freeze detection and pumps noisy overnight

[aknpool]

The freeze detect came on last night and the pool/spa pumps kept alternating (someone told me every 15 minutes). The spa drained out and started filling up again (loud water filling noise). The pump was also very noisy. In the morning - the spa was drained out and the pump got reset.

(1) Is the spa draining out and pump resetting normal?

(2) I have the Pentair Intellicenter - is there a way to increase this interval to 30 minutes. I couldn't find the option on the Pentair Intellicenter menu or the smartphone app.

(3) Is there an option to prevent the spa draining out completely?

(4) Can i reduce the rpm of the pump to reduce noise for freeze detect? I see forums talking about it but also says this is all hardwired into the pump. I don't see any options on the Pentair Intellicenter.

 

[JJ_Tex]

For question #1, no that is not normal. I suspect you have the spa drains open but the actuator for the spa returns is not returning the water to the spa.

Does your spa mode work fine? I would try double checking today by running it in spa mode for 30 minutes, monitoring it to make sure the spa is not draining during this time. If spa mode works fine, then it is some sort of issue with your freeze protection setup.

On #4, yes, you can simply reduce the pump speed on pool and spa modes, but I think you have a bigger issue tied to #1 and need to get that fixed and it will likely resolve any noise you are hearing (likely from the pump not getting water, which is not good).

 

[Jimrahbe]

akn,

You can set a pump speed for "freeze" to run.

I believe that the 15 min. period is fixed..

I don't understand why your spa is draining..

In Austin, I'm not sure that you even need to have the spa under freeze control.

I find that freeze control comes on at way too high of a temp.. It is controlled by the Air Temp probe.. I just re-calibrated the probe so that my freeze control comes on right about 31 or 32 degrees.. My pump run 24/7 anyway, I only use freeze control to run on an oil heater in my equipment shed..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[aknpool]

Thanks gentleman. It snowed in Austin last few days and temperature dropped down to 30's yesterday night - not normal.

OK - now that I know (1) is not supposed to happen - I will start investigating. I know the spa mode was operational a few weeks ago - I had the heater on and spa mode turned on and everything was good.

I did wake up yesterday night and tried to turn off spa mode on the app, this caused the pool mode to turn on and I forcibly turned that off as well. I am wondering - I somehow might have put in a bad state.

 

[JJ_Tex]

Do you know how many actuators you have? You should at least have one on the returns that switches between the pool and spa returns, then another one that does the same on the drains to switch between spa and pool.

If you are in doubt, take a picture of your equipment pad for us.

 

[rphpool]

I have Pentair equipment also and mine does the same thing in freeze mode. Spa emptying half way and refilling. The good thing is no pipes are freezing up.

 

[rcerf]

Like yours , my freeze protection has been kicking on and running all night. Mine will run for 30 minutes in spa mode and 30 minutes in pool mode. Depending how long the freeze protection runs for , my elevated spa will drain down into the pool. What happens is when it switches between spa and pool , the pump shuts down and the actuators move for the next cycle. When this happens , there is a few seconds where all the the pipes in the three way valves are open. With the spa being higher than the pool , the water flows back to the pool. Each time it cycles you lose a small amount of water , but over the span of hours it adds up. Since your freeze protection cycles every 15 minutes, yours will lose water at a faster rate.

My freeze protection is set to come on at 38 degrees air temperature. That’s the default setting, but it can be adjusted. I agree with Jim , I think that’s to high. Down closer to 32 would still protect everything and not run for so long.

 

[rphpool]

I agree with the setting being to high. I might try wrapping something around the sensor to make it not so sensitive.

 

[Dirk]

As you all are exploring what's what, keep in mind that there are two freeze protections. One is in the IntelliCenter, using the air temp sensor. But there is another one in the pump. It's temp sensor is located internally, near the motor. That protection is designed to protect the pump and its electronics, and I'm pretty sure it will override the IntelliCenter's settings. I know in my EasyTouch there are no settings to control my pump's freeze protection, that's accessed through the pump's interface.

So even if you lower the freeze protection threshold in IntelliCenter, I believe the pump's freeze protection threshold will override it, so you'd need to adjust both. There is an RPM setting as well, in both the IntelliCenter and the pump, and I think there, too, the pump's RPM setting overrides the IntelliCenter's. Or you could defeat the pump's protection altogether (which I wouldn't recommend, because it's a good redundancy system to leave in place). The how-to for all that is in the pump's owner's manual.