Prologic PS8/Aquapod and heater qn

[cbink]

Okay, this is probably a dumb question...
Bit of background first:

My pumps are set to a schedule, 8 hours on high, 11 hours on low, 5 hours off. I will probably adjust these run times soon but the important point I guess is that they are off for a period overnight.

I have a Prologic PS8 and an Aquapod and generally do everything from the Aquapod where possible.

I've set up the spa so that when I switch from pool to spa mode, it will heat the spa to the predetermined temp - this doesn't appear to be a problem.
If I want to heat the pool, is there a way for me to safely do it other than from the service mode in the panel? The reason I ask is that my pumps are off overnight (2am - 7am), and it clearly won't heat if there's no circulation so I'm thinking I need to put it in service mode to override the timings and make sure the pump stays on.
Is there a way on the Aquapod to temporarily override the timings without going to the panel? I realize I can just put a temp into the Aquapod but then my pump timings will still exist, won't they?

It's no big deal if I have to walk to the panel if I want to heat the pool, just want to check I'm not missing anything and don't want to do anything stupid.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jblizzle]

There is a setting in the the PS8 called something like "heater override" that you can turn on. If you selected to heat the pool and the pool was below the desired temperature, the pump would not shut off due to the timer. One limitation would be if it reached the desired temp during the normal OFF period it would then shut off the pump, but I do not think it would turn the pump back on until the timer would normally turn it on, even if the water temp dropped during that time.

If you want specifics, I could probably give you the button sequence required to set this. You can always leave the override Enabled and it will only do anything if you chose to heat the pool and the pump would normally turn off.

 

[cbink]

Okay thanks for that very helpful response, that answers my biggest concern of the pump shutting off whilst heating. It sounds like I'm best still doing it from service mode if I want to maintain the temperature though.
I would like to put the heater override on (or check to see if it's currently enabled) to prevent the pump switching off if someone inadvertently applies a temperature from the Aquapod, so if you do have the button sequence for that, that would be immensely helpful, thank you!

As a related question, if the pumps were to switch off during heating would the heater shut down as there would be no flow? I'm assuming it would.

 

[jblizzle]

The PS8 should shut off the heater if the pumps are off ... and the flow switch in the heater is a backup.

The steps:
1. Press "Menu" button to get to "Configuration Menu"
2. Hold the < and > buttons for 5 seconds to unlock
3. Use the < or > button to scroll to "Heater Config" and press + to enter options
4. Scroll using <> to "Heater Extend" and press +/- to change to "Enabled"
5. There is also a "Allow Low Speed" option that you may want to enable which allows the heater to run on low speed ... may have to check if the flow is high enough to keep the heater on. If not, then you will need to disable the option and the pump will automatically stay on High when the heater is running.

That is it, you can use the <> to exit the Heater Config area and the system will re-lock itself.

 

[cbink]

Thanks!!
As it turned out, this had all already been set up, I just wasn't aware of it as its not obvious unless you go into the config menu which I hadn't unlocked.