Reeflo Hammerhead Gold Wattage Draw

[aldiaz33]

Has anyone plugged their Reeflo Hammerhead Gold into a Kill-o-watt?

At 9 feet of head pressure, I get a reading of 332 watts. The flow chart states it should draw 291 watts at 9 feet of head. Even at 332 watts, I am happy with the pump, but an 41 extra watts translates into an extra $10/month on my electric bill (I pay $0.34Kwh).

If you have a hammerhead gold and a kill-o-watt, would you mind running a quick test to see how many watts your pump is pulling?

For the record, I am not writing to bash Reeflo...best customer service out there hands down, but I'm wondering if other's pumps are also not as efficient as stated by the manufacturer.

Thanks.

[4realestate]

are you measuring head as only the vertical rise of the pipe from the pickup point where the pump gets its water from ?
If so, i am getting screwed because at 6feet mine is drawing like 450 watts, I have been trying to figure this out for about 3-4 weeks now. I am also throttling pump back at output. It is at about 70%.

Joe

[Spaced Cowboy]

Are you guys factoring in the "head" due to plumbing and horizontal flow ? My dart is rated for 3200 gph at 5', but I only expect to get 2000gph from it because the effective head is 10' after accounting for elbows, valves, unions, horizontal run, etc. - basically all the friction/turbulence loss.

More head = more energy to drive it

Simon

[James77]

Actually, the more head.... The less flow..... Less watts drawn. The pump is not working as much.

[aldiaz33]

Originally Posted by 4realestate

are you measuring head as only the vertical rise of the pipe from the pickup point where the pump gets its water from ?
If so, i am getting screwed because at 6feet mine is drawing like 450 watts, I have been trying to figure this out for about 3-4 weeks now. I am also throttling pump back at output. It is at about 70%.

Joe

Yikes! 450 watts! Do you have the standard Hammerhead or the Hammerhead Gold? Does it have a marathon motor or baldor? My wattage reading is 332 when I have it wide open (no throttling back) at 9' of head. See below for the factors I used to determine head pressure.

Originally Posted by Spaced Cowboy

Are you guys factoring in the "head" due to plumbing and horizontal flow ? My dart is rated for 3200 gph at 5', but I only expect to get 2000gph from it because the effective head is 10' after accounting for elbows, valves, unions, horizontal run, etc. - basically all the friction/turbulence loss.

More head = more energy to drive it

Simon

More head sometimes results in an increase in wattage draw, but more often than not, you will actually see a drop in power consumption (see pump curve chart below). I notice a pretty substantial wattage drop when I throttle my pump back. Wide open it pulls 332 watts, but if I give my ball valve a 1/8 turn (effectively closing my ball valve 50%), the wattage draw drops down to 290. In fact, closing my ball valve by any amount results in a drop in the wattage reading on my kill-o-watt. See below for how I got to 9' head pressure.

Originally Posted by James77

Actually, the more head.... The less flow..... Less watts drawn. The pump is not working as much.

This is typically the case, but not always. Per the flow chart, the pump draws less wattage at 2' and 4' than at 9' or 13' of head, but wattage drops off when you get above 13'.

My main concern is that the "maximum wattage" listed for this pump is 297 watts, so regardless of the head pressure, I shouldn't get a reading over 297.

All of the flow charts I have been able to find (see below from Bulkreefsupply) seem to have photos of the older Marathon motor (mine is a Baldor). Perhaps the new Baldor motors draw more watts than Marathon's?



Pic of my pump (notice how it looks nothing like the one on bulkreefsupply's website):



Plumbing specs:
Inlet: 2" Flex PVC in (I have a barbed reducer fitting that goes from 2" barb to 1.5" MPT into the pump volute)

Outlet:
1.5" hose through 1.5" ball valve, expanded to 2" flex PVC after the ball valve. The vertical run is 8' that T's off (6' one direction and 2' to the other) to my returns which are simply bulkheads drilled into the top of each side of the tank. I have a 90 degree elbow fitting at each return into the 2" bulkhead fittings, so I figure the 8' of true vertical head, plus the T and 8' of horizontal runs and lastly the 2 90 degree fittings gives me roughly 9' of head (As you can probably tell from my plumbing pix below, I'm no pro here, so correct me if I am offin my head pressure calculation).







Alex

[aldiaz33]

Anyone else out there with a Hammerhead Gold that they can plug into a Kill-o-watt? I would like to know if I am the only one with a pump that is drawing more watts than what's listed by the manufacturer.

[albano]

I'll be home in a few hours, and I'll check mine...

[albano]

wide open, through a manifold running multiple returns/skimmer/frag tank/reactors...352w

[LegoZ81]

mine as reported by my ups is 232w, dropped into 1" pipe 1 foot from the outlet (long story)
my friends feeding a skimmer, 225g, 150g stock tank, and fragtank pulls around 250w.

what is your electrical supply voltage?

mine is high on the slightly high side 120v-125v

[aldiaz33]

Originally Posted by albano

wide open, through a manifold running multiple returns/skimmer/frag tank/reactors...352w

Do you have the Hammerhead Gold or the standard Hammerhead?

Originally Posted by LegoZ81

mine as reported by my ups is 232w, dropped into 1" pipe 1 foot from the outlet (long story)
my friends feeding a skimmer, 225g, 150g stock tank, and fragtank pulls around 250w.

what is your electrical supply voltage?

mine is high on the slightly high side 120v-125v

I'm not sure what my electrical supply voltage is. When I test the voltage on my Kill-o-watt, I get a reading of 119.8 and am amperage reading of 3.29.

[albano]

Originally Posted by aldiaz33

Do you have the Hammerhead Gold or the standard Hammerhead?

I'm not sure what my electrical supply voltage is. When I test the voltage on my Kill-o-watt, I get a reading of 119.8 and am amperage reading of 3.29.

"That's gold, Jerry! Gold!"

didn't do amps...121v

[110galreef]

Yikes, these are supposed to not exceed 297w's! Hmm i was looking to replace my Super Dart Gold and was liking the only extra ~110w. But I don't want to pick up an extra 170w!

Also the Super dart Gold ratings were spot on FWIW. I even would throttle it back with my BV and the watts drop similiarly to the chart.
Reading on my Kill a watt was like 175w wide open. I have about 120volts on avegrage. I assume about 6' head via my CLS plumbing and all.

[110galreef]

Originally Posted by LegoZ81

mine as reported by my ups is 232w, dropped into 1" pipe 1 foot from the outlet (long story)
my friends feeding a skimmer, 225g, 150g stock tank, and fragtank pulls around 250w.

what is your electrical supply voltage?

mine is high on the slightly high side 120v-125v

What motor is on these?

A.O. smith, baldor, or marathon??

Any pics so we can see the pump?
Thanks,

[aldiaz33]

Originally Posted by 110galreef

What motor is on these?

A.O. smith, baldor, or marathon??

Any pics so we can see the pump?
Thanks,

Bump- those that have responded, can you share what motor your pumps have and possibly post a picture of them?

Thanks!

[110galreef]

Originally Posted by aldiaz33

Bump- those that have responded, can you share what motor your pumps have and possibly post a picture of them?

Thanks!

mine( super dart gold) was Baldor, 174 watts draw wide open....1.5" out to an OM 4 way with 4 1" outs from there. Omni flex 1" nozzles.

I have decided to keep my Dart and not switch to the Hammerhead yet. But I hope those with them have lower AMP draws then reported!

Best pic I have off hand

[ironwill723]

Bringing back an old thread...tested my 6 month old hammerhead gold today...8 ft head pressure...wide open valves...Baldor motor...495 watts!! Only tested because my electricity bill jumped $250 more this month than last. Also have a dart gold....153 watts. I'll be calling Reeflo on Monday.

[reeflo/sequence]

There may be a variation in watt draw due to head pressure, however, over 400 watts is NOT acceptable..the motor should actually shut off if the watts exceed 460..so check with us...interference in the impeller area can bog down spin and cuase overamp situations