I posted the other day about issues with my Intellichlor IC40. I decided to buy a new one since I suspect the one I had is dead. The new one arrived yesterday and I installed it and everything seemed fine. Later in the evening I noticed the flow light was red. I looked a little closer and the pump was off. That seemed odd but I don’t usually stalk the pump so I chalked it up to weird but not understandable. Well I just took a look and everything is off as it should be except the Intellichlor. I pressed the less button and the flow light is still red and the salt lights are flashing like it’s reading the level. I’m pretty sure the old one turned off when the pump turned off. I literally removed the old one and put the new one in its place. I did not touch the power center wiring or anything like that. It was showing high salt but I haven’t had a chance to drain anything yet. Could that be messing things up? What the heck is going on? I’m probably going to call the pool company tomorrow and schedule the guy to come out but I thought I would ask here in the meantime.
New Intellichlor IC40 won’t turn off
- Thread starter AZLynn
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 58,369
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Do you have automation? The IC must be controlled by an Easytouch automation or have a timer dedicated to it so that it is powered off when the pump is scheduled to be off.
I do not have an easy touch. All I did was remove the old one and put in the new one. When I had the new pump installed the old timer stays on all the time and the new pump has scheduled on off times so basically it is the timer too now. Maybe I did something wrong with that when I swapped them out. I don’t fully understand the new pump. The pool company guy programmed it and i thought I understood how to stop it and restart it but now I’m thinking I don’t. I turned off all the breakers for now because I don’t want anything to blow up while I’m sleeping or at work tomorrow.
- May 3, 2014
- 58,369
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
With how you describe your system, the IC is powered all the time. So the old cell, as the new one, would be showing a red light on flow with the pump not running. That set up is not advisable. You should have the IC power supply run through the timer and the pump wiring direct wired. The pump is designed to have power to it continuously. You use the scheduler on the pump to set rpm and times of operation.
Lynn,
The likelihood of an explosion is very rare so I would not worry about an immediate explosion. But, they have happened, so it makes sense to have your old timer only power the cell's power center when the pump is scheduled to run.
The easiest way to do that is to connect the pump to the line side of the timer, so that it gets constant AC power and have the power center connected to the load side of the same timer. All it takes is to move two wires, so it should be a quick and easy change.
Let's say you run the pump from 7 am until 7 pm... This schedule would be inside the pump.. You would then set the timer to run the SWCG from 8 am until 6 pm at the timer.. this allows you some error in timing..
Thanks,
Jim R.
The likelihood of an explosion is very rare so I would not worry about an immediate explosion. But, they have happened, so it makes sense to have your old timer only power the cell's power center when the pump is scheduled to run.
The easiest way to do that is to connect the pump to the line side of the timer, so that it gets constant AC power and have the power center connected to the load side of the same timer. All it takes is to move two wires, so it should be a quick and easy change.
Let's say you run the pump from 7 am until 7 pm... This schedule would be inside the pump.. You would then set the timer to run the SWCG from 8 am until 6 pm at the timer.. this allows you some error in timing..
Thanks,
Jim R.
okay so it’s entirely possible I have no idea what I’m talking about here but here is what I think I know.
I used to have a whisperflo single speed pump. It was connected to the intermatic timer. Your basic pool pump timer. I had two little things on the timer that said on and off. When it hit the off one it turned everything off. When it hit the on it turned everything on. Pretty simple. I know the Intellichlor turned off at the same time.
In January of this year the pump quit so the pool company hooked up this fancy two speed pump with programming in the pump. It’s an Intelliflo VSF or something like that. The pool guy said I didn’t need those things on the intermatic timer anymore because the new pump would control everything. He said the new pump even has freeze protection so I don’t need to manually turn the pump on when it’s going to be below freezing anymore. He set it up so it’s on for several hours a day and runs at low speed most of the time but high speed for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. I have read the manual and don’t understand it. I promise I’m not stupid but I’m not sure I know how to properly start and stop it when I need to. With the old one I simply flipped a switch when I needed it on or off. I suppose I could do the same now for off since the intermatic timer is still hooked up but that won’t help me turn it on if I want to turn it on after it’s scheduled to be off. I thought it turned everything off when it went off but now I’m not sure and I’m wondering if that had anything to do with my old salt cell quitting. Probably not but again I don’t understand the new pump. Another thing is I’m pretty sure he told me to leave those little things off the intermatic timer because it would turn everything off and the freeze protection part wouldn’t work then.
So did he hook it up wrong or am I totally confused? This is the same company who built the pool for the previous owner. The company has been around since the 1980s. He was with the company when the pool was built because he remarked on it when he inspected the pool before I bought the house. I think the pool is about 12 years old so he has plenty of experience.
I used to have a whisperflo single speed pump. It was connected to the intermatic timer. Your basic pool pump timer. I had two little things on the timer that said on and off. When it hit the off one it turned everything off. When it hit the on it turned everything on. Pretty simple. I know the Intellichlor turned off at the same time.
In January of this year the pump quit so the pool company hooked up this fancy two speed pump with programming in the pump. It’s an Intelliflo VSF or something like that. The pool guy said I didn’t need those things on the intermatic timer anymore because the new pump would control everything. He said the new pump even has freeze protection so I don’t need to manually turn the pump on when it’s going to be below freezing anymore. He set it up so it’s on for several hours a day and runs at low speed most of the time but high speed for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. I have read the manual and don’t understand it. I promise I’m not stupid but I’m not sure I know how to properly start and stop it when I need to. With the old one I simply flipped a switch when I needed it on or off. I suppose I could do the same now for off since the intermatic timer is still hooked up but that won’t help me turn it on if I want to turn it on after it’s scheduled to be off. I thought it turned everything off when it went off but now I’m not sure and I’m wondering if that had anything to do with my old salt cell quitting. Probably not but again I don’t understand the new pump. Another thing is I’m pretty sure he told me to leave those little things off the intermatic timer because it would turn everything off and the freeze protection part wouldn’t work then.
So did he hook it up wrong or am I totally confused? This is the same company who built the pool for the previous owner. The company has been around since the 1980s. He was with the company when the pool was built because he remarked on it when he inspected the pool before I bought the house. I think the pool is about 12 years old so he has plenty of experience.
Lynn,
With a single speed pump, both the pump and SWCG ran off of the same timer.. Very simple...
With a VS pump, the pump now gets constant power.. The installer simple removed the on/off dogs to make this happen. He is now relying on the flow switch to keep the cell from working.
All he needs to do is come out and move the wires going to the pump from the load side of the timer to the line side of the timer.. This will give the pump constant power. Then he needs to put the on/off dogs back on the timer... this will turn the SWCG on only when the pump is supposed to be running. He will need to set the timer so that it is only on when the pump is supposed to be on with a little bit of slop on the start and stop times to allow for any timing errors.
While he is there doing that, have him show you how to control your pump from the pump's control panel..
Thanks,
Jim R.
With a single speed pump, both the pump and SWCG ran off of the same timer.. Very simple...
With a VS pump, the pump now gets constant power.. The installer simple removed the on/off dogs to make this happen. He is now relying on the flow switch to keep the cell from working.
All he needs to do is come out and move the wires going to the pump from the load side of the timer to the line side of the timer.. This will give the pump constant power. Then he needs to put the on/off dogs back on the timer... this will turn the SWCG on only when the pump is supposed to be running. He will need to set the timer so that it is only on when the pump is supposed to be on with a little bit of slop on the start and stop times to allow for any timing errors.
While he is there doing that, have him show you how to control your pump from the pump's control panel..
Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks for the info. He did show me how but I didn’t write it down. Would it be feasible to have the easytouch added? I have no idea how much that costs. I guess what I’m asking is should I do that? If I should why would the previous owner not add it when the pool was built? Is it a lot more expensive?
Lynn,
An EasyTouch, with ScreenLogic, would be $1,500 bucks to buy and $500 or more to install.. Unless you are "into" automation, it would be a lot of money for little gain in your case..
Just for interest here are a couple of screenshots from my ET.. You can see where you can control the pump speed, set up schedules for what you want to run, and adjust the IC40's output and check on the salt level... You can see this info, and more, on your PC, tablet or phone.
View media item 1962
View media item 1963
Thanks,
Jim R.
An EasyTouch, with ScreenLogic, would be $1,500 bucks to buy and $500 or more to install.. Unless you are "into" automation, it would be a lot of money for little gain in your case..
Just for interest here are a couple of screenshots from my ET.. You can see where you can control the pump speed, set up schedules for what you want to run, and adjust the IC40's output and check on the salt level... You can see this info, and more, on your PC, tablet or phone.
View media item 1962
View media item 1963
Thanks,
Jim R.