Harvey Flooded Pentair Intelliflo VS #011018

dmh

Well-known member
Jun 7, 2015
67
Houston, TX
My Pentair Intelliflo 3-hp VS pump was completely submerged during the Harvey flood event. I opened the line voltage connector box on the pump, dried it out, and fired the pump up. It worked perfectly for a few days. After that, nothing. I disassembled the VS Pump Drive and unfortunately found water damage to the computer board (arcing). Lesson learned---always disassemble and clean before powering up.

I can fix the board myself if the damage is not too severe and I can find the components. In the meantime, is there a way to hardwire the pump to run as a single-speed pump using the 220 V directly from the Pentair sub panel? The VS Pump Drive connects to the pump motor via an odd-looking five-prong connector. The labeling on the connector is not informative about which prongs are line voltage. Because there is no voltage through the Pump Drive, I could not figure the prongs out using a voltmeter.

If someone has done this, please help me out. I don't mind experimenting, but I do not want to fry the pump motor. As I recall, there are three wires to the connector---black, red, and white.

Thanks.
 
Unfortunately no. That isn't a typical induction motor. It has permanent magnets glued to the rotor, and the controller sequentially "pulses" three separate windings to get it to turn. Directly energizing the windings would not only not turn the motor, but it would also burn it out.

I would be concerned about the motor bearings, also. Don't be surprised if the pump motor's life is shortened as well.
 
Thanks for your ultra-fast responses. I appreciate your input.

I guess I will have to bite the bullet and purchase a new pump. That is about $950 out the door, and I haven't even solved my flooded MasterTemp 400 heater issues yet. That could be another $3-4K. But, these are minuscule problems compared to those of my neighbors whose houses were flooded.
 
The motor is a three phase motor. It won't operate on single phase.

The drive converts single phase AC to DC and then to a digital three phase AC with a variable frequency determined by the desired rpm.

The drive uses a Pulse Width Modulated Inverter that uses insulated gate bipolar transistors.
 
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