Pump Selection and Variable Speed Question

[BlueWave8]

As I stated in another thread, I will be moving into a house in a few months that has an indoor pool/spa. I will most likely be replacing some of the pumps on the system this summer. Since this is a pool that is open year round, I find it very easy to justify the cost of a variable speed pump (for efficiency reasons).

That being said, the pumps I have been considering are the Intelliflo and the EcoStar (is there another similar or better pump that someone can recommend?) It was established in a separate thread that the EcoStar has higher efficiency than the Intelliflo, which is why I am leaning toward the EcoStar. But I like to be fully informed when I make decisions (perhaps overly so..) and I was wondering if anyone could point out any other technical differences in the pumps such as materials, bearings, wet end designs, or control interfaces.

I was also wondering exactly how these pumps do what they do as far as energy savings. Is it just a variable frequency drive that allows the pump to run at the minimum RPM required for a specific installation? Are these RPMs set up manually or do these pumps actually have the ability to sense a resistance to flow and respond accordingly?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[JasonLion]

The EcoStar is in it's first model year. Other similar products have had problems in their first model year. No issues are currently know, so this may or may not be an issue.

The EcoStar works better with different brand automation systems than the IntilliFlo. Using the IntelliFlo with anything other than Pentair automation is possible, but more complicated.

Both of these pumps use permanent magnet motors that have a higher inherent efficiency than regular pool pump motors. That gets you about 20%. Variable speed saves you more than that, and the two together are where the dramatic savings come from.

The wet end on the IntelliFlo is though to be better by most people, but the differences are very small.

The EcoStar is more efficient than the IntelliFlo at the low end, where you usually spend most of your run time. The differences at higher speed are much smaller.

The IntelliFlo VF has a flow meter, that allows you to program flow rates in addition to motor speed, none of the others do. This can be handy, but the VF costs more. The EcoStar and the IntelliFlo SVRS and VF all have timers built in, the IntelliFlo VS does not.

 

[BlueWave8]

Thanks for the responses Jason.
I'll have more questions soon, I will most likely be replacing most of the components in this system, and possibly switching to SWCG if I can ease my worries of corrosion.

 

[shakenbake]

The EcoStar is in it's first model year. Other similar products have had problems in their first model year. No issues are currently know, so this may or may not be an issue.

The EcoStar works better with different brand automation systems than the IntilliFlo. Using the IntelliFlo with anything other than Pentair automation is possible, but more complicated.

Both of these pumps use permanent magnet motors that have a higher inherent efficiency than regular pool pump motors. That gets you about 20%. Variable speed saves you more than that, and the two together are where the dramatic savings come from.

The wet end on the IntelliFlo is though to be better by most people, but the differences are very small.

The EcoStar is more efficient than the IntelliFlo at the low end, where you usually spend most of your run time. The differences at higher speed are much smaller.

The IntelliFlo VF has a flow meter, that allows you to program flow rates in addition to motor speed, none of the others do. This can be handy, but the VF costs more. The EcoStar and the IntelliFlo SVRS and VF all have timers built in, the IntelliFlo VS does not.

I had a pretty easy time integrating the intelliflow with a Jandy RS12 rev Q. Plug it into the RS485 bus and voila, it works and you get complete control over speed and priming. While it's running the SVRS (death by suction) functionality still works.

One issue my plumber pointed out is that the face-plate on the IF is easy to break off