Hi all. Our plumber and electrician just installed our Intelliflo VS pump. I am trying to figure out the maximum rpm I can use when vacuuming the pool. I was told by Pentair customer service and the company that I bought the pump from to never use it at the full rpm of 3450. Since it took a month to get it installed, I have forgotten what else they told me. (Our old pumps were under water for 2 weeks when the lake was above flood levels and it took a while to dry out so the electrician could unhook the old pump and move the breaker box. We bought the house 4 years ago and inherited that problem.)
Play pool by Foxx pools. Concrete bottom with metal sides???. 1 skimmer, 2 returns at opposite end of skimmer, 1 return on the same side as skimmer. All of the pipes are 1 1/2". Pool is set against the house on the side of a hill so 1 side is against the house with concrete deck. Other 3 sides are surrounded by concrete/rock walls. Those 3 sides are above ground. If you stand on the pool deck you are level with the pool, and there is a drop off to the ground below. Hope that makes sense. It is still an in ground pool.
Play pool: 16 x 32 Ft. Both ends are shallow then going deeper to the middle. Pool starts off 3ft deep, goes about 7ft at a gradual slope until it is 4gt deep. Then slopes another 6.5ft until it is 5ft deep. Then it continues another 5ft until it is 5.5ft deep in the center. Then it slopes back up to the other shallow end with the same measurements. I have to estimate the gallons because the depth is a gradual slope from 3 Ft to 5.5 Ft to 3ft. So shallow + deep =3+5.5=8.5. 8.5/2=4.25.
16 x 32 x 4.25 x 7.5 = 16,320 gallons. My first question... is this good enough of an estimate? 16 x 32 pool with 3.5 ft depth is 13,400. With 4 Ft = 15,400. With 5 Ft = 19,200. The 16,320 is between the highest and lowest of those last numbers. Steps are 3 Ft x 8 Ft and not included in the length or width or gallon estimate.
16,320 gallons. 1 .5" pipes from skimmer/returns/bottom drain to where the old pump was (downhill and level with the bottom drain.(gravity-easy to prime) This is hard to explain. Since we had to move the pump and breaker box up on the deck above, we added more PVC pipe. Coming out of the concrete wall was 1.5" pipe. Where the skimmer pipe meets the bottom drain pipe there is a valve connection.(close main, close skimmer, open all going to pump) From that connection is 2 " pipe with elbow, then going up 7ft, elbow, then over 8 Ft, an elbow, over 15 Ft, an elbow, then up through a wood deck 1 ft, an elbow then 2ft over to the pump. Coming out of the filter is 1.5" pipe back down under the wood deck and back over going in to the concrete wall. So most of the pool plumbing is 1.5" pipe. I can't wrap my head around the amount of resistance.... I have tried to calculate it, but I just gave up. This is in addition to the original plumbing elbows, Ts, and other pipes to figure the resistance.
Old pump was Hayward Super II 1.5 HP with a .75 HP booster pump for a Polaris. We are no longer using the Polaris, so all 3 returns are now connected to the new Intelliflo VS pump. My filter is Hayward S-244T which holds 300 lbs of sand and has a design flow rate of 62 gpm maximum. Since the Intelliflow is a 3 HP pump, I was told to never run it at the maximum rpm. Problem is that a low rpm makes it difficult to vacuum so I need to know the highest rpm I can use. My second question is... how can I calculate the gpm so I don't go over the maximum gpm my filter states?
Third question... How do I decide the highest rpm I can use? The pump is set at maximum 2200 rpm for now. The filter gauge is showing 8 psi. With the old 1.5 HP pump single speed 3450 rpm it usually ran 22-25 psi. I am not sure about converting psi to 25" of Hg vacuum. Intelliflow manual has a warning that states... The Maximum Flow rate setting should be set so the system never operates at or above 25" of Hg vacuum. My plumber installed the pump but I want to make sure he did the right thing.
Fourth question... At 2200 rpm the farthest return has so little flow that we can't feel it. The other end return (middle) has some flow. The side return (closest-was for Polaris) has the most flow. Is there anything we could or should do about this?
Fifth question... How do I determine the lowest rpm and amount of time to run the Intelliflo? We connected a surge protector to the breaker box. If we leave the pump running 24/7 do we turn it off during storms? We did that with our old pump.
What a mess! Sorry if I gave too much information. I know the Intelliflow is 3 HP and is too much HP for my plumbing. The old pump was probably too much also. We have a leak in one of the returns, but that repair had to go on hold since the lake water submerged our old pump and destroyed it.
It will be nice to finally get to use the pool this summer... even if it is still leaking. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Play pool by Foxx pools. Concrete bottom with metal sides???. 1 skimmer, 2 returns at opposite end of skimmer, 1 return on the same side as skimmer. All of the pipes are 1 1/2". Pool is set against the house on the side of a hill so 1 side is against the house with concrete deck. Other 3 sides are surrounded by concrete/rock walls. Those 3 sides are above ground. If you stand on the pool deck you are level with the pool, and there is a drop off to the ground below. Hope that makes sense. It is still an in ground pool.
Play pool: 16 x 32 Ft. Both ends are shallow then going deeper to the middle. Pool starts off 3ft deep, goes about 7ft at a gradual slope until it is 4gt deep. Then slopes another 6.5ft until it is 5ft deep. Then it continues another 5ft until it is 5.5ft deep in the center. Then it slopes back up to the other shallow end with the same measurements. I have to estimate the gallons because the depth is a gradual slope from 3 Ft to 5.5 Ft to 3ft. So shallow + deep =3+5.5=8.5. 8.5/2=4.25.
16 x 32 x 4.25 x 7.5 = 16,320 gallons. My first question... is this good enough of an estimate? 16 x 32 pool with 3.5 ft depth is 13,400. With 4 Ft = 15,400. With 5 Ft = 19,200. The 16,320 is between the highest and lowest of those last numbers. Steps are 3 Ft x 8 Ft and not included in the length or width or gallon estimate.
16,320 gallons. 1 .5" pipes from skimmer/returns/bottom drain to where the old pump was (downhill and level with the bottom drain.(gravity-easy to prime) This is hard to explain. Since we had to move the pump and breaker box up on the deck above, we added more PVC pipe. Coming out of the concrete wall was 1.5" pipe. Where the skimmer pipe meets the bottom drain pipe there is a valve connection.(close main, close skimmer, open all going to pump) From that connection is 2 " pipe with elbow, then going up 7ft, elbow, then over 8 Ft, an elbow, over 15 Ft, an elbow, then up through a wood deck 1 ft, an elbow then 2ft over to the pump. Coming out of the filter is 1.5" pipe back down under the wood deck and back over going in to the concrete wall. So most of the pool plumbing is 1.5" pipe. I can't wrap my head around the amount of resistance.... I have tried to calculate it, but I just gave up. This is in addition to the original plumbing elbows, Ts, and other pipes to figure the resistance.
Old pump was Hayward Super II 1.5 HP with a .75 HP booster pump for a Polaris. We are no longer using the Polaris, so all 3 returns are now connected to the new Intelliflo VS pump. My filter is Hayward S-244T which holds 300 lbs of sand and has a design flow rate of 62 gpm maximum. Since the Intelliflow is a 3 HP pump, I was told to never run it at the maximum rpm. Problem is that a low rpm makes it difficult to vacuum so I need to know the highest rpm I can use. My second question is... how can I calculate the gpm so I don't go over the maximum gpm my filter states?
Third question... How do I decide the highest rpm I can use? The pump is set at maximum 2200 rpm for now. The filter gauge is showing 8 psi. With the old 1.5 HP pump single speed 3450 rpm it usually ran 22-25 psi. I am not sure about converting psi to 25" of Hg vacuum. Intelliflow manual has a warning that states... The Maximum Flow rate setting should be set so the system never operates at or above 25" of Hg vacuum. My plumber installed the pump but I want to make sure he did the right thing.
Fourth question... At 2200 rpm the farthest return has so little flow that we can't feel it. The other end return (middle) has some flow. The side return (closest-was for Polaris) has the most flow. Is there anything we could or should do about this?
Fifth question... How do I determine the lowest rpm and amount of time to run the Intelliflo? We connected a surge protector to the breaker box. If we leave the pump running 24/7 do we turn it off during storms? We did that with our old pump.
What a mess! Sorry if I gave too much information. I know the Intelliflow is 3 HP and is too much HP for my plumbing. The old pump was probably too much also. We have a leak in one of the returns, but that repair had to go on hold since the lake water submerged our old pump and destroyed it.
It will be nice to finally get to use the pool this summer... even if it is still leaking. Thanks for any help you can give me.
