Both heaters are working and everything is good , was just curious how the heat pump preference mode works or determines which heater to use and is there any settings I can play with ? Couldn’t have installed it without the help of this forum , thank you !
Just added a gas heater inline with heat pump, does anyone know how the heat pump preference mode works?
- Thread starter Mcaveman
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,134
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Please create your signature with details of your pool and equipment.
What automation do you have?
What model HP and gas heater?
How are each connected to the automation?
What automation do you have?
What model HP and gas heater?
How are each connected to the automation?
I’d like to add I’ve called pentair twice to try and get some answers, the heater guys sent me to automation and the automation guys sent me to heaters !?
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,134
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
This is my understanding of how it works with the IntelliCenter…
You can have both a Pentair MasterTemp gas heater and a UltraTemp Heat Pump on a pool. They are plumbed in line and hooked up to the IntelliCenter via RS-485 cable. In the programming you have a choice of heaters for your spa and/or pool.
The automation is supposed to regulate temperature via the heat pump 1st - if it can not maintain temp it reverts to the gas heater. But after that it does not go back to the heat pump to maintain. You have to switch it manually.
www.troublefreepool.com
You can have both a Pentair MasterTemp gas heater and a UltraTemp Heat Pump on a pool. They are plumbed in line and hooked up to the IntelliCenter via RS-485 cable. In the programming you have a choice of heaters for your spa and/or pool.
The automation is supposed to regulate temperature via the heat pump 1st - if it can not maintain temp it reverts to the gas heater. But after that it does not go back to the heat pump to maintain. You have to switch it manually.
Pentair UltraTemp Heat Pump - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
swamprat69
Well-known member
Heat pumps are way more efficient at producing heat than gas heaters. Ideally with a large temperature difference between the starting pool temperature and the pool temperature that you want, you would run both at the same time. Although the heat pump would be adding less heat, it would be doing so at a lower cost. As you approach the pool temperature that you are trying to achieve, the gas heater would drop out. If the heat pump could not maintain the desired temperature, the gas heater would kick back in. I have worked in the controls side of HVAC for many years and many dual fuel home heating systems are controlled in this manner. Controls wise you can even set a variable temperature band between the point where only the heat pump is running and both are running depending on how your controls are set up. Initially dual fuel home systems were set up to disable the heat pump below 30 degrees, but current thinking has lowered the cutoff to 0 degrees or less. Although the heat pump output is much less at lower outdoor temperatures, it is still much more efficient than gas heat.