Harbor freight pumps

[koikeepr]

Hi Zharris. It will not fit into the large flat rate shipping box. It does come the fountain stuff. Meaning, the diverter and a number of fountain attachments. I have a few extra fancy fountain heads that I had bought as well that I'm throwing in there too. I can also send it parcel post, as that would probably be the cheapest method. The box with all the stuff weighs 6 pounds (without the 3/4" hosing). If you add the hosing in, it will prob add 1/2 a pound. If you don't need 3/4 inch hosing, than I recommend not having it shipped.

I never had a problem with the fountains getting clogged. If you have debris or algae in the water, I would imagine it would. I kept the pump up on a few bricks so it was up off the pond floor. If you've got debris and the pump is on the floor, then I would imagine you would get some clogging. Personally, my pond floor has always been super clean, so I did not experience that sorta thing.

I also responded to your PM, by the way.

 

[DrDave]

BSR we both get out electricity from the same place. Look at your bill again, baseline should be right at $.04 then it progresses up from there. I can't beleive there would be that much difference when we are withing 80 miles of each other and you are closer to the power source than I.

So if the 1500 is 100 watts it is less than 1/2 the GPH than the 3200 from HF. So the 270 watts is not that far off for a pump that has equivalent output. It takes more energy to
move twice the water.

When I did the search, I used a program that looks for the best current price. If the list is $329 then $189 is not bad but not as good as $59.

 

[Squidhead]

BSR we both get out electricity from the same place. Look at your bill again, baseline should be right at $.04 then it progresses up from there. I can't beleive there would be that much difference when we are withing 80 miles of each other and you are closer to the power source than I.

So if the 1500 is 100 watts it is less than 1/2 the GPH than the 3200 from HF. So the 270 watts is not that far off for a pump that has equivalent output. It takes more energy to
move twice the water.

When I did the search, I used a program that looks for the best current price. If the list is $329 then $189 is not bad but not as good as $59.

If it where me I would just go for the 4200 instead of 2 - 1500. Now your just using 170W, so 100W less now the HF. Based on the national average of 12 cents per KWH you save $113 per year using Laguana. A 4200 on eBay goes for $227 shipping included, no tax either which should save another $4 at least over the HF pump. Regardless it would take 1 1/2 years for the laguana to pay the $167 difference in price over the HF model. After that it would start earning back $113 yearly.

I am still not understanding the $.04 per KWH @ base rate? Surely there are other charges that need to be factored in to calculate a total cost. You just don't pay utility bills on base rate. It seems you are using the sub-total instead of the overall total cost per KWH. Service charges and taxes must apply and should be factored in. Maybe that would give you closer to the tier 1 cost of $.12 per KWH that BSR is talking about? If not you live in an area that is truly unique to the rest of the US. I sure wouldn't complain about that.

The HF has less head loss so that is a factor to be involved. That is only based on an individual basis of how your pond is set up.

With all that said, sometimes it is worth it to go with a brand you trust for piece of mind. I never used either brand, except for a Hagen aquarium filter that I've had for 15 years and it still is going strong. So I am basing it as logically as possible from having no experience or allegiance to either.

 

[DrDave]

In SD County baseline is:
$.03919 for the first 325KWH
$.05996 for the next 106KWH
$.17700 for the next 246KWH
Over 200% is $.19700 per KWH

When I Googled KWH rates, the national average was $.06 per KWH as a baseline.

It does not matter to me what you buy, or what your rates are. I just want facts published, not what you think you know. People come here to learn, not to be miss-led.

 

[koikeepr]

No one is being mis-led. For some people, energy consumption matters. Not all of us are lucky enough to be living in areas with rates such as those.

A Laguna 2900 gph pump sports 130 watts consumption. Does it cost $59? Absolutely not.

All consumers need to make a choice--you either pay for it on the front end or you pay for it on the back end. The point of this thread is to illustrate that there is a choice and to educate many--not just one. Folks on this site live everywhere in the country (and in other parts of the world), with varying power costs and interests in saving energy.

When you purchase an electrical item many folks want to consider what the break even point is of the purchase price versus the energy consumption costs and then put their dollars down.

 

[cauzeneffeckt]

True, koikeeper saved me from buying a 500 watt pump that was dirt cheap that would have sucked! Lol

 

[bsr8129]

The base kWh here is .04 but that is for delivery change there is also a .09 charge for generation so you actaully are paying .13 per kWh. That's just for tier 1. It keeps going up for the different tiers and I certanly never stay in tier 1. Onthe bottom of the bill it also gives you the average kWh and for tier 1 it states .12 kWh.

 

[Squidhead]

It does not matter to me what you buy, or what your rates are. I just want facts published, not what you think you know. People come here to learn, not to be miss-led.

That is exactly why I am even responding to this DrDave. I think you are missing some important factors in your equation. I am trying to keep this factual and have supplied links to my sources for reference, not just what I think I know. No one pays just baseline, as BSR just pointed out and I mentioned before there are other charges involved per KWH. Utility companies are clever at how they mask things on their invoices. Baseline may be what they charge. But you are also being charged for the generation charge. Generation charge is what the power company also charges per KWH. Generation charge in your area is the cost of the natural gas used to produce your electric power.

But even using the figures you just presented, let's break it down. I googled "National Average KWH per Household Use" and I came up with the US Gov. site ( http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ask/electricity_faqs.asp ) as well as California Gov. sites and the average use per US household is 920 KWH per month. So I based what you supplied on 920 average KWH usage per month. I would say this is about right, I use an average of 1000 KWH monthly.

920 KWH
- 325 KWH 325 KWH X $.04 = $13.00 ( First 325 KWH )
_______________
595 KWH
- 106 KWH 106 KWH X $.06 = $ 6.36 ( Next 106 KWH )
_______________
489 KWH
- 246 KWH 246 KWH X $.18 = $44.28 ( Next 246 KWH )
_______________
243 KWH 243 KWH X $.20 = $48.60
_______
$112.24 ( Total monthly electric bill)
/ 920 KWH
________
$.12.2 per KWH

There are no taxes and other charges added.

 

[action21]

I am brand new to all this and took some suggestions on my pump and bought a 3200GPH submersible from Harbor Freight. I unplugged it today for the 1st time since I got it apx 2 weeks ago. When I went to plug it back in nothing happened. It locked up solid. Maybe this is a fluke and I have an email into Harbor Freight to see how they handle it. Weird thing is I just place another order at 6am this morning to order my second one - hope I'm not going to the cleaners.

 

[cauzeneffeckt]

Are you sure it doesn't have algae clogging it up?

 

[DrDave]

As the previous post implied, have you checked it for a blockage? I have at least 15 of the Harbor Freight pumps right now and none have failed to date. I have had them stop because the intake was blocked with algae or solid matter.

Of all the high dollar, low wattage pumps I have bought, none have made it 2 years without burning out.

Even though HF is known for cheap stuff, their pumps have been a blessing to me.

Keep in mind that a pump failure can cost you the entire population of your pond.

 

[action21]

As the previous post implied, have you checked it for a blockage? I have at least 15 of the Harbor Freight pumps right now and none have failed to date. I have had them stop because the intake was blocked with algae or solid matter.

Of all the high dollar, low wattage pumps I have bought, none have made it 2 years without burning out.

Even though HF is known for cheap stuff, their pumps have been a blessing to me.

Keep in mind that a pump failure can cost you the entire population of your pond.

I just added the water to the brand new pond apx 1 week ago. It just started to develop a white slime to the bottom so no algae is even present yet. But yes we checked for blockage and tried to spin it and was able to spin a little bit but very tough.

 

[koiguy1969]

I have had pump blockage before i started using prefilters. The easiest way ive found to unclog them real good is to put the garden hose on the output AND/OR hose of the pump and blast water thru in reverse flow. 10 seconds or so..they are clean and free flowing. What style pumps are they, got a picture or two?