how many pumps are enough?

[staycation]

I am building a 40x16 in-ground pool with a 7x7 spa with the following water features:
2x4 ft waterfall into spa.
4x6 ft waterfall into pool.
3ft spa spillover
4 pentair deckjets.
Spa will have 8 jets.
cartridge filter

My plumber says that I'll need 2 intelliflo pumps and a dedicated 2hp spa pump.
Do I really need this much?
If I do, do you think I'll be better off to get 3 intelliflo pumps? (for better efficiency).

Thanks for your input.

 

[DaveNJ]

The 2hp spa pump is only for spa use. Then I wouldn't think you need an Intelliflo for that. Takes a bit to run the jets in a spa. The link below is a good read. mas985 may be along to explain.

hydraulics-101-have-you-lost-your-head-t915.html

 

[cobra46]

I don't think you would benefit from more than one intelliflo pump. The main benefit from the intelliflo is that it allows one to do their main filtering at low speeds where dynamic head is very low. It can also be ran at higher speeds for a water feature and some, but not all, cleaners.

The spa will only be on for short periods of time. Why not use a less expensive but efficient single speed pumps?

 

[JasonLion]

At high speed, as you would use a spa or waterfall pump, there is only a very small energy savings from using an IntelliFlo pump. It is unlikely it would pay back the initial investment in the more expensive pump. The big advantage of the IntelliFlo in that kind of situation is that you can vary the flow rate, dial in exactly the amount of water action you want. Given that you are already getting two IntelliFlo pumps, using a fixed speed for the third pump won't make a significant difference to either the energy costs or the ability to adjust things (unless the builder picks the wrong pump size for the fixed speed). But for total control over all the individual features, the IntelliFlo does have some advantages.