Need a suggestion of Pentair Pumps

[Eric_yang]

Hi Friends,

I'm using an old 1HP SF1.65 3450RPM single speed star-rite pump (AO Smith motor SQ1102) for my pool and spa. The motor consumes 9.6A max at 230V. The pump runs great but it is noisy and consumes 1.8KW read from the electric meter. I would like to change to the latest VSP with as I heard it runs much more quieter with higher efficiency.

There are three options here;
1) Pentair Intelliflo 011018. This is a very popular and reliable pump and price is good now. However this is a 3HP pump. Probably I need to upgrade my wire gauge. In addition, I'm not sure if using a 3HP pump on my old system plumbing would cause any issue or not.
2) Pentair Intelliflo i1 011059. This pump is more expensive, but it is advertised make retrofit easier since it consumes less than 7A current. It looks I do not need to upgrade any electrical wire or plumbing. I don't see any HP information of 011059, but only GPM curves. I've no idea if the GPM is large enough as a replacement of my current pump.
3) there's also a 011060, which is slightly stronger than 059, consumes 11.8A max current.

Would you recommend to upgrade to 011059 or 011018 with larger wire gauges?

 

[JamesW]

What breaker size is feeding the pump?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Eric,

If you have a 20 amp 220 volt circuit, the IntelliFlo will work just fine...

VS pumps are not like single speed pumps. You can't really have too big a pump.. Big pumps move more water at lowr RPMs so they are more efficient.. The lower the RPM the quieter the pump is..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Eric_yang]

Eric,

If you have a 20 amp 220 volt circuit, the IntelliFlo will work just fine...

VS pumps are not like single speed pumps. You can't really have too big a pump.. Big pumps move more water at lowr RPMs so they are more efficient.. The lower the RPM the quieter the pump is..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the reply!

Would it be possible that with the 011018 pump installed, someone mistakenly set the max RPM and thereby the pump HP is too strong and blow up the plumbing system?

Per Pentair, the 011059 is identical to 011018 except for that the impeller and diffuser size is smaller. Does this mean it requires a different plumbing size comparing to 011018?

My pump is powered with 240V. In the breaker box there are two cascaded 20A red breakers for the pump power. Cascade here means moving one breaker handle can move the adjacent breakerat the same time. I'm not sure if this should be called a 40A breaker or a 20A breaker.

The distance from the breaker box to the pump is about 20 feet, with 12 or 14 AWG. Would the wire is ok enough for running 011018 (16A max)?

Sorry for so many questions... the contractor I asked just told me whichever would work fine.

 

[Eric_yang]

What breaker size is feeding the pump?

I put more details in the above reply. Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Eric,

Sounds like you have a 20 amp breaker which means you have 12 AWG wires..

I have two old pools with 1.5" plumbing that both have the 3 HP IntelliFlo pumps.. They work just fine and they both prime at full speed. It is just not a problem.

If you want to waste your money to buy a lesser pump for more money, so be it.. It just does not make any sense to me.

You are way over thinking this... You tell the pump what speeds to run.. It does not just decide that it wants to run some other speed when it feels like it. Even if it did, it can not generate any where near the pressure needed to cause your plumbing any damage.

The whole point of buying a VS pump is to run slow to save on the electrical bill.. I run my pump at about 1200 RPM most of the time. At that speed my filter pressure is only about 1 lb.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JamesW]

Also, note that the pump has a control panel that allows you to set the maximum speed that the pump can run.

Just set the top speed limit right away and you will be fine with the bigger pump.

Don't get the less powerful pump. You will have to run it faster and it will be noisy.

 

[Pool_Medic]

This is one instance where bigger is better.