I just got my new IntelliFlo (full, not 4x160) and IntelliTouch installed this past week. My PB knew nothing about it and only installed it because I explicitly asked for it. The PB stopped doing business with Pentair a while ago due to a beef with the Pentair rep (he wasn't honest with him about problems in the past) and has problems with some of their products. Anyway, we sort of figured things out but the indoor wired control panel didn't work and it turned out to be the plastic covering wouldn't fit properly and always had at least one button pushed and that prevented proper operation. It's still broken in that way and I have a call in to Pentair on it. They said that their warranty service will call back within 2 business days and can then schedule an appointment. So they aren't swift, that's for sure. I'll keep y'all posted. I did ask my builder about how long it would take to get a replacement pump if I even needed one and he said Pentair has it locally stocked so it shouldn't take long, but I don't think he's figuring on the Pentair "prove it" delay.
Despite the minor setback, I'm thrilled with the system so far. I got rid of my booster pump and Letro Legend (whose filter bags don't stay closed after 1 year, but that's a separate beef) and switched to The Pool Cleaner which is connected to a dedicated pressure return that I switch to automatically when I run it (I currently have it switched so some flow still goes to the regular returns, but may change that if I can get the flow rate set correctly for this feature -- that's another issue I need to sort out with Pentair as part of a list of questions I have on setup).
When the pump is set on regular filtering and I have an extended time frame set up for it, it goes down to its minimum flow rate of 15 GPM and consumes 183 Watts (at 1305 RPM). When the solar is on, I have the flow rate set to 48 GPM (4 GPM per panel which is 80% efficiency for heat transfer) and consumes 1530 Watts (at 3005 RPM). For comparison, my old 1 HP (1.6 SF) pump consumed about 1720 Watts without the solar (probably only a little more with the solar, perhaps 1800 Watts) AND my booster pump for my pool sweep consumed 1470 Watts when it was running. My plan is to have all or nearly all the flow to my pool sweep dedicated line at a low GPM flow rate (whatever it needs for proper wheel rotation time) and run that at night (so no solar and no interference with swimming) at low power.
I figured on saving about $900 per year on my current $1400 per year electric bill increment due to the pool pumps, but we'll see what it ends up being. The solar unfortunately requires the higher flow rate, but it doesn't always run all day and it's still at a lower electrical usage than it used to be so we'll see. I suspect that in the hottest months when the solar is only on for about 4 hours that there will be the greatest savings, but other months will have less impact. Just getting rid of the booster pump and running the pool sweep at a low flow during regular filtration should save over $150 per year. Even if the solar were on the entire 8 hours per day during the summer, I would save another $150 per year from the greater efficiency at 48 GPM (I thought this would be even higher, but incorrectly estimated my system curve and old pump's GPM with the solar on). If the solar is on only 4 hours per day ( instead of 8 ) during 3 months of the year, then I save another incremental (to the previous "solar on" savings) $150 per year. If I cut back to half a turnover during the winter that I currently do with my old pump (which it appears I have to manually "fake" in the controller by telling it I have half the real pool volume) then I save another $100. That adds up to about $550 per year savings. So we'll see what the actual savings turns out to be. It looks like it will be less than I originally thought, but still worth it (to me). We also wanted the convenience of the indoor control panel (we had to go out to the pool shed to turn on the gas during spring/fall on days we needed that since we didn't want it on all the time and we had to go to the skimmer to find out the pool temperature).
Richard