be able to distinguish bad and unwanted equipment from the one you need. Therefore, here is everything you need to know about types of pumps.

Single-speed pumps

As the name suggests, single-speed pumps have only one constant speed and they work all-time at the same speed. They are the most common pumps, and usually cheaper than other ones. However, these pumps have many disadvantages.

To name a few, they are usually much louder than other pumps as they need to work on high speed most time, and high speed typically means louder sound. As I already said, you need a pump, not a jukebox. Nonetheless, single-pump pumps don’t have to necessarily be bad, considering there are a lot of good single-speed pumps.

Dual-speed pumps

Unlike single-speed pumps, dual-speed pumps offer you a choice. You can choose whether you want your pump to run at high or low speed. No need to emphasize that this is better than the previous one.

Sometimes, you need your pump just to help water in the pool circulate, not to completely clean it. That can save you resources and electricity, also as said, lower speed means lower sound. However, these two types of pumps have one thing in common. They both have an induction motor which has its own advantages and disadvantages, but it’s a different subject.

Variable speeds pumps

This one is most likely the best type of above ground pool pumps. It provides you with the possibility to choose literally any speed you want. It’s so beneficial in many different ways. Also, unlike the previous two types, variable speeds pumps use a permanent magnet motor which is the same type of motor that electric cars use.

It’s way more efficient, economical and good for the environment. However, high-quality comes at a high price. Therefore, this variable speeds pumps are the most expensive ones of these three types of pumps. But, you should look at it as an investment in the long run. Many people make the same common mistake. They buy cheaper equipment to save some money (as my friend from above) and they end up with many more outgoings at the end of the year. That’s also why I recommend this type of pump the best.

Most common mistakes people make while using pumps

There are so many mistakes people make due to their ignorance or laziness. Sometimes, they do something because they think that will save them money, resources, nerves, or simply because it’s the easiest way.

However, most of them lose all these things in the long run because they plan and look very shallow. I really want you to avoid all these mistakes all people make at the beginning. Even I made some of them when I got my first pump, and I know how damaging they could be. That’s why I will name a few of them in order to be of assistance to you.

Using pump too much or too rarely

Using something too much or too rarely is generally not a good thing in any situation. It becomes evident especially when it comes to pumps. I know many people that don’t care about water in the pool, and that’s why they turn their pump off before the water gets turned over at least once. To be honest, I can’t blame anyone as that was what I was doing when bough pumps for the first time.

It was logical to me that if I use pump less, then I will pay electrical bills less – pure logic. Regardless, I didn’t take many other factors into account. Quickly, the water in the pool started getting green and dirty. I had to spend hundreds of additional dollars on chemicals in order to keep my pool clean. I needed so much time to realize what the problem was. Then, I understood that I need to wait until all the water gets turned out.

Consequently, I ended up on the other side of extreme. Namely, I was so scared because of the possibility the same thing can happen to me. Therefore, I didn’t turn off my pump at all. But it was bad as well. Firstly, my electrical bills significantly got raised, and eventually, my pump got broken.

It was so much of a burden for the pump and it couldn’t bear it. So, choose the right work rate for your pump. It should be determined by your pool size and your pump rate. Basically, your goal is to get the water turned over at least once per day and that’s it. You don’t need your pump to work non-stop.

Keeping basket unclean

I really don’t see why someone would keep their baskets unclean. I mean, I understand that people are laze and all, but it’s not a good reason at all. You spent your money on a pump, so don’t make its job harder. In the end, the purpose of the pump is to keep your pool clean, and it cannot do it without a clean basket. So, do it; clean the pump basket at least once per week. There is a lot of debris and other stuff that can overwhelm your pump and stop it working. Therefore, be conscientious and respect the money you gave for your pump.

Not choosing the right size of the pump

The size of the pool is not the only thing that matters. You also need to know what adequate size of pump for your pool is, or at least how many horsepowers your pump has to have in order to keep water in your pool clean.