Questions and comments on the Pentair Intelliflo Variable Speed pump

Jump to latest Follow Reply
M

MilesMonk

0
Oct 12, 2017
7
Metairie, LA
I have a new Pentair Intelliflo pump which was installed by a qualified pool technician and licensed electrician including a installing a surge protector. Everything works great and I got a $250 rebate from Entergy,(electric utility) paid about $800 online for the pump. So far calculations show this will be all paid for including $200 installation after one year in savings from my Entergy utility bill.GREAT!
I did a lot of study for several months before pulling the trigger on this move but so far so good.
My question to members is when I set up the pump we used the basics of a single speed option I had questions about what the GPM Gallons per minute was for various speeds (the newest Intelliflo unit gives you that reading but you have to buy that model through the dealer and they want about $1800 for it so I opted for the earlier version) In any case I called Pentair customer service, a long wait online and reached a young man who really knew the unit and he helped me set up a very sophisticated program where I run for the first two hours at 2350 RPM and then 8 more hours at 1600 RPM which was a custom speed. It was for me a complicated procedure which he figured the first two hours would give the filter a couple of turnovers then lower the speed to 1600 to maintain the chlorination from the AquaRite unit. I asked him if there was material I could study to learn more of what can be done with so many options and he said not really- so my question is does anyone have sources for more info on using these units? Someone should write an in depth manual on the options you can set up with this unit. All comments are welcome
 
Last edited:
Do you have the User Manual for the pump? If not, go on to the Pentair website and download it. All of the options are explained in it. It's really not that hard to figure out.

For an above ground pool with no water features, there's not a lot of programming that needs to be done. The concept of "turnovers" is not scientific, you don't need a specific number of water turnovers per day to properly operate a pool. So really you can just run your pump at the lowest possible speed to activate the SWG (plus an additional 100RPM to account for any flow changes over time) for most of the day. You don't need high speed to run the Polaris as the booster pump handles that. Running for 2 hours at such a high speed is really just wasting money.

One thing you should do is adjust a parameter called "MAX SPEED" and set that to a lower number like 3000RPM. When the pump first starts up, it goes through a priming sequence where it ramps the pump up to full speed for several seconds (sometimes 20 secs or more). I found that would cause my system pressure to spike very high which, in general, is just not necessary. If you set the MAX SPEED parameter lower, then the initial turn on speed will not exceed that.
 
Re: Questions and comments on the Pentair Intelliflo aiable Speed pump

mm,

I hope someone here can get you the info you requested, but it is really not necessary...

The idea that you have to "Turn Over" your pool water x times a day is an old wife's tail and just not true.

There is no reason for you to run your pump any faster than it takes to reliably turn on your SWCG's flow switch.

We have a number of people that run their pumps for less than 4 hours a day without any issues. In our case, the amount of time it takes our salt cells to generate the chlorine we need is way more than we need for normal circulation.

Other speeds that might be needed would be to make a water feature look the way you want or if you find that low speeds does not keep the surface of your pool skimmed.

In my case, I run my IntelliFlo at 1200 rpm 95% of the time.. at this speed my filter pressure is only 2 or 3 lbs. which allows me to only have to clean my filter twice a year.

I do ramp up to 2700 so that my water fall works, but I normally only do that once a day for 15 minutes to flush the lines.

I used to ramp up the speeds several times a day to help with the skimming, but I have found that it really made very little difference and no longer do that at all.

I think that users new to VS pumps try to make the water in the skimmer and coming out the returns look the way it did with their old single-speed pumps.. If you going to do that, then you may as well just continue to run the old pump. The whole idea of a VS pump is to run as slow as you can...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
Matt, I just joined today and had AG instead of IG by mistake. My pool is In Ground and I changed the signature to correct it. I have the Manual and of course it details all the MANY settings you can use but very little if anything on various strategies with reasons why you would program a particular setting. When I spoke on the phone to Pentair support he helped me set up the 2 hours at 2350 then dropped the speed to 1600 for 10 hours justifying his reasons which were over my head. If it's as simple as you say why don't they say it?- Thanks for your observations- Roger Dawson (MilesMonk)
 
Re: Questions and comments on the Pentair Intelliflo aiable Speed pump

Jim thanks for your insights. It seems you are saying the same thing as Matt- One wonders why there are so many setting options if speed is the simple dominant setting with virtually no guidance as to which settings you should use-"egg timer" etc. It's too much especially after speaking with their technical support who had my brain melting!
Regards, Roger (MilesMonk)
 
Roger,

The IntelliFlo is the "Gold Standard" of pool pumps and has all kinds of options that the average pool owner will never use. It was designed to be used with automation systems, so many of the things it does would not be something you would do on your own.

It is like almost everything else... at first it seems overwhelming and hard to grasp.. But, after you use it for a while things get easier to understand.

There is no one size fits all for how you use the pump. It is really up to you and what you want it to do.

I'll try to come up with some of "my" guidelines tomorrow...

That's all the time I have for tonight...

If you get a chance, let me know what you would like the pump to do for you...

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Roger,

Here are some random thoughts about how to operate your new pump...

There are five basic reasons to run the pump at all..

1. Circulation..
2. Generation of Chlorine when using a salt cell..
3. Run a suction or pressure side cleaner
4. Skim the surface of the water
5. Run any water features.

Circulation ... You want the water moving to help with the even distribution of any chemicals. This is one reason why we always recommend adding chemicals in front of an operating pool return (eyeball). It does not take much for this to happen, so three or four hours of operation a day is usually sufficient. I would run the pump at 2500 rpm if this were the only time the pump was used.

Chlorine Generation ... If a tab feeder (not recommended) or salt cell is being used, you must run your pump long enough to generate the amount of chlorine your pool will use each day. Each pool is a little different, so you will have to determine the right amount of time for your pool. Keep in mind that a salt cell does not produce chlorine based on pump speed. Once you have closed the cell's flow switch, there is no reason to run it any faster. It is a good idea to run the pump 100 rpm above the rpm where the cell first closes the flow switch to help ensure it stays closed. In my case, this is 1200 rpm... in your case it could be lower or higher. You will just have to play with it to see what works best for you. Generally, the time it takes to generate your chlorine is way more than the time needed for circulation, so a specific time for just circulation is not needed..

The amount of time needed to run your cell is also based upon where the cell's Percentage of Output is set. The output percentage does not really adjust the output at all... it just increases or decreases the time period the cell is on.. For example.. a cell set to 100% and ran for 1 hour will produce the same amount of chlorine that a cell set to 10% when run for 10 hours will generate. It makes no difference to the cell. How long you run to create your chlorine is another personal choice. I like to run a little percentage for a long time and others (especially if they have a single-speed pump) like to run at 100% for a short period of time. And many like something in between.

Cleaner Operation ... For those pool owners still stuck in the 80's and having a water powered cleaner, it is important to have the main pump running at pretty much full speed for their cleaner to work properly. How long you need to run your cleaner is, once again, a personal choice and determined by how big your pool is and how well the cleaner works.

Skimmer Operation ... Everyone likes to have the surface of their pool free of debris.. In my case, I have no trees and very little to skim.. Other pool owners have a lot to skim. For me, I have found over time that the pump's speed has little to do with removing debris from my pool. I suspect if I had a lot to skim it would help if my pump ran faster. I would suggest that you experiment with your pool and find the best speed and length of time it takes to do a good job of skimming. For me, this happens when I'm generating chlorine, even at low speed.

Water Features ... Not sure if you have any water features or not, but if you do, then you can adjust the speed of the pump to make your water feature look the way you want. In my case, I have to run my pump at 2800 rpm for my waterfall wall to work properly. You will have to experiment with your pool to see what works for you.

Obviously, the pump has an internal timer and controller. You can use it to schedule what you want to happen when. For example, if you want your cleaner to come on every day at 2 am you can schedule that to happen. The pump will come on and ramp up to whatever speed you have chosen for the best operation of your cleaner. If you want the pump to run for 18 hours a day at some low rpm, you can schedule that.

I personally run my pump 24/7, most of the time at 1200 rpm to constantly generate chlorine. But, just because I like it, does not mean it will work best for you. You are the one that gets to decide how and when to run your new pump.

Not sure that any of this is what you were looking for, but it is the best I can muster at this point... :p

Thanks again for posting and you will love your new pump, guidelines or not...

Jim R.
 
I agree that the instructions for this pump are clear as mud.
They went a little crazy on the programming options and the menu is the least intuitive I've run across.
In a nut shell, with a VS pump you are going to be running at 2,800 - 3,000 rpms on high speed, about 1,600 -1,800 on low if you want skimmer action. Many people are unaware of the basic 2 speed pump (3,450/1,725) which has been on the market for decades. One of my customers just replace one at 22 years service (PacFab).
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply