I put my EasyTouch 8 into service mode and remove pump basket lid. I have a back up basket so the swap out happens quickly. The basket has about 2/3 water by the time I complete the basket swap. I pop open my filter to fill the pump basket the rest of the way and then close it. I turn pump back to auto for priming. It goes into high speed but then the water goes down and the basket takes a minute or two to fill back up with water. Is this normal? Do I have leak in my system? Will this burn out my pump?
Pentair Intelliflo VS Priming Question
- Thread starter espejo
- Start date
Hi Espejo,
that sounds pretty much normal. What is happening is that some of the water in the pipe is draining back into the pool and it takes a little bit of time to completely prime back up.
It will not hur the pump at all.
that sounds pretty much normal. What is happening is that some of the water in the pipe is draining back into the pool and it takes a little bit of time to completely prime back up.
It will not hur the pump at all.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,399
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Totally normal.
The IntelliFlo will actually cycle between low and high speed until it senses being primed. It also will do this if it temporarily loses prime. I believe it will cycle and attempt to prime itself five times before shutting down if it can't achieve prime.
It's a pretty smart pump and it throws people off who are used to the bad old days of single speed dumb-pumps that would burn themselves up if they accidentally list prime.
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The IntelliFlo will actually cycle between low and high speed until it senses being primed. It also will do this if it temporarily loses prime. I believe it will cycle and attempt to prime itself five times before shutting down if it can't achieve prime.
It's a pretty smart pump and it throws people off who are used to the bad old days of single speed dumb-pumps that would burn themselves up if they accidentally list prime.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks. I called Pentair before posting and was told that it should not lose prime when I open the lid. If it does I may have a leak. It is a new build so if there is a problem I want to put it on the punch list before final payment.
I shut off my drain / skimmer valves before I open the basket. This keeps the water from backing into the pool and makes it easier for the VS to prime. JUST do not forget to turn those valves back on before you turn the pump back on
That would have to depend on the elevation of the pump vs the pool -- if the pump is higher than the water surface (as mine is), how could it not lose prime? With the cover off, there's no way the pump sucking from the bottom of the well can keep pulling water up to the inlet. The air coming in is going to let that water drain back to the pool, so yes, I'd expect it to take some time to re-fill those pipes and prime the pump again.
Typically, you're supposed to turn off the pump before opening the lid -- but, on advice from here, I also do it with the pump on (low) now, because otherwise all of the leaves etc would get sucked back into the pipes when I opened the lid (a check valve in the system would help with that). I set mine to low speed, open the lid and then shut off the pump before it sucks air, then clean the basket, replace, and restart. However, I am now inspired to buy a second basket for $13 on Amazon -- save a step if I can just drop in the new one and close the lid right away, and it's so much easier to empty debris from dry baskets (and Polaris bags etc).