Spa/Pool One-Pump System w/Intelliflo

[stever]

Hi,

Does anybody have any experience with running a one-pump system for the pool & spa with an intelliflo pump? Of the 160 GPM max I want to divert some of the flow (say 120 GPM) to the jets and the rest (40 GPM ??) to the filter & heater. My pool installer is new to the one-pump Intelliflo systems and is testing this out now on another installation.

Does anybody have a similar system? Or even a 2-pump layout with the intelliflo? How is it working for you?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[hodapmj]

I have been using the Intelliflo 160 for the past 6 months. I have been more than adequately pleased. I don't know what you mean by diverting some of the flow, but what I have found it gives me exactly everything I need in terms of controlling flow in the pool, waterfall and spa with one pump. The biggest consideration in using this pump is the energy savings with the control of exact RPM for the feature in use.

 

[EskimoPie]

I have a 4x160 in my pool/spa and am happy with it. I'm also a little confused by your question about splitting the flow... in my system all the water goes through the filter and heater. Sometimes I feel like I could use a little more force on the jets, but I don't have the speed maxxed out either on the pump so I have some room to adjust there. I also have the adjustable and swappable jet heads so I can reduce the flow on some jets I'm not using to increase the flow on others.

 

[JasonLion]

One common setup is to have the pump feed the filter and then the heater and then split to go to either the pool or spa (or both). It is possible to split the flow before the filter, which has some advantages and some disadvantages. The big advantage is that a spa requires a fairly high flow rate but the filter probably doesn't. By splitting the flow before the filter you can have a smaller filter. The problem is that you still need to heat the spa water, which means that the filter/heater output must still be switchable between the pool and the spa, so the plumbing ends up being a little more complex (but still simpler than having two pumps).

In either case, a three way valve can be used to split the flow however you want. If the split is before the filter the portion of the water that goes each way will vary a little depending on how dirty the filter is.

 

[stever]

Now I don't plumb pools for a living, but this comes from my pool guy and it seems logical. These are my assumptions:

- I will need normal supply and return in the spa (as wella s the pool) for normal daily circulation and heating.
- I will have 8 jets in the spa for when it is in use
- I will need 15 gpm or so for each jet (totals 120 gpm)
- I do not want to put 160 gpm into the filter and/or heater
- with a one-pump system (Intelliflo VS) I can ramp up the speed for normal pool operation and spa mode


So my PB has devised a way so that when the spa is turned off, the pump is at lower RPM and the supply is routed normally through the filter and heater. In spa mode, the pump ramps up to 160 gpm (if pipes allow, etc.) and is split through a three-way with 40 gpm going through the pump and filter and the rest going directly to the jets (15 gpm x 8 jets = 120 gpm).

Thanks for the input.

 

[JasonLion]

That all sounds very reasonable. The one point you left out that occurs to me is that you will need a large return from the spa for when the jets are running and will not want so much water drawn from the spa when the jets are off . That means a valve on the return from the spa to adjust the flow relative to the flow from the pool in the different modes to prevent the spa from draining down when it is off.