Vaiiable Speed pump with salt water chlorinator

[rcy]

I just installed a Hayward TriStar VS900 variable speed pump. My chlorinator is a Zodiac DuoClear 130. My old system was a single speed TriStar. I have a Jandy PDA system to set timers etc. With the old system, the pump was on the PDA timer and when it was off, the chlorinator was off (I guess wired to the same relay in the Jandy panel?).

With the VS pump, I can turn the pump relay on all the time and set timers on the pump. This is what Hayward recommended, instead of using the Jandy PDA timer to power the pump on and off at a certain time each day.

However, when there is no timer set (so the pump is ON, but not pumping water), the chlorinator stays on (because the pool pump relay is energized).

The DuoClear will stop producing chlorine (the NO FLOW red light comes on), but the owner's manual is very specific that the unit should be off if the pump is not running.

So, is this a concern? Is it OK to just let the DuoClear sense no flow and stop running? Should I go against Hayward's recommendation and use the timers on the PDA so the pump is actually powered off when I don't want it running?

Thanks.

 

[GaryT58]

You should not rely on the flow relay to control the SWG. That is a safety feature, and is not meant to be used as an on/off control.

1 - Use your PDA to power on the pump and the SWG. This means though that the pump is only run when the SWG is run. So lose the programmability of the pump to be able to run at different times/speeds, even without the SWG.
2- Use the PDA for SWG and have pump wired directly to power. Have pump programmed to run at desired speed at times with SWG will be run by PDA. I am not familiar with the PDA, so does it have a real time clock? That is does it keep time properly? A mechanical timer is not good in this method since it would not know the real time if power were lost for a while - so there could be a drift. The flow switch would be there as a backup safety device.

And there are other options, like dual timer, automation, ...

 

[rcy]

Thanks. Yes, the Jandy PDA has a real time clock.

#1 will work and I won't lose the programming on the pump because it's saved in memory for some ridiculous amount of time (5 or 10 years, I've heard). The system is wired so that the SWG only gets power when the pump gets power.

I can't program the SWG via the PDA, only the pump, heater, solar, lights, deck jets etc. etc.

My concerns were using the flow sensor to stop the SWG, and if the on/off of the VSP every day would be bad for the electronics.

I spoke to Hayward again today, and while the on/off every day is OK to do (which would completely cut power and also turn off the SWG), they still recommend just having the pump run 24/7, with the lowest possible flow that won't set off the no flow on the SWG at the times when I would normally (in the past with my single speed) shut the pump off, and my regular programming and speeds the rest of the time.