Intelliflo Watts per RPM

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Vandergraff

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2010
118
Coastal Mountains, Northern CA
I found this post from 2009. Are these Watt numbers a good estimate for a VS3500? Will the Watts be constant for RPM or do they also depend on the GPM (that is do they vary depending on back pressure). I am trying to work out the best settings for a new VS3500 install. Also is there a minimum flow rate/PSI for a DE filter?

Thanks

chem geek said:
At some point, you'll run into the "fixed" energy used by the pump regardless of speed. I have an IntelliFlo VF pump, but I've tried different manual speeds and found the following where you can see that the lowest speed isn't necessarily that much more efficient when accounting for the time of one turnover. There is a flat spot near the slower speeds and the ideal may be anywhere in the 15-26 GPM range, though obviously this depends a lot on the specific plumbing. The runtime for one turnover is for my 16,000 gallon pool.

15 GPM (17.78 hours), 1185 RPM, 155 Watts ---> 2.76 KWh
18 GPM (14.81 hours), 1325 RPM, 195 Watts ---> 2.89 KWh
24 GPM (11.11 hours), 1460 RPM, 255 Watts ---> 2.83 KWh
26 GPM (10.26 hours), 1495 RPM, 275 Watts ---> 2.82 KWh (measured at different time so might be a little higher in reality)
30 GPM (8.89 hours), 1805 RPM, 420 Watts ---> 3.73 KWh
36 GPM (7.41 hours), 1975 RPM, 535 Watts ---> 3.96 KWh
40 GPM (6.67 hours), 2075 RPM, 615 Watts ---> 4.10 KWh
42 GPM (6.35 hours), 2160 RPM, 685 Watts ---> 4.35 KWh
48 GPM (5.56 hours), 2310 RPM, 835 Watts ---> 4.64 KWh
54 GPM (4.94 hours), 2490 RPM, 1030 W ---> 5.09 KWh
60 GPM (4.44 hours), 2710 RPM, 1305 W ---> 5.79 KWh
66 GPM (4.04 hours), 2900 RPM, 1590 W ---> 6.42 KWh
72 GPM (3.70 hours), 3080 RPM, 1895 W ---> 7.01 KWh
78 GPM (3.42 hours), 3360 RPM, 2495 W ---> 8.53 KWh

I do notice that surface circulation and skimmer vortex suction isn't as efficient at lower speeds, so Jason has a good suggestion of doing a mix so that you can still get decent cleaning. Since I have a pool cover that tends to inhibit surface circulation anyway, I just have my non-solar flow set at 26 GPM. Usually, the solar is on 4-6 hours a day with its 48 GPM and the total cycle is 8 hours. The solar energy cost is far higher than shown above since the 48 GPM requires 2980 RPM and 1500 Watts.

Richard
Click to expand...
 
The relationship between watts and flow rate depends on the total dynamic head of your specific plumbing setup. That chart is as good a starting place as any, but it isn't going to match your pool (unless you happen to be very lucky).

DE filters require a fairly high speed to coat the grids initially and after that they can run at very low speeds. The IntelliFlo always starts up fairly fast, so that shouldn't be a problem.

The IntelliFlo Variable Speed Pump isn't shipping yet, so we don't know for sure, but so far everyone is assuming it has the same motor as the other models. There are some hints in the marketing materials about improvements, but I'm assuming that if they really improved the efficiency they would be boasting about it more already.
 
Not sure which Intelliflo I have (have had it for a few years now) but there is a display on it which tells me exactly how much power it is drawing at any given time. Thus, all I have to do is set the flow rate and then I can read the energy usage in watts.
 
JasonLion said:
The IntelliFlo Variable Speed Pump isn't shipping yet, so we don't know for sure, but so far everyone is assuming it has the same motor as the other models. There are some hints in the marketing materials about improvements, but I'm assuming that if they really improved the efficiency they would be boasting about it more already.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the Intelliflo XF variable speed? The VS 3050 has been on the market for over 4 years now. There is a new drive coming out the for the VS pump which doubtfully will give you any increase in efficiency. It will give you a built in timer and more speed controls.

The XF variable speed should be a about 15-20% more efficient.

There also is a company called performance pro pumps that makes a low head VS pump that is really efficient.
 
I think mine is a VF or something like that. It is continously variable. You can choose the GPM you want and it will run at whatever RPM is needed to deliver that flow rate. As the filter gets dirty it will up the RPM to maintain flow rate. You can also set it at a specific RPM of your choosing, there is not specific set points you just pick any RPM level you want.
 
I don't think we are talking about the XF. We are talking about the already announced Pentair IntelliFlo Variable Speed, also called the IntelliFlo VS-AU. My understanding is that the XF is still a rumor and the just shipping in the last few days VS-AU is essentially an VS+SRVS but without the SRVS, or alternatively a VS-3050 with a timer and 4 additional speed memories added, depending on how you think about it.
 
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