Any supporters here for pump purchase?

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J

jdskycaster

0
May 8, 2008
42
This site has always been an excellent resource and I purchased my salt system a couple years ago from Florida Pool Heating on recommendation and it was a smooth transaction.

My Hayward Northstar 1.0HP is at end of life and would like to replace it with a Pentair Intelliflo 3. I have 2" equipment piping and 220V to the existing pump and equipment so I am thinking this is an easy swap. Pool is IG 34000 gallon with SWG and full auto safety cover. I do not have any pool automation system, no water features and do not run a cleaner off the main pump. I currently run the Hayward for 10 hours per day and the water is always sparkling.

Any recommendations for purchasing? Which model should I get Intelliflo or Intelliflo VF?

Thanks,
JD
 
I have been extremely happy with my vf, it is overkill unless you live in an area with very high electricity rates, but I enjoy a lot of the features it offers and am glad I went with it anyways. It is programmable, so you don't need a separate timer and the program adjusts itself to maximize efficiency. It tells you when your filter is ready for backwashing. You also have the ability to manually set the pump for a specific flow rate or rpms. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
 
I was looking at the VS spec sheet and it appears that I can also manually set the pump speed. I am leaning this way as initial purchase price looks to be $350 less than the VS. Our pool season here in the midwest is also only 5 months long so this will be sitting idle 7 months out of the year.
 
Given the description of your pool, with no special water flow requirements ... seems like you could easily get most of the electrical savings with a 2-speed pump for a lot lower initial investment.
 
If you get an IntelliFlo, I would get the IntelliFlo Variable Speed, the price difference is too large to justify the additional features of the VF.

Depending on what your electric rates are, you might want to get a two speed pump instead of an IntelliFlo. When electricity costs under $0.20/kwh it is usually more cost effective to get a two speed pump.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. My current rates are .11/kWh

So if I were to go with a two speed and just run it on the lower speed setting which model would you recommend? I was looking at the whisperflo wfds-4 or wfds-26 but the wfds-4 is only $100 less than the intelliflo VS and the wfds-26 is $200 less.

I have also had some feedback from my local pentair dealer that the two speed motors are not as reliable as the single speed or variable speed. Any truth to that?

Really appreciate all the help,

JD
 
Did you have a 1HP or a 1.5HP previously? What was the service factor? your post does not match the signature.
Was it adequate flow?
Was it 120V or 240V?

You can likely get away with smallest 2-speed you can find.
The -4 and -26 are IDENTICAL ... just a different way to play with the HP ratings ... that is likely larger than you need.
The -3 is only 120V

If you are wired for 240V, you likely could use what I just got the 1HP Superflo 2-speed.

I have read here that the variable may not really be as reliable as what the manufacturers claim, but I had not heard anything about the 2-speeds being less reliable.
 
Superflo is just a smaller pump with a lower flow rate.

To stay with 240V you would have to get the Whisperflo -4/26 which is a 1.65 SFHP or the Superflo SF-N2-1A which is a 1.25 SFHP. The Superflo will be cheaper to run, but the flow rate will be lower. IIRC, the numbers from mas985, the Superflo costs less money to run per the amount of water moved.

That Whisperflo is likely larger than you currently have, but it would still be significantly cheaper to run on low speed. The Superflo is likely smaller than you currently have and would likely be cheaper to run on high or low.
 
Another question. If I were to go with the two speed do I wire it to run only in low speed mode or do I need hi speed for priming and backwashing? I ask because the SWG can either switch a single speed pump on and off or a two speed pump between high and low speed.
 

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The Superflo I got (the 1HP) came with a switch install on the back of the motor. So, my timer just turns in on and off and currently I leave it on Low speed. If you were backwashing, you could just flip it to high speed for that. You likely also need to use High speed to prime, but once you do that, the pump should not loose prime after turning off, so starting back up on Low would be fine.

Now that you bring the SWG up, that raises the 1 concern. Does low speed have enough flow to close the flow switch and activate the SWG. In most cases it seems that this is not a problem, but there have been a few posts of issues (although I think many were due to the SWG being installed without the required straight pipe before the flow switch).
 
That would work good if the SF-N2-1A comes with a switch. The documentation on the Pentair site does not mention anything about it though. You do bring up a good point about flow for the Autopilot.

The SF-N2-1A can be had for under $400 right now and that is very tempting unless the VS will save me more than the difference in energy over its lifetime.

JD
 
That is the rub ... given your lost electricity cost it may never save you the price difference. Especially since you may not be able to dial the VS too slow of the SWG may not work ... although it does still save money given the same high flow rates.

There are also a few reports of the VS not lasting as long as expected ... may be flukes, but who knows it is newer technology in the pool industry.

I got mine delivered for $396.

BTW, is the wet end of your pump fine? If it is just the motor going bad, you could replace it with a new 2-speed motor for even less $.
 
I believe the wet end is good but have been told I may have problems in a year or two and it may be better to just replace everything. Any advice on what I should check or replace if I decided to go that route?

Thanks for all the help.
 
There is really not much that can go wrong in the wet end. How does it look? Might want to look at the impeller and see how it looks. Or just get a new impeller for a smaller motor.

You will need a new seal set you you go the motor route.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
Thanks for all of the help. After weighing all of my options I decided to go ahead and order the Intelliflo VS. My goal is to achieve a bit longer run time with lower rpm's to save energy while still getting a full turnover each day. I will report back on my experience with this pump.
 
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