Pump, DE questions

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U

underwater

0
Oct 1, 2007
24
Okay, been a while since I posted. Got new pool put in and all WAS well. I got the Intelliflo pump and a DE filter. Here is my problem. I put the pump on low speed for circulation. From my understanding, on a DE filter you need to put the pump in high speed at first to coat the grids and then turn it down if you want. Well, my mechanical timer turns on and off for 12 hours of use. When it turns on, the pump resumes the last speed it was in. If I had it on low, I assume the grids aren't gonna get coated. So I have to leave the pump on high so it will resume on high in order to coat the grids. This totally defeats the purpose of the multi speed pump. Anybody got any ideas? This was only the 2nd Intelliflo he had sold (the other one was his) so he isn't sure what to do, but he is very accomodating. Do I need a control box? If so, which one is recommended? What should I do? He even offered to switch out the DE filter with a sand filter and put Zero Brite in it. He said that will get down a little closer to DE size, but not the same. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
UW
 
When you backwash or manually clean the grids, you want to manually turn the pump up to a reasonably high speed (probably only about half way up unless you have a really large filter) and keep it there till 10 or 15 minutes after you finish adding DE.

The rest of the time you can leave the pump on low and everything should be fine. When an IntelliFlo starts up it starts up on a fairly high speed for a short while, just to make sure the plumbing is working, and that will take care of any re-coating of the grids that is required at that point.
 
Please dont take this as argumentative, but my pump doesnt start back up at a fairly high speed. It goes right back to where it was when the timer cut the juice off - very low speed. My filter is a pentair 48 fns plus or something like that. Am I correct about the DE falling off the grids when the pump isn't running?
 
Ah, the IntelliFlo VF goes through a priming sequence every time it is started up. The IntelliFlo VS does not.

The grids only need to be coated once, when DE is added. The DE will normally stay in place even when the pump is off.
 
UPDATE. Pool builder is really trying to make sure I am satisfied. I would like your opinions please.
Offered to swap to the VF pump if I pay the difference. He says his cost difference is $279.
Or go with a controller box of some sort. (not sure what is available)
Or he would swap out the DE filter with a sand filter with zero brite media.

Any input/ideas?

Thanks again
UW
 
Yep, the DE stays on the grids.

It is only on initial startup or after backwashing that you need to recoat the grids, which would indeed require a higher speed/flow rate.
 
Re: Pump, DE questions - UPDATED 6/10

UPDATE
Pool builder says his supplier is swapping out the drive on my VS for a VF drive. He said they are the same motor/pump - just a different drive. He is bringing it out tomorrow and swapping them free of charge.
I had pretty much let it die since you all said the DE was fine on the grids. He contacted me out of the blue and said his supplier was gonna do the swap.
So, what do ya think? Gonna be a nightmare or am I getting an excellent free upgrade.
 

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Be careful about accepting this free exchange.

The VF infinite variable speed pump with the flow rate controller is a $1,200 pump.

The VS four speed multispeed motor an $800 motor.

So if you have the high end, of course he is willing to swap it out, he makes $400 on the deal.
 
I have the VS 4 speed pump, and he is putting the VF drive on it. Supposedly they are the same pump/motor. Just has a different drive to run it. Dont know I'll find out when he brings the new one out.

UPDATE:
He brought out the new drive and put it on my pump/motor and it instantly tripped the breaker. They played around, but never could get it to come on. So I am back to the 4 speed VS until further notice. Either the drive was faulty or it is not a direct "plug and play" with that pump. Anyone else find that a little interesting? I dont know anything about pumps, but does anyone know if that drive really is interchangable?
 
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