Help me understand and configure Pentair pool equipment + screenlogic app settings

[wavyphotons]

Hi folks,
We bought a house that has a pool + spa and Pentair equipment. Our pool guy is a bit confused about the setup too (he's going to do research or I'll get a different person) and I'm also trying to learn everything myself. I'm not sure how everything is hooked up and while playing with the screenlogic config app, i may have screwed things up. The equipment was working fine except today. We noticed a few issues so let me explain a bit more.

Our setup: pool + spa/hot tub connected. About 20,000 gallon pool .

We have variable flow pump and a whisper pump, heater and in line chlorinator (see photos).
We would like:
* Pool low and pool high settings and a schedule for these.
* Separate spa heat settings (and jets and whatnot)
* Pool heating (and it should turn on pump on high ideally automatically).
* There's also waterfall and lights hooked up.

I'm not able to make sense of screenlogic config/ settings and today it's running in pool low mode but no water seems to be visible in the pump lines (see photos).

Is there someone who can help me configure/ teach me ? I'm happy to pay and maybe we can do a quick video call + remote access to screenlogic?

I just got the sutro as well and would like to understand maintenance to myself too. So understanding the pool equipment will be a great first start.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jimrahbe]

W,

You've got a couple of pieces of equipment that might get in your way...

You have an IntelliFlo pump with the SVRS option. The regular IntelliFlo is the "gold standard" of pool pumps. The SVRS option not so much. It is designed to shut off if it sees any surge in pressure. I joke that my SVRS pump will shut off if my next-door neighbor just passes a little gas. But it is true that unless I pay attention it will shut my pump off whenever it feels like it. If I shut off my filter air relief valve too quickly, the pump will shut off.. If I turn on my waterfall when the water is a little low, the pump will shut off. Etc.

You have a PSL4 EasyTouch,,, the "L" stands for lite as in lite salad dressing that no one can eat.

The lite version EasyTouch has only 4 schedules and 2 Feature Circuits. It also has no load center for all your circuit breakers. ScreenLogic will let you enter a billion schedules, but it never tells you that only the first 4 will work.

The IntelliFlo pump is controlled by an RS-485 cable that you can see goes into the side of the pump. You set speeds for the IntelliFlo by assigning the speed you want to run to a "Circuit". Each circuit can only have one speed.

Your EasyTouch comes with the following circuits:

Pool
Spa
Aux 1
Aux 2
Aux 3
Feature 1
Feature 2

You can Name a Circuit anything you want, but it will always be one of the above circuits. As an example... You can name Aux 1 as "Lights". That lets you know what the circuit does, but the EasyTouch will always see it as "Aux 1.

You can also set up Circuit Functions, but as a general rule it is better to leave it set to generic, except of lights.

If you look at the top of the following screenshot, you can see how the "Circuit" relates to the "Circuit Name" and "Circuit Function"

Set up page 2.JPG

• Jimrahbe
• Jun 8, 2020

If you look at the following screenshot, you can see how each Circuit can have a pump speed assigned...

Set up page 4.JPG

• Jimrahbe
• Apr 19, 2019

You have two automated valves.. The "Intake" valve that is in front of your pump and your "Return" valve that is after the heater.

In the Pool mode, the Intake valve moves so that it sucks water from the Pool and the Return valve moves so that the water goes back to the Pool.
In the Spa mode, the Intake valve moves so that it sucks water from the Spa and the Return valve moves so that the water goes back to the Spa.

That should get you started..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[wavyphotons]

Thank you! That's very helpful and i like your sense of humor!

Quick questions: is there a difference between aux and features in what each can do? I would like to do: lights, pool low (speed), pool high, pool heat , spa , spa heat.

I also have an air blower ( i guess that's for jets) and separate pump (whisper) for waterfalls.

Any insights on how I can configure these?

 

[Jimrahbe]

W,

Aux Circuits have relays and Feature Circuits do not. So, if you want to control say, a single speed pump, you'd have to use an Aux circuit with a relay to control the voltage going to that pump. Feature circuits are for things that do not need a relay, like changing IntelliFlo pump speeds, and moving valve actuators.

Just a heads up.. Your system has 4 relays, but the relay in the upper left is called the Pump/Filter relay and it operates differently. It will only close when the main pool pump is supposed to run and the system is in the Pool or Spa mode. The other three Aux relays can be configured by you.

Keep in mind that you only have 4 schedules. As a silly example... If you wanted your pump to come on at 4 different times during the day, that would take all 4 of your schedules. Basically you can only automate 4 things, once a day.

You can manually turn other things on and off.

Also, there is something called egg-timers. This allows you to manually turn on a circuit and it will shut off after the egg-timer times out. The problem here is that each egg-timer, not set to the default of 12 hours, counts as one of your 4 schedules.

Thanks,

Jim R.