Do I need intellitouch to achieve this?

[jr219]

Have a pool/spa combo. The spa has 6 jets in it, 2 of the jets are connected to the main pool pump and are basically just to cause spill over into the main pool. The other jets are connect to another pump which also runs through a Mastertemp400 heater. Only the jets in the spa are plumbed into the master temp. There is a temperature sensor on the output of the spa pump to measure the spa temperature and then allow control of the temperature from the easy touch control panel. This all works fine for controlling the spa. When turning on spa mode the spa pump comes on you turn off the pool pump and water just recirculates in the spa through the heater.

However, we have just added solar for the heating of the main pool and the issue is that the easy touch only has one water temperature sensor location. We can't put the only temperature sensor on the pool pump since that is off when in spa mode. We basically need a system which will support two temperature sensors and two individual set points. One for the spa and one for the pool.

My question to the group is which pentair product will work like that? Is it the dual body i10 3d? or the easy touch 8 pool/spa shared? I am thinking that maybe our panel is just the single body panel?

I really don't want to have to replace everything with intellitouch because it means new load center, new display, etc. It's going to be $$$.

thanks,

-jr

 

[JasonLion]

The simplest thing to do would be to use the thermostat on the heater to control the spa temperature and move the Easy Touch water temperature sensor over to the pool pump plumbing.

All of the automation systems I know of assume that the system is plumbed in the standard way (heater on the pool pump). I don't believe any of them will support your proposed setup in the obvious way.

 

[jr219]

Jason...

Thanks. I think the i10 3D system will support it since it supports two bodies of water which is really what I have with the two pumps.. Interestingly I only have one filter and its on the main pool pump. The output of the spa pump goes right into heater which I've been told is also not ideal...The other option is to re-plumb to put everything on one pump, but not sure how that would work valve wise. I think easiest think would just adjust return to be just from the spa-skimmers and then everything through the MasterTemp 400. I don't know. This whole thing was done very poorly I'm thinking.

The other option is to just leave spa alone and get separate solar controller... but honestly want all the control from inside the house...

If I have to get Intellitouch its going to be $$$ since it means new load center and new interior controller, etc.

-jr

 

[jr219]

Spoke with Pentair and they told me that it can be done with one sensor, but you need that sensor to be on the return line for both the spa and the pool. In spa mode its used for spa heater and in pool mode it can be used for pool heater.. So, its possible but will require some plumbing. Basically I need to be able to isolate the spa on the pool pump.

Here is a diagram of how it is right now. Trying to figure out how I would do this with the valves, etc.

Basically in "Spa" mode I need the pool pump to run but not deliver any water to the main pool and have the input to the pool pump be 1/2 or so of the spa drain with the other 1/2 of the spa drain doing to the jet pump to do the jets and move the temperature sensor to the output of the "pool pump".. So in pool mode its reading the pool temperature and in spa mode its reading spa temperature..

[attachment=1:13zeqvds]Pool Plumbing.png[/attachment:13zeqvds]

-jr

 

[JasonLion]

There are some nice plumbing diagrams on this page which show some of the standard setups.

The way it is usually done is to have the heater on the shared equipment pump, and to have the spa jet pump not have a heater. The shared equipment has valves to select between spa and pool on both the suction side and the return size. For that to work you need two sets of drains in the spa, one for the spa jet pump and another for the shared equipment pump. From your plumbing diagram I don't see a second set of spa drains. Unless you have that second set of drains in the spa, I doubt that you can get it to work the way they propose.

 

[jr219]

Thanks Jason for your continued help. I do have one set (two drains) in both the pool and the spa. I agree the way you describe is that way that it should be done. So, is it not possible (or permissible by code) to draw both the jet pump and the main pump from the same set of drains?

The other thing I thought of was installing two temperature sensors and then using a relay to "switch in" the correct temperature sensor based on the mode. So in spa mode the spa temperature sensor would be there and in the pool mode the pool temperature sensor would be used. Since they are just resistors we could keep one wire common on the board and then just switch other through a relay...

Maybe I should just get the Itellitouch i10 3D two body of water system and just be done with it. It will be $$$ but the added benefit will be that I will be able to integrate it with the Control4 system in the house. Just turned this adding solar thing into an expensive proposition though. Basically doubled the cost.

-jr

 

[CraigMW]

Hmm, kind of strange the way it was plumbed. So, you can't use your heater to heat the main pool, only the spa? I would replumb so that the two bodies of water are integrated. It sounds like there is already a spa spillover, which means there is some interconnection there.

 

[jr219]

Craig,

Yes, it is strange. The SPA sits at one of of the pool and it spills over into "spillway" which is about 15' and then that leads into the main pool. So, I'm thinking they plumbed it this way due to the layout of the pool itself. You can see the pool via this screen shot from google maps. Spa is the small square in the shadow area of the photo. It's the "head" of the guitar. There are some jets in the floor of that 15' spillway which push the water into the main pool..

To re-plumb it, I would need to re-plumb the output through the filter and then add another valve to be able to isolate the spa. The question is I don't have 2 sets of drains in the spa so, can those two drains be split between main pump and jet pump?

Thanks!

-jr

[attachment=0:1o0qnixi]Screen Shot 2012-06-17 at 9.57.36 PM.jpg[/attachment:1o0qnixi]