If you search long enough you will find many unbiased peoples actual energy consumption with the intelliflo at a low speed is the same if not more than the rating on a 2sp. If you look into it enough, you will not find any Pentair data that backs up their claims. They have no postings on energy consumption to compare it to a 2 sp but they do post the energy usage on all of their other pumps. The argument for this is that there are hundreds of speeds so you could not publish this, however they could very easily post data @ 1750 RPM flow and energy consumption in order to compare it to the 2sp. It just seems a little shady to me. Everybody knows that a company can make whatever claims they want since there is rarely any recourse other than a cease and desist order IF they are caught. A variable speed motor is not a new idea or new technology, if it is this good how come every pump isnt one, how come they only have one size, how come every other competitor isnt jumping all over it? Hayward now has one, fine, this was in reaction to Pentair convincing energy boards to require them since they were the only game in town. As far as using this pump for multiple functions, it is not efficient at high speeds. At max speed its on paper consumption is 3680 where a 2.5 uprated whisperflo 2 sp is 2530. Whats often overlooked is that you dont get good mixing of the water or skimming at too low of a speed, you still have to run the Intelliflo faster at some point during the day which is never calculated in these exagerated claims. Its not an inefficient pump by any means, its just very overrated.
Variable speed pump electrical savings
- Thread starter kamoo
- Start date
Your claims are just as vague as Penair's. Do you have pointers to user comparisons or test data to back up your statements?
Several people here have posted significant electrical savings. At the same time I haven't seen anything to back up Pentair's claim of 90% savings. The big win with the IntelliFlo is when you can run at power levels lower than a 2 speed on low, which is a fairly common situation. Savings I have seen reported measured in the 50% range.
Several people here have posted significant electrical savings. At the same time I haven't seen anything to back up Pentair's claim of 90% savings. The big win with the IntelliFlo is when you can run at power levels lower than a 2 speed on low, which is a fairly common situation. Savings I have seen reported measured in the 50% range.
Well the Intelliflow is great for my situation. I use time of day electric which is expensive during the day and cheap at night. I can use the variable speed to run just enough flow to go through the pair of 2' by 20' ground mounted solar panels during the day and then run for 12 hours at night at whatever speed is needed to get me one turnover in 24 hours. Perfect and most cost effective.
Further two speeds do not let you control flow. As filter pressure rised your flow drops. With the Intelliflow you can tell it how many gallons you want pumped and it will constantly adjust the rpm to give you that total flow.
Further two speeds do not let you control flow. As filter pressure rised your flow drops. With the Intelliflow you can tell it how many gallons you want pumped and it will constantly adjust the rpm to give you that total flow.
I get roughly 50% savings, but that's because I have solar panels with a minimum flow rate requirement when the solar is on. Without those, I'd have around 80% savings. It's true that at lower flow rates, there isn't much suction at the skimmer so I don't get as good skimming as I used to, but I'd rather save the $700 per year and live with the low-speed side effects. I think it's true that for most people, a 2-speed is far better than 1-speed and that incrementally going to the Intelliflo is less of a jump, but I'm still happy with my purchase.
Richard
Richard
Do they actually have peak and off peak rates in NJ?? Your meter would have to be set up for this and from a consumers standpoint, electric costs the same at any point except in very very few areas of the country.
kamoo said:
New York State has 11 zones inwhich power cost are not the same.
http://www.nyiso.com/public/market_data/zone_maps.jsp
kamoo said:
They have in New York State. I was on "Time of Use" for years when Niagara Mohawk was my power supplier. They let me alone even thou I beat them at their own game. When National Grid bought out Niagara Mohawk, they kicked me off of "Time of Use". It was nice while I was on.
Now, I can get back on it, but the savings won't be as good.
Of course I spent 37 years working for a major electrical producer and shipper and the last 25 years as a Senior System Operator. :lol:
We are on time of use here in Maryland. It used to be optional and we actually opted to get it as soon as it became available. It is now becoming mandatory and all the meters are getting replaced over the next few years.
kamoo said:
Sure do, and almost anyone can more than break even with little effort. If you work at it you can save big bucks. I actually have four registers on my meter since I have a 10KW solar array on my roof. I peak-In, Peak-Out, offpeak-In and offpeak-out. In the last 4 years we have never had any net purchases of on-peak power.
- May 3, 2007
- 16,823
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
I did this analysis some time ago which shows the best that a pump can do in terms of GPM/kW. Each pump is operated at the Best Efficiency Point (BEP) and shown on the graph. It is pretty clear to me that the Intelliflo is the most efficient at all but the highest RPMs which are rarely used.
Thanks for the info mas, this is the first time I have read anything about the efficiency of that pump backed up with anything relative to other pump choices. In your opinion for a 12k gallon pool w/ SWG, would the Intelliflo or 2sp be a better choice for filtering only, no water features, no spa? A 2sp 1.5 whisperflo is rated at only 3amps/230v on low speed, that is very efficient. I still find it hard to believe you would get much improvement over that. What do you think?
- May 3, 2007
- 16,823
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
You will get an improvement over the 1/2 speed Whisperflo. Here is an example using my plumbing.
With the Whisperflo 1 1/2 HP pump at 1/2 speed, I estimate that the pump will use about 740 Watts. This is lttle higher than 3 * 230 because the actual energy consumption depends on head loss and GPM and the way I model energy consumption. This occurs at 45 GPM and 17' of head.
To get the same flow rate from the Intelliflo, you will need to run it at 1596 RPM. That speed uses about 320 Watts or a reduction of 57%! The efficiency gets even better at lower RPM until about 800-900 RPM and then starts to decline.
These numbers are estimates only and your results may vary but I think in most cases this pump will save on energy consumption. However, there may be situations where you do not want to run at the lowest RPM such as a solar system.
With the Whisperflo 1 1/2 HP pump at 1/2 speed, I estimate that the pump will use about 740 Watts. This is lttle higher than 3 * 230 because the actual energy consumption depends on head loss and GPM and the way I model energy consumption. This occurs at 45 GPM and 17' of head.
To get the same flow rate from the Intelliflo, you will need to run it at 1596 RPM. That speed uses about 320 Watts or a reduction of 57%! The efficiency gets even better at lower RPM until about 800-900 RPM and then starts to decline.
These numbers are estimates only and your results may vary but I think in most cases this pump will save on energy consumption. However, there may be situations where you do not want to run at the lowest RPM such as a solar system.
