Commercial pool pump timers/relays?

[Dixit]

I just took some ownership of maintaining a 110,000 gal reflection pond at our temple here in Atlanta. It currently has a 6 cell (all inline) AutoPilot SWG, has two 2hp pumps going into 3 massive sandfilters (each one I would say is 3ft in diameter). Then there seems to be two massive pumps (forgot to look at the detail on the motor nameplate) but it was at least twice as big as the 2hp pump in size, the skimmer basket cover was a good 12-14" diameter. Cant remember if these are 480v motor, I think they are probably 240v since I remember seeing 50amp value on the nameplate. And one final 2hp pump that's for decorative. Heres the breakdown:
2 - 2hp pumps for the filtering into the 3 sand filters.
2 - massive pumps (cant remember hp). These are basically to take water from the bottom basin and return it all the way back near the top creating a water fall effect.
1 - 2hp pump that basically takes water and sprays it out about 16 elephant's snouts.

Now all these pumps have a panel where the breaker boxes are. Each pump is control by these smaller boxes that simply have these large START and STOP buttons (RED and BLACK buttons). So there is no automation to it.

I want to get it to where I can just set a timer on these pumps to say run at 8am and go off at 5pm, etc. Right now its all manual, one guy can forgot to turn it on or off. That's what happened this past few days, someone forgot to turn them on, and the entire 110k reflection pool turned into algae (thanks to also the massive pollen amount here in Atlanta past weeks).

Im really familiar with the residential setups where you have like say an Aqualink RS8 and Power Center where you got all the relays in there. Ive seen similar setups where you got the old clock dial that spins. Not sure if they make something for something like what I got above. Id like to be able to set timers on all 5 of those pumps to be honest. Not sure if I can say actually use say a Aqualink Powercenter, not sure if it can handle those larger pumps.

BTW attached some pictures of the reflection pool to get an idea of what Im talking size wise. Its probably a good 40ft wide by 60-70ft long. Main area is only 12" deep.

Thanks
Dixit

 

[JasonLion]

Beautiful pool.

There certainly are timers that can control the larger pumps, but nothing made for residential pools, or that you could find in a home center, could handle them. An electrician can help you find the right equipment and install it for you.

The 2 HP pumps may or may not be simpler. Assuming they are 240 volts they can be switched with more common equipment. However given that they are using the same big red/black push button things you are probably better off have the electrician do everything.

 

[Dixit]

Those 2hp pumps are your standard pumps, I think they were sta-rite pumps, looked very similar to mine. Those I think we could easily use say like that Aqualink Powercenter.

Googling around, those massive pumps, I want to say they are 7.5-10hp pumps. Basically all its job is to take water from the bottom basin which you see in that one picture, and return it all the way back up to where the Elephant heads are. Except it doesn't pump it through the Elephant heads, it just returns it to the floor at the top level. So basically right there you see it has the 3-4step water fall/sheething effecting. Then falls into the big area. Then basically flows 60-70ft down to the 2nd set of steps that basically fall into the basin. I may go back there tomorrow, I should take a picture of the pump setup to get an idea of how large this stuff is. One of the PVC pipes that is the main pipe is I believe a 6" diameter pipe.

I just got done shocking it today, added 70 bags of salt (don't get me started on how we were low, clearly someone dropped the ball on that). Hoping tomorrow its clear, get someone in there to vacuum out the sediment from all the Algae. CYA was next to nothing, so I need to get that added in there. A lot of neglect on this massive reflection pool. We got a big event Saturday, so trying to get things done to where it looks decent and then finish off the rest.

Im also pretty good at wiring stuff, so that I can do myself. Just need to find the controls. One idea I have is I "could" say get that Aqualink Powercenter, then the larger pumps (lets say its a 240v) would be too much for those powercenter relays, I know they sell these larger commercial relays, its a small 6x8" metal box. I could easily wire that inline with the powercenter relay, so essentially it would be the powercenter relay kicking on and powering the larger commercial relay. That's an idea. Then basically get rid of all the big push button start/stop boxes.

Time to start googling to see what I can come up with.

Dixit

 

[Isaac-1]

Anyone that deals with commercial refrigeration systems should have the knowledge of how to connect a timer, perhaps with a power contactor relay as your application is very similar to the way defrost timers are operated (run for X time every Y number of hours, or Y number of times per day), perhaps you have someone related to your temple with these skills.

 

[Dixit]

I will check, I know one guy is big on commercial AC work, but cant remember if we got someone in there that does refrigeration stuff. Other idea that just came to me from what you just said, was possibly running an inline heavy duty contactor like what is in your normal AC condensers outside. Some of these large condensers easily use 50amps at 240. They have these double pole contactors that can be driven by 24, 120, or 240v coil. So I could run that inline off the main relay off the Powercenter.

Heres a picture of those contactors Im talking about.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Since the pumps already have motor starters (The things with the start/stop buttons on them) you can just use a relay from an automation system or timer to start and stop them. It's pretty easy to rewire the starters to operate that way. If you can take a picture of on of the boxes inside and out I can tell you how to rewire it.