Hotspot FPH plumbing questions

Nov 22, 2020
9
Leander Texas
Pool Size
40000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I am investigating hotspot FPH as my pool is permanently under shade and my super long 70s ranch house uses some level of AC all the time. I have also always been a fan of geosink systems and this appeals to that. I have some plumbing questions though. My pool is huge, like 40k gallons and deeper than most according to my pool guy (I don't pay him, we just drink beer together). It's apparently a feature of diving pools and is around 12ft deep below the board near the drain. It's also up and dug into a hill almost at the roofline of my house. The entire thing is piped with 2" pipe for everything. My two skimmers appear to be plumbed to the 2" in series and another seperate 2" on the main drain. Both come together at my pump that is 2.25hp and a DE filter. The only other pipe I know of is the one used to drive the cleaning bot and it's 1.5". I also have two 2" pipes going out to my jets, four jets on one pipe and two jets on the other. My pool guy estimates my flow should be about 60-70gpm and we run the pump for 12 hours a day, just not while we sleep because it's loud and right outside my bedroom window. To get the water from my pump to the AC units and back again is going to be about 60 feet of pipe. As it is a clean filter is 20psi and a dirty one is at 32psi and the jets hardly move at that point.

Here are my issues
My pump will be on at night since we use the AC pretty much all the time while sleeping but maybe I could live with the noise

The ports on the FPH are 1.5" rather than the 2" run for everything else. Hotspot guys say the restriction is not a big deal. My pool guy advises against it due to extra back pressure, wear on the pump, extra noise etc.

It's a really big pump though and would a smaller quieter be better on power bills. However I think FPH requires the pump be installed after the DE filter (I don't see why but OK). If it could be installed before the filter though I think it would be ideal, no DE filter potentially restricting flow. Would a 2nd smaller pump 40gpm or so on the same main drain and skimmer return as the main pump starve out the main pump?

Background on myself, I am a Wireless and automation engineer and intended on doing all but the AC work myself.
When we bought this house and the pool pretty much everything needed to be rebuilt, which I did thanks to youtube and lurking here. New pump motor, New DE filter cartridge, rebuilt the pool robot, rebuilt multivalve, replaced pool light with 12v RGB LED, replaced chlorinator.
 
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Howdy James,
The FPH guys say I need 38gpm. Installing a variable speed pump is not out of the question. I just had no pool knowledge at the time and replaced the motor with a like one. Give me an idea of how you would install it. I will gladly take notes. Also how would the variable speed one work? FPH advised me to run all the water through the FPH all the time. I advocated diverting part of my main flow into the 1.5" FPH rather than all the water my pump pushes through the 2" like a partly open 3-way valve but FPH said it unnecessary. That still leaves me with questions raised by my pool guy.
 
Ideally, you would run the pool pump at low speed and with the water going through a bypass until the FPH called for heat and then the call for heat would trigger the pump to increase to 38 gpm and the bypass valve to switch positions to make the water go through the FPH.

See the threads by @drglanton


 
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OK so I'm looking into both right now, I can buy a square flange V-Green 2.7 HP which is a little more than my 2.25 single speed. Do I need to go as big as my single speed because if not I could do with a less expensive 1.6hp V-Green (I want a WiFi controllable one). My only concern with going with a smaller unit is I have 2 "air" jets in my pool that are normally off but its a sitting area and I might not be able to drive them as hard (though if I slow my regular jets using a valve they go gangbusters). I have replaced the pump motor and it wasn't that big of a deal, so I am leaning that way. Would you suggest scraping it altogether and going with the Superflo? If going bigger won't hurt anything I would gladly spend a couple hundred extra for peace of mind, especially with the savings I see being gained in just a years usage.


I really want to thank you for taking the time for all this info. I very much appreciate it.
 
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You can go with a variable speed motor or a new pump. I wouldn't downsize because you don't want to risk under sizing the pump.

Ideally, you would want to be able to control the motor speed and possibly a valve actuator for a bypass.

Some variable speed pumps or motors will accept external controls.

The simplest way would be to run about 15 to 20 gpm through the system all the time and have the FPH trigger the pump to ramp up to 38 gpm on call for heat.

Alternatively, if you want a bypass and automatic valve, you might need to go with something that can drive a valve actuator, like a Pentair Solar touch or Suntouch. They can control an Intelliflo pump and change a valve on call for heat like described in the earlier referenced thread.
 
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