"ITI" members and Pentair pumps

[UPSguy]

First of all I wanted to thank all the helpful members here who so freely give of the information they have learned. I have been studying pumps and efficiency threads till I am blue in the face. Like many, I don't want to spend a penny more for electricity than I need to. I also don't want to fall victim to being "pool stored" and getting a 1.5hp pump when there is no way I'll need one. Found a dealer that doesn't want to sell me a big pump, doesn't want to persuade me into a sand filter and generally seems like a good place to deal with.

Anyway the question. I numerous pump threads the comment has been made that the ITI members here seem to choose Pentair pumps. Why is that? Reason I ask is above mentioned dealer went into a rant about Pentair being junk when I mentioned I wanted a Pentair pump and filter.

Again, thanks for everyones help here, maybe someday my posts will change from questions to helping others.

 

[JasonLion]

Pentair has had some nice innovations first, creating periods when they were a clearly better choice. The WhisperFlo line was one of the first pumps to come with energy efficient motors. The IntelliFlo was the first pool pump from a major manufacturer with variable speed and a permanent magnet motor. These days all of those features have been matched by Hayward and other companies have matched some of them.

Pentair and Hayward also both have programs that push builders to use exclusively one brand or the other. In response to programs like these people get defensive and feel they need to say something to justify why they are going with the brand they choose to go with, even though the actual differences are small.

Finally, the usual ITI rant is that "Hayward is junk". You hear that far far more often then "Pentair is junk". Hayward has had slightly more than their share of problems over the years, and those few examples where something failed really spectacularly tends to stick with you over the years.

 

[UPSguy]

Thanks Jason