Hi all,
We have had an intermittent problem with our flow light/sensor on our IC-20 almost since the pool was installed last Fall, and was hoping some could provide me some guidance.
I have seen the threads from others with similar issues in the past but every solution seems to have failed...
Originally, the Intelliflo pump (my signature is wrong, it is the 3 HP version) was set at 2200 RPM which was probably a little fast but there is about 10 feet of head so it seemed acceptable. After about a week or so, the flow light came on and I had to increase the speed to 2400 RPM. This worked for a few weeks then I had to increase to 2600, etc, eventually I changed the DE media which gives me a few more days of it working. Of note, we have an automatic cover that is usually closed and there is very little to filter. Since then I have been checking daily and adding bleach as needed to keep the FC up.
The skimmers and drains are completely clean. As mentioned, I had previously tried replacing the DE, completely bypassing the filter ("recirculate"), increasing pump speed up to 3450, all without success. I had the pool company come out last week: they cleaned the pump, took the filter apart and manually cleaned it, acid cleaned the chlorinator, replaced the flow switch with a new one, and increased the pump speed to 2400 RPM. It worked for about 5 days. I even double checked and the new flow switch is in the correct orientation. The flow is so strong the check valve is wide, wide open and my kids complain the pressure from the jets makes it hard to swim and hurts them.
Our setup is posted below, we have a U-turn, then 8 inches of straight 2 inch pipe, then a see-through check valve, then another straight 18" before the chlorinator, before it goes to the returns.
I don't think the pump/flow is the problem (given I can see the check valve being wide open and the pressure coming out hurts), I don't think its the filter since the problem still occurs on recirculate. The second flow switch is now 5 days old.
I can only think of 3 possible issues:
1) There is some sort of vortex or erratic flow around the flow switch causing it not to trigger
2) We have a second bad flow switch in a row
3) We have an electrical problem with the IC-20.
I am tempted to just secure the flow switch with a plastic zip tie to keep it activated all the time since we always have our pump at a good flow rate and see what happens.
Any other thoughts/advice would be much appreciated!
We have had an intermittent problem with our flow light/sensor on our IC-20 almost since the pool was installed last Fall, and was hoping some could provide me some guidance.
I have seen the threads from others with similar issues in the past but every solution seems to have failed...
Originally, the Intelliflo pump (my signature is wrong, it is the 3 HP version) was set at 2200 RPM which was probably a little fast but there is about 10 feet of head so it seemed acceptable. After about a week or so, the flow light came on and I had to increase the speed to 2400 RPM. This worked for a few weeks then I had to increase to 2600, etc, eventually I changed the DE media which gives me a few more days of it working. Of note, we have an automatic cover that is usually closed and there is very little to filter. Since then I have been checking daily and adding bleach as needed to keep the FC up.
The skimmers and drains are completely clean. As mentioned, I had previously tried replacing the DE, completely bypassing the filter ("recirculate"), increasing pump speed up to 3450, all without success. I had the pool company come out last week: they cleaned the pump, took the filter apart and manually cleaned it, acid cleaned the chlorinator, replaced the flow switch with a new one, and increased the pump speed to 2400 RPM. It worked for about 5 days. I even double checked and the new flow switch is in the correct orientation. The flow is so strong the check valve is wide, wide open and my kids complain the pressure from the jets makes it hard to swim and hurts them.
Our setup is posted below, we have a U-turn, then 8 inches of straight 2 inch pipe, then a see-through check valve, then another straight 18" before the chlorinator, before it goes to the returns.
I don't think the pump/flow is the problem (given I can see the check valve being wide open and the pressure coming out hurts), I don't think its the filter since the problem still occurs on recirculate. The second flow switch is now 5 days old.
I can only think of 3 possible issues:
1) There is some sort of vortex or erratic flow around the flow switch causing it not to trigger
2) We have a second bad flow switch in a row
3) We have an electrical problem with the IC-20.
I am tempted to just secure the flow switch with a plastic zip tie to keep it activated all the time since we always have our pump at a good flow rate and see what happens.
Any other thoughts/advice would be much appreciated!
