Intelliflo VSF setup

[martink]

Mar,

Ahultin is spot on about why you have a constant spillover in the pool mode.

The line in the red circle should have had a Jandy valve as well as the check valve, so that you could adjust the amount of constant spillover or to just shut it off all together.

If you want to just use the the Spillway function in the EasyTouch, you can just remove the guts of the check valve and install the guts of a Jandy diverter valve and just turn it off.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated. What is the benefit I get from shutting off the spillway with pool circulation vs just slowing the pump so spillway would stop provided I meet the required flow

 

[Jimrahbe]

Mar,

The whole point of having a VS pump is to run it as slowly as you can and still get the job done...

Do you have a SWCG (Saltwater pool)? Or (shudder) a tab feeder? Is so you need to run the pump long enough to generate the amount of chlorine your pool needs.. How are you chlorinating your pool water?

You need to run the pump long enough to keep your pool skimmed the way you want. Some people don't care if they have bunch of leaves floating in the pool, and others would have a heart attack..

I run my pump 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM, because I have a SWCG and like generating a little chlorine all the time. I also like skimming all the time. Cost for me to do that is less than $20 bucks a month.

Obviously, you need a speed that makes your spa work the way you want.

I don't have a spa or heater, but if I did I'd have to run a little faster to make the heater work.

The whole point here is that don't shoot for some magic number, just adjust things to make the pool work the way you want it to work.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[martink]

Mar,

The whole point of having a VS pump is to run it as slowly as you can and still get the job done...

Do you have a SWCG (Saltwater pool)? Or (shudder) a tab feeder? Is so you need to run the pump long enough to generate the amount of chlorine your pool needs.. How are you chlorinating your pool water?

You need to run the pump long enough to keep your pool skimmed the way you want. Some people don't care if they have bunch of leaves floating in the pool, and others would have a heart attack..

I run my pump 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM, because I have a SWCG and like generating a little chlorine all the time. I also like skimming all the time. Cost for me to do that is less than $20 bucks a month.

Obviously, you need a speed that makes your spa work the way you want.

I don't have a spa or heater, but if I did I'd have to run a little faster to make the heater work.

The whole point here is that don't shoot for some magic number, just adjust things to make the pool work the way you want it to work.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks, I will start playing around and see what works best.
I have a chlorinator. I read that salt is not good for heater so decided not to change my pool.

I use tabs and shock occasionally with liquid chlorine or granular

I have some other questions about freeze protection specially for the fountain pump as it is constant speed but will leave that to another discussion

 

[mknauss]

I read that salt is not good for heater so decided not to change my pool.

Pools that use salt water for chlorine generation have heaters. With no effect. Mine for instance.

 

[ajw22]

I read that salt is not good for heater so decided not to change my pool.

Every major pool company sells heaters and SWGs.

Do you really think that they would sell a product that damaged another product?

I have had pools with heaters and SWGs for 30 years. Yeah, heaters fail and people look for something to balme the failure on. SWGs are a good stooge to blame it on.

 

[martink]

Every major pool company sells heaters and SWGs.

Do you really think that they would sell a product that damaged another product?

I have had pools with heaters and SWGs for 30 years. Yeah, heaters fail and people look for something to balme the failure on. SWGs are a good stooge to blame it on.

It depends on the heat exchanger material. Mine is copper and it was built with a chlorinator so changing it to salt can easily scale the heat exchanger if ph is not maintained properly. Other heat exchanger materials are more suitable for salt water.

 

[Ahultin]

It depends on the heat exchanger material. Mine is copper and it was built with a chlorinator so changing it to salt can easily scale the heat exchanger if ph is not maintained properly. Other heat exchanger materials are more suitable for salt water.

My pool is salt with a copper heat exchanger. Keep in mind that a chlorine pool with old enough water will approach a "salt" pools salinity anyhow

 

[ajw22]

Mine is copper and it was built with a chlorinator so changing it to salt can easily scale the heat exchanger if ph is not maintained properly.

Explain to me the effect that salt has that causes scaling of a heat exchanger?

Heat exchangers scale from high calcium causing high CSI/LSI in the heater.

CSI and LSI - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Other heat exchanger materials are more suitable for salt water.

What materials are those?

 

[Ahultin]

In addition, not running your spillway all the time will make pH easier to manage salt or no salt

 

[martink]

Explain to me the effect that salt has that causes scaling of a heat exchanger?

Heat exchangers scale from high calcium causing high CSI/LSI in the heater.

CSI and LSI - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

What materials are those?

Cupro nickel and titanium are more resistant to damage. High salinity in water will increase conductivity and can corrode copper.

This is the information I have. May be it is wrong or I am being extra cautious because heaters are very expensive.

 

[HermanTX]

I have a chlorinator. I read that salt is not good for heater so decided not to change my pool.

I use tabs and shock occasionally with liquid chlorine or granular

I live in Katy and have been using a SWCG with no issues with my heater or other equipment. If you do not want to use a SWCG then just convert to Liquid Chlorine full time. Using pucks and granular shock will only cause the chemical balance of your pool to sway a lot. Stick with 1 method of chlorination.

 

[martink]

I live in Katy and have been using a SWCG with no issues with my heater or other equipment. If you do not want to use a SWCG then just convert to Liquid Chlorine full time. Using pucks and granular shock will only cause the chemical balance of your pool to sway a lot. Stick with 1 method of chlorination.

I like the convenience of the pucks instead of adding chloring every couple days. I might reconsider SWCG if it has no effect on pool heater with copper exchangers then if it is tried and tested by other pool owners. it makes pool maintenance much easier

 

[martink]

In addition, not running your spillway all the time will make pH easier to manage salt or no salt

I looked this up and it seems to really have an effect on PH, my PH is always high in the 7.6-7.8 range

 

[martink]

Thanks Everyone for the information, I learned a lot from this thread

 

[Ahultin]

The other thing you could consider to temper your concerns, assuming your heater usage is limited, is installing a heater bypass

Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[martink]

The other thing you could consider to temper your concerns, assuming your heater usage is limited, is installing a heater bypass

Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Heater usage is very limited. Only use it once or twice a year. Bypass is a really good idea and it would save pumping cost as well.

 

[Ahultin]

it would save pumping cost as well.

Yup, I am able to run the pump much slower while bypassed and move the same amount of water. It "should" also add heater longevity.

 

[martink]

I want to give a quick update on what I did for some feedback and to close on the solution for anyone reading this in the future.

I didn't want to change the spillway check valve to shut off valve on the spa spillway. So I kept ramping down the pump until the spring on the check valve was completely shut. Now there is barely flow from the spillway. The low speed setting is now 1700rpm. Consumption went down from 1.25kw to 0.32kw. I still see flow coming out of the pool return jets. I will schedule a pool high speed to chlorinate the spa couple hours a day. This should control some aeration from the spa spillway

Next thing I will do when I have some time is to verify the gpm at this speed setting and other speed settings for my record and that the chlorinator is working. If there is low flow in the chlorinator I will increase the number of pucks. If no flow I will just use liquid chlorine and stop using the chlorinator.

 

[Ahultin]

I will schedule a pool high speed to chlorinate the spa couple hours a day

I beleive it would be of better economy to schedule "spa spillway" a couple times a day so all return flow at that time is going to the spa

Now there is barely flow from the spillway.

I'm not sure what your spillway material is but I would be concerned, based on my perception of Texas weather, that a trickle down the spillway will create a scaling problem from evaporation in the Texas sun.