I've noticed that my Intelliflow pump works nearly twice as hard when the heater is in circuit. I already have a manual bypass valve in place and an spare actuator. I'd like to program the panel to bypass the heater when it's not in use. I can see a couple of "straight forward" ways of doing it, but the sticking point seems to be the need to let the heater cool down after it shuts off. There is already a pre-programmed mechanism to keep the pump running for a few minutes after the call for heat has ended. Is there a way to get similar behavior from a valve?
Programming an Intellitouch for a heater bypass valve
- Thread starter dBeau
- Start date
Pool Clown
In The Industry
When you say the pump works harder, Is it because you see the heater as a restriction? Or does the intellitouch ramp up the speed of the pump when the heater is on?
The IntelliFlo is probably setup to maintain a fixed flow rate in GPM. Because the heater adds TDH, the pump will need more electricity to move the same amount of water compared to removing the heater from the water path.
Pool Clown said:
Both actually
The panel is set to increase the flow from 20gpm to 35gpm when the heater kicks on. It gets too hot otherwise. But when the heater is off, I'd like to bypass it as it draws nearly 100% (250-300watts) more at 20gpm when the when the water is pumped through the heater. Moving the bypass valve cuts out the heater and about 40 feet of 1-1/2" pvc.Ideally, when there is a call for heat the bypass valve would divert the flow through the heater and bypass it again 5-10mins after the call for heat has been satisfied (when the pump delay is released). About all I can see how to do without adding external controls, is to program a feature circuit for "heat pool" to move the bypass valve to the right position. This would "work" but care would be needed to avoid moving the valve before the heater has had a chance to cool down. And, the heater would still be in circuit even if the pool was up to temp. The heater, BTW, is an oil fired Laars/Teledyne.
The Intellitouch panel seems to have all of the inputs and all of the outputs I need to make this happen. I just cant see how to program it. I'd imagine a reasonable answer here, is "it cant". I just hope that's not the case.
Pool Clown
In The Industry
You have four places to plug in valve actuators. Two are taken by the pool / spa valve actuators. If you have solar, you may still have one free socket. Plug it in there, then go to menu > setup > advanced > configure valves. and see if there is a circuit name that best describes what you want to call this.
Without having a power center in front of me now, I think you can do it like this, and it'll be a rough program:
make a program for the heater (menu > program > heater) that allows it only to be enabled during a certain period of time each day. then run the bypass valve when the heater isn't enabled. However, this won't be able to detect when the heater cycles off, only when it becomes disabled. (told you, rough...). Now here's the tricky part. You should leave a gap of 5 to 10 minutes between heater disabled and by pass enable, for the heater to cool down before you shut the water off to it. If the heater is running at the time it becomes disabled, and water is stopped, that can become a problem.
You might be able to do something that is more tricked out by using a feature.
Look at your user manual (available online) and read the section on making a feature. If it can be done, thats how. You can call Pentair and have them walk you thru setting one up. If the guy can't help you don't get discouraged, call back and maybe you'll get someone smarter.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
Without having a power center in front of me now, I think you can do it like this, and it'll be a rough program:
make a program for the heater (menu > program > heater) that allows it only to be enabled during a certain period of time each day. then run the bypass valve when the heater isn't enabled. However, this won't be able to detect when the heater cycles off, only when it becomes disabled. (told you, rough...). Now here's the tricky part. You should leave a gap of 5 to 10 minutes between heater disabled and by pass enable, for the heater to cool down before you shut the water off to it. If the heater is running at the time it becomes disabled, and water is stopped, that can become a problem.
You might be able to do something that is more tricked out by using a feature.
Look at your user manual (available online) and read the section on making a feature. If it can be done, thats how. You can call Pentair and have them walk you thru setting one up. If the guy can't help you don't get discouraged, call back and maybe you'll get someone smarter.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
I figured this out.
1. Connect the actuator to intellitouch panel via supplied wire (valve A or B on board).
2. Go to your controller selecting Menu>Setup>Advanced>Valves
3. Select whichever valve you connected the actuator cable to (valve A or B).
4. Select "Heater" from the list.
Instuctions on delays for valves if needed are covered on P.76 of the Intellitouch manual, which also states that Heaters manufactured by Pentair Water Pool and Spa do not require this cool-down period and do not need the delay to be set up.
http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/IntelliTouchUG.pdf
1. Connect the actuator to intellitouch panel via supplied wire (valve A or B on board).
2. Go to your controller selecting Menu>Setup>Advanced>Valves
3. Select whichever valve you connected the actuator cable to (valve A or B).
4. Select "Heater" from the list.
Instuctions on delays for valves if needed are covered on P.76 of the Intellitouch manual, which also states that Heaters manufactured by Pentair Water Pool and Spa do not require this cool-down period and do not need the delay to be set up.
http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/IntelliTouchUG.pdf
This thread helped me out a ton. Thanks everyone for participating and offering their advice. I have both a heat pump and a gas heater and decided to plumb in a bypass. I did exactly what bullngator suggested and used the advice of everyone else also. Because I use my heat pump most of the time I had to choose "SOLAR" in the valves menu. One problem I had was that once programed, the intellitouch didn't want to recognize the valve consistently and would not actuate the valve to the bypass position when the heat pump turned off. After contacting at least 5 different people at tech support that told me I could not accomplish what I was trying to do I happened across a tech that was helpful and said that it was indeed possible. He had me turn the power off to the intellitouch and reboot it. Seems that at times the intellitouch can get confused after changing multiple settings. He also said that the reset button on the front of the panel can serve the same purpose but he generally prefers to just turn the circuit breaker off and turn it back on.
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I'm trying to do the exact same thing and hoping for some input from someone who has made this work.
I have a heater bypass valve installed as described, connected to Valve B on the personality board and assigned to "Heater". The valve activates correctly (closes) during a call for heat, bringing the heater into the circuit and opening once Intellitouch is no longer calling for heat.
However, the valve opens as soon as the Intellitouch stops calling for heat, which doesn't allow the heater any (or very minimal flow) cooldown.
I've tested with "Delay for master" set on and off without any change in behavior.
Is there any way to delay this valve for say 10 minutes?
Thanks
Skip
I have a heater bypass valve installed as described, connected to Valve B on the personality board and assigned to "Heater". The valve activates correctly (closes) during a call for heat, bringing the heater into the circuit and opening once Intellitouch is no longer calling for heat.
However, the valve opens as soon as the Intellitouch stops calling for heat, which doesn't allow the heater any (or very minimal flow) cooldown.
I've tested with "Delay for master" set on and off without any change in behavior.
Is there any way to delay this valve for say 10 minutes?
Thanks
Skip