Need help with Pentair Easytouch

[JMTBLee]

I have owned my pool for eight years.
Increasingly, I am finding problems with it.
I just increased solar, and so I am trying to maximize solar energy use.
I programmed the schedule to run the pool pump from 10am to 4pm. However, the pump comes on really strong and then after five minutes shuts off, and then a few minutes later it comes back on again and then shuts off. it does this throughout the 10am to 4pm cycle. Hence, it might only be moving water a fraction of the time. During those six hours, however, if I go out to the variable speed pump, it says "display not active" and there is some pump activity, but just so slow that barely any water is moving.
The only way to get the water moving is to switch to time out or to schedule, and then in that case, I can program it and it will stay on the entire time.
Another way to get the water moving is to coincide the polaris cleaner schedule to be within the pool pump schedule, for example 11am to 2pm, and then the pump is moving water continuously but only during that pump time.

In this graph from my electrical consumption, you can see the pump turning on and off in the wee hours of the morning as well as during solar generation. The only continuous run time is during the cleaner operation

 

[HermanTX]

Maybe @Jimrahbe can give you some ideas with ET system.
It appears to be something in the automation because your pump display is reading “display not active“ which indicates it is being controlled by the ET automation.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum.
Do you have ScreenLogic with your EasyTouch? If so, can you show us the Schedule page?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Lee,

Do you have an in floor cleaning system??

Do you an IntelliFlo with the SVRS option???

Show me your schedules...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JMTBLee]

I don't have screen logic, but it sure sounds like a next "logical" purchase
I do have a ?infloor? Polaris pump that does turn on appropriately.

I just did some more youtube learning, and I did find that my "Pool" intelliflow variable speed pump was set to 1000 rpm, and I saw that there was 0 minutes on the Prime. I also saw that the cleaner setting had the pump at 2600rpm.
I have two schedules for pump and one for Cleaner
Pump 10am to 4pm
Pump 2am to 4am - I thought it would be good to have some water circulate at night so that some chlorine that doesn't get affected by the sun
Cleaner 12 noon to 2pm

As you can see from the iotawatt energy monitor, every time the schedule pump comes on, it drives really hard and then comes down to 1000rpm (maybe that is why there is barely a trickle of water). The water is really only flowing hard when it hits 2600 rpm or when it first starts.

I changed a setting just now, so that the Pump setting is 1500 rpm instead of 1000 rpm, and I set up a 3 minute primer. Maybe this will help?

 

[mknauss]

I do have a ?infloor? Polaris pump that does turn on appropriately.

I suspect that is a pressure side cleaner, not an infloor cleaner. You have a separate pump that drives a vacuum device in the pool tied to a hose that has a bag on it that collects the debris, correct?

Not sure I follow on the pump speed. It should run consistently at the rpm you have input for it to run.

 

[JMTBLee]

I suspect that is a pressure side cleaner, not an infloor cleaner. You have a separate pump that drives a vacuum device in the pool tied to a hose that has a bag on it that collects the debris, correct?

Not sure I follow on the pump speed. It should run consistently at the rpm you have input for it to run.

Yes. You are right about the pressure side cleaner. I have a separate pump, and I have to empty the bag for debris.

I increased the rpm just now, but I still don't know why it cycles up and down like that, unless that is normal behavior for the Intelliflo pump.

I just looked up the app, and since I bought the house from someone else, I never received any instructions. Maybe I have screenlogic, because I have the antenna installed. Weird.

 

[mknauss]

Show us some pictures of all your equipment. If you have an antenna, it might be for a Remote or it would be Screenlogic. You would have a receiver and Protocol Adapter (small white box) inside next to your router.

Cycling up and down is NOT normal.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Lee,

When was the last time you cleaned your filter? What kind of filter is it?

Where is the water level right now? Is it in the middle of your skimmer's mouth?

Turn on your pump and look down into the skimmer and see if all the water is being sucked out of your skimmer basket area. (It should not be)..

Go look at both sides of your pump and see if it says IntelliFlo + SVRS...

Show us a bunch of pics of your EasyTouch and your equipment pad.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JMTBLee]

I have a DE filter, and I backwashed and then added another eight pound bag of DE to the skimmer basket

Water level is a little low, but I added some so that the water goes into the skimmer basket, and the leaves and debris don't backwash out the weir door

When the pump is on, there is definitely movement of water down the skimmer basket, but "all" the water doesn't go down

The pump definitely says SVRS!

Also, by changing the prime time to 3 minutes, and by increasing the "Pool" RPM to 1500, my energy usage through iotawatt looks much better at the 2am to 4am run time in the middle of the night. The primer pump comes on at 2650 rpm and runs for 3 minutes, and then it drops down to 1500 rpm which only uses 200 watts. I am pleased.

Let's see what happens later -- middle of day.

I can't take pictures right now as it is still 4:54 am

 

[JMTBLee]

Show us some pictures of all your equipment. If you have an antenna, it might be for a Remote or it would be Screenlogic. You would have a receiver and Protocol Adapter (small white box) inside next to your router.

Cycling up and down is NOT normal.

I believe I have an antenna for the REMOTE and not for Screenlogic, as there is not a protocol adapter at the router.

The Cycling up and down has been going on for a while, and I could not figure it out.

But, I think I am making progress with your help.

I will have to get pictures later, as it is still dark out and I have to get ready to get to work

 

[HermanTX]

I have a DE filter, and I backwashed and then added another eight pound bag of DE to the skimmer basket

SIDEBAR - Not sure what size DE filter you have, but it is recommended after a backwash to only add 80% of the DE back to the filter. A backwash never completely removes all the DE so you could be overloading your filter.

It would be helpful if you could update your signature with all your equipment details as that helps in answering specific questions.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Lee,

The standard IntelliFlo pump is considered by most, to the be "Gold" standard of pool pumps. The SVRS version is Pentair's option for what I like to call the "Brown" standard of pool pumps, if you catch my drift... I know this because I have one.

I like to joke that if my next-door neighbor passes a little gas, the pump will shut off. Not quite true, but pretty close. The pump is designed to shut off if it senses any kind of surge in the water flow. Unfortunately, you can't adjust how sensitive it is, nor can you shut off the SVRS, which is basically useless when you have dual main drains.

For me, it I shut off the filter air relief valve too quickly, the pump will shut off.
If I let the water get a little too low, it will often shut off.
If I move a Jandy valve too quickly, it will shut off.

The worst part is that it will often shut off and the restart, and shut off and restart, etc. It will stay in this cycle for 8 or 10 cycles, before shutting off.

I have learned what not to do. Plus, I run my pump 24/7 so it hardly ever has to start up.

My SVRS pump has a lower speed limit of 1100, so I am surprised that your does not have the same lower limit.

I suspect the main issue you are having is because of the SVRS option. I like your plan to increase your priming time. I would not operate below 1200 RPM

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JMTBLee]

Now I understand a little more about the SVRS Intelliflo. I have always had problems with the Darn thing just shutting off on me. For example, I would go on vacation, and when I come back, there is an algae bloom, and the pump was off -- Blockage.
I am really happy that I installed this energy monitor, because now I can track what is going on.

For some reason, it seems that just by logging into "Trouble Free Pools", and by starting this thread, I was able to fix my problem. Whereas for weeks, my pump has been cycling on and off, now by increasing rpm to 1500 instead of 1000 rpm, and by increasing the priming time to 3 minutes, it seems to be doing what I want now. See my energy use from today.

2am pump comes on and stays at 200 watts for two hours
9am pump comes on and stays at 200 watts 5pm. IN the middle for two hours, I run the Polaris pool pump.

Hooray!

I have included more pictures of the entire system.

 

[mknauss]

With the SVRS, it might be wise to consider running the pump 24/7.

 

[JMTBLee]

With the SVRS, it might be wise to consider running the pump 24/7.

What RPM would you run? It was not doing well at 1000rpm, so maybe 1250? 1500 draws 200 watts, so I just want to think about energy usage also

 

[Jimrahbe]

Lee,

Thanks for the pics...

I find that running my SVRS pump 24/7 has all but eliminated my false entrapment faults. Now the only time I might have an issue is when I have to shut the system off to do maintenance, like cleaning the filter. We very rarely have a house power outage.

I have no heater so I run at 1200 RPM. You have a heater so I would run at 1500 or so.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JMTBLee]

Okay, so I will plan to run my pool at 1500rpm continuously!
Let's see if that gets rid of the cycling on and off.
It is disappointing that the SVRS which is designed to protect the pump makes it too sensitive to faults

 

[JMTBLee]

Good news. Running at 1500rpm, my system seems to work fine now!

I am hoping this tames my algae problem. Will keep reporting.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Lee,

Glad your pump is running better, but....

Algae and your pump run time do not really have anything to do with one another.

One is a mechanical issue and the other is a simple chemical issue.

If you have algae, you need to run a SLAM.

Thanks,

Jim R.