New Pentair Intelliflo vsf with Mechanical Timer

[RunnerR1]

Hello All,

First time posting here, but I have been on the site many times to get input from others. So today my pool guy installed a new Pentair Intelliflo VSF pool pump for my salt system pool, as the old pump died. He set-up an egg timer to demonstrate the heater and the salt system work, and left. I just found out that he has removed the "off arm" of my mechanical timer, so that mechanical timer is always feeding power and is on, but since the pool pump is off, the heater and the salt system are technically on (with all lights for both on, including the red "service" lights on each), but since the pool pump is not running, neither are the heater and salt systems running.

What do you guys recommend I do? I don't want to spend thousands (not sure on pricing) on changing everything to do with the electrical box. Is there something I can do with my current set-up to make sure I don't potentially fry the circuit boards on the heater and salt system since they are both technically on but not running?

He set the pool pump to essentially run from 12AM to 9:59AM.

TIA

 

[PoolGate]

Being "on" does not hurt your heater or SWG. They both have internal flow/pressure switches which they use to determine whether they should run or not. However, it is not recommended to use these as the primary safety mechanisms. Variable speed pumps are designed to be always powered on and controlled by their electronics as to speed. I am not sure about that pump but some VSPs have relay outputs to turn on/off external systems like heaters and SWGs when the pump is operating at an appropriate speed. And a lot of that is controlled with automation. Someone else will come along with advice on how to operate your system moving forward.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I am assuming your pump, heater, and SWG are all connected into the timer.

What the “pool guy” who is not an electrician should have done was move the pump power wires from the LOAD terminals on the timer to the LINE terminals. That will give continuous power to the pump. Then put the arms in the timer to synch up the pump timer with the mechanical timer.

Get an electrician to make the changes if you can not.

 

[Jimrahbe]

R1,

The IntelliFlo pump is supposed to get constant AC power, so that part is right. But the salt cell is not supposed to get any power, and all the lights should be off, when the pump is not running.

Your installer just took the easy way out by removing the timer dogs. What should have been done is that the wires going to the pump should have been moved from the load side of the timer to the line side. This would provide constant power to the pump. Then the SWCG's power supply should be wired to the load side of the timer. You then set up a schedule inside the Pump's control panel and set the timer to run "inside" the pump's schedule. As an example.. Set the pump to run from 7 am until 7 pm at say 1500 RPM. Then set the timer to run the SWCG from 8 am unit 6 pm.. This ensures that the pump will be on when the SWCG on...

Keep in mind that I used 1500 RPM as an example.. When generating chlorine, you need to run fast enough to close the SWCG's flow switch (red light on cell) and when using the heater, you need to run fast enough to close the pressure switch to make the heater work.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[RunnerR1]

Thanks all for the replies. Seems I need to find an electrician...

 

[chiefwej]

Moving two wires from the load terminals to the line side is a fairly simple task. But, they must be the right two wires and the right terminals. So, as with any electrical wiring, if you don’t know what you are doing, find someone who does.