[JimE]

Hi. Been lurking here for a while but feel I have to jump in on this thread.

It is standard to measure amp draw on a power lead directly at the connection to the motor.

If the motor manufacturer's (Emerson) amp rating on the nameplate is 1.3A and you are drawing 2+ amps the motor is in an overload condition and should heat up and kick out the internal overload. If this isnt happening, I would suspect that the test method is off - perhaps a false reading re: true rms. The motor can not run properly in excess of the manufacturer's ratings no matter what is attatched to it.

"The thing is by using this pump you are getting a much more efficient motor than what is probably in a jacuzzi pump"

- ummm, not necessarily. Motors such as these are very similar in efficiency - you might be getting a more efficient mating of pump and motor at the particular operating range.

".. the more head ou put on it the harder the motor has to work.. and the more power it draws"

Actually, with centrifugal pumps it is the opposite. At zero head the pump is moving the most amount of water, is working the hardest, and is drawing the most power. As the head increases, the flow decreases so the pump is moving less water and the load decreases which = less amps.

"If the plackard onthe jacuzzi says it draws 4.5 amps I'd bet it draws a lot more"

No, it cant draw more than the specs on the motor
sticker. The motor on this type of pump will probably have two ratings amps and service factor amps (sfa) and will draw close to the max sfa numbers.

"JFYI, hot tub pumps are never rated at 0 head so infact there out put in all realaty will probably blow the dolphin away."

Most centrifugal pumps will be "off the curve" at zero or very low heads, try to pump too much water, and overload. Thats why you dont get a 0 head rating.

"I can not imagine the power cord be dissipating "that much" power. It is impossible for the cord to have enough impedance to cause that much of line loss."

I agree. Look elsewhere I think.

Jim