Hayward 3400VSP technical questions

[PrivatePilot]

Ok, I bit the bullet and bought a refurbished 3400VSP for $500 with a 6 month warranty. Couldn't swing the $1500 cost of a new one up here (Canada), and a new one would only come with an extra 6 months of warranty anyways, most of which would be consumed during next winter when the pump isn't running anyways, so I figured I've nothing to loose.

A few technical questions:

- It's is far more HP than I need really so rarely (or never) do I want it to run at 100%, but I'm a little concerned about the automatic prime feature that seems to happen every time the pump starts after being shut down. If I program the "never exceed x RPM" option to something that results in the pump running around 50% without exceeding it...will the prime feature respect that setting, or does it ramp up to 100%/full RPM anyways?

- Does the pump detect a successful prime, or does it just run for whatever it's "prime minutes" program setting shows and then ramp to the actual commanded (typically lower) RPM afterwards?

- Can the auto prime feature be disabled completely? I have a check valve just before my pump connections and never loose prime under normal operating conditions - even if I completely empty the skimmer basket water is never more than 6" from the pump after restart because of the check valve.

- I have a Hayward Goldline GL235 solar automation controller. My ideal program is that the pump doesn't run much through the day (very high peak $$$ electricity rates here, even higher than CA) unless the solar controller calls for it. I know the solar controller has a relay (I used it with my SuperPump before for simple on/off control) but I'd like to let the VS simply alter program when the solar controller calls for demand. As I understand it, with only a single relay available in the solar controller...if I close the low voltage contacts on the "input 1" terminals on the 3400 this will command the pump to proceed to "Timer Speed 1"? I can then setup "Timer Speed 1" to whatever RPM my testing shows is peak for my solar..and away it will go? When the relay on the solar controller opens (weather gets cloudy or the commanded pool temp is reached) the pump will simpy return to it's last status, either be it "off", or a timer program it was running previously that may be at a different (likely lower) RPM?

Thanks all.

 

[pooldv]

Congrats on the new pump. My responses are based on my Pentair Intelliflo pump and Solartouch controller. But, I would expect Hayward to be similar/same.

Yes, setting max flow includes the priming speed. My pump has a priming sensitivity 1-100%, default is 1, very sensitive, I changed mine to 40ish and it primes a lot less. I can turn off priming on my pump but I don't recommend that. Priming is important.

I run my pump on speed 1 at 1100 rpm during the day so the water temp sensors can monitor the water temp. It uses 150 watts at 1100 rpm and skims and makes chlorine. When solar heat is available the Solartouch opens the valve and changes the pump to speed 2. When solar shuts off the pump always reverts back to the setting it was on before.

 

[atttech-2]

The pump will auto sense prime but only if you have it set to auto sense and it's only suggested at 3000 RPM or higher. If you want to prime at a lower speed you can just change the prime speed to whatever you want and it will run at that speed for 3 minutes. Not sure if the prime speed will respect the max speed setting but since you can set them independently not a problem either way.

I know you can get the relay control to do what you want for the solar what I don't know is if you give up other start/stop and speed control via the pumps control panel hopefully someone will chime in on that.

 

[pooldv]

You should be able to set a timer on the pump to turn it on to speed 1 at 1100 rpm, or some low speed that works for your stuff, in the morning before the sun is on the solar panels and turn off after the sun is off the solar panels. Then use a relay in the GL235 to switch it to speed 2 when solar heat is available. When solar turns off the pump should revert to speed 1. Then the pump should turn off at the time set on the pump timer.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Thanks guys - did some more reading today and I'm pretty sure I can get it setup the way I want.

You should be able to set a timer on the pump to turn it on to speed 1 at 1100 rpm, or some low speed that works for your stuff, in the morning before the sun is on the solar panels and turn off after the sun is off the solar panels. Then use a relay in the GL235 to switch it to speed 2 when solar heat is available. When solar turns off the pump should revert to speed 1. Then the pump should turn off at the time set on the pump timer.

The thing is, unless there's solar demand (ie, the solar automation detects it's worthwhile running the panels) I'd just like to leave the pump off for the most part as to not use the pricey electricity - I tend to favour running the pump for the bulk of my filtration during off peak electricity hours whenever possible - typically after 7PM. On Saturdays/Sundays I do tend to run the pump through the day as our pool tends to attract every friend we have on the face of the planet (Which I'm good with lol) but weekends are all off-peak electricity rates so I'm OK with that.

The main goal behind this upgrade from my single speed SuperPump is to reduce our electricity bills - between many hours with pump running for solar last summer as well as the central air conditioning, hot tub, etc etc we had a few $500+ bills last summer which were hard to swallow. The more I can cut the electricity use between low speed operation on the pump, coupled with it not running at all when possible..the better.