Pentair Intellicenter Help needed

ajw22 said:

I would run your main pool feed the other way into the Main Lug Sub-Panel. How many amps will be the pool panel feed?

Put an 80-100 amp CB into the sub panel feeding the intelliCenter.

Put your landscape light breakers into the subpanel.

One of the advantages of this is the breaker in the subpanel is the disconnect for all the high voltage in the IntelliCnter. It makes it very convenient if you are making any wiring changes in the IntelliCnter to just reach over and flip the breaker instead of a trip to the house main panel.

This then frees up two 240V GFCI 20A breaker positions for your spa pumps.

Also consider installing a surge suppressor in the subpanel which will require another 240V CB in it.

Electrical Surge Protection - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

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I wish I could do that. The main feed from the house runs to the middle of the existing load center, and terminates way at the bottom, with likely no slack wire length. Since everything else comes into this location, the only way to get the main feed direct to the sub-panel would be to run it into the IntelliCenter, splice there, and then run it out to sub-panel. Maybe that's just fine; seems a little "over-routed" to me.

My main feed from the house to the pool center is on a 60 amp breaker.

Surge Suppressor seems like a very good idea. Do you have a picture of your surge install - is it outside and below the IntelliCenter? Which level FirstSurge did you install?

Thanks for the input. Perhaps this: Main feed (from house) into IntelliCenter box. Splice there and exit via flex conduit to the sub-panel. Land there on the main lugs, neutral bar, and ground bar. 60amp 2-pole GFCI in the sub-panel to feed power back (via flex) to the IntelliCenter, landing there on the main lugs, neutral and ground. Also, mount FirstSurge in the sub-panel on a dedicated 20amp 2-pole breaker (or 1/2 a quad). Given the sub-panel GFCI feeding main power to the IntelliCenter, I can use quad non-GFCI breakers in the IntelliCenter, which allows for plenty of space. This also minimizes the number of runs between the IntelliCenter and sub-panel (which ends up dedicated to surge and ground fault protection, along with potential expansion space if ever needed). Any and all, please tear this apart, comment, etc... Thanks in advance.

ajw22 said:

Putting one GFCI in your subpanel to feed the IntelliCenter means when you get a GFCI trip from any piece of equipment your entire pool system will be shutdown. And it can be difficult to determine which device is causing the GFCI trip. If you can even find a 60A 240V GFCI CB.

Is your 60A feed 4 gauge or 6 gauge wire?

I would not be real comfortable with 60 amp splices witting in the bottom of the IntelliCenter cabinet.

Overall I don't like the idea.

Can you put the subpanel low to the ground where the 60A feeder can reach it?

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Unfortunately, there’s no space for even a junction box without re-routing almost all of the buried conduit. Picture is attached - it’s around 14 inches from the ground to the bottom of the load center. The house feed is 6 AWG, and these land within a few inches of the existing load center bottom.

To add to the above, the main feed comes in on the 1” PVC at the center back location on the load center. If I can route the AWG 6x3+ground through a tight 90 degree elbow, I could get it out to the right far enough to place a junction box. This would require passing three existing PVC runs on the right side. Or, I could send it straight through the back 6x6 timbers to which the load center is mounted. This could reach a junction box on the back and then fed up to the sub-panel mounted on the back side of the wood.