Help. New pump recomendations needed

[lungs414]

I have a 28K gallon in ground vinyl pool. I just bought a heat siphon z700, yet to be installed. I have an aquacomfort salt generator,replacing with a Jandy 1400. Waiting for delivery of both. My pool plumbing consists of two skimmers, two returns, single main drain, 2 stairjets for bubbles and a dedicated return for a polaris 380 cleaner.
I currently have a 1 1/2 HP hayward pump, and a hayward DE 48 filter. When I use the polaris I have to choke the pool return back to enable the polaris to work properly.
My electric rates in Suffolk county Long Island are about >.20/kwh. The pump is 6 years old makes a lot of noise and given my set-up slightly undersized and expensive. I am interested in the Pentair energy efficient models and was wondering what the experts would recommend. I also have an intermatic timer.
Thanks and looking forward to any and all help received.
Thanks
Rich

 

[mas985]

The Pentair Intelliflo 011018 has a built in timer which would allow you to program it that way. But you would probably need to switch flow rate manually for your different features. The ideal solution is to get a controller with it but then you will be spending a lot of money.

Also, if you are running the cleaner most of the time, don't expect to save much in energy costs. At most maybe 10%. Because the cleaner requires high pressure, the Intelliflo will need to be set at a similar operating point as your old pump. The only time the Intelliflo will save in energy costs is when you run it on lower speeds but then your skimmers and cleaner will not work very well. So low speed will primarily be used for chlorination and filtration.

 

[Pool Builder east]

I would recommend the Hayward EcoStar Variable speed pump. It comes with a built in time clock, and you can set it to run at high speed for 2 hours a day to run your Polaris cleaner. The rest of the time, you could program it to run at any other speed you want. It is completely variable. So It has up to 8 different timeclock settings you can run it at. Start it at high speed, and lower it later in the day to keep the water turning. Then have it raise back up to skim the surface. You can program up to 8 different changes and never have to move. Best of all it has a removable control drive panel from the pump, so you can mount it on the wall away from your pool pad, and use it as a mini controller for your pool. All included in the price. If you want to control all your valves and heater options, you can buy the Hayward OnCommand and control everything from a remote like on your TV. The other option is the Pentair unit that was previously recommended, that will work as well, but it doesn't have all the extras that come with the Ecostar. The Ecostar is like a pump and mini controller all in one. I have sold and installed both and they both work fine.

 

[PSW]

If you have a polaris 380...then you should have a booster pump running your cleaner. Are you sure you don't have a 360? (no booster pump requierd)

As for pump, I second mas...I love the Pentair Intelliflo 011018

 

[mas985]

The Pentair 011018 should have nearly the same features as the EcoStar. It has 8 programmable speeds all with timers as well. About the only advantages that I know of with the Ecostar is the removable control panel and it is slightly more efficient at lower speeds. The downside of the Ecostar is that does not have as much field time as the Intelliflo so reliability is somewhat of a question mark.