Guys I have the same pump IntelliFlo VSF. Just got it installed today so don't know much about it yet. The installer set it to 2500 RPM and when I turned on the solar heater , it started gushing out bubbles. It wasn't this way when I had a single speed 2 HP pump. Pool heated up quick and no bubbles. What should I set the RPM to so it will work with the solar heater efficiently?
New Pentair Intelliflo VSF
- Thread starter Flipsonic
- Start date
F,
No one here can tell you for sure, you will have to just experiment and see what works best for you... No two pools are the same..
I would try slower 1500, and then faster 3000, and then adjust up or down to find the lowest speed that works well for your specific set up..
Thanks,
Jim R.
No one here can tell you for sure, you will have to just experiment and see what works best for you... No two pools are the same..
I would try slower 1500, and then faster 3000, and then adjust up or down to find the lowest speed that works well for your specific set up..
Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks. Did just that. Looks like 2800 RPM is the sweet spot. Man but 1137 watts....
Just installed yesterday as my 1 HP WhisperFlo finally died after 14 years. I'm new to the VSF pump but it doesn't seem so complicated after a few hours of playing with it yesterday. I live in Northern California so we get get 5 to 6 months of full sun everyday in late spring and summer months. I have a 15k gallon in ground gunite pool. I use liquid chlorine for sanitation. It doesn't get much traffic anymore since my kids are older now and have other interests. But we do use it during big gatherings a few times in the summer and a few days here and there with my family. There are no trees close to the pool so there isn't much debris that falls in it. Pool pump is located about 40' away from the pool at the same elevation. I do have a solar heater located on the 2nd floor rooftop and after playing with RPM settings yesterday, I found the sweet spot to work with the solar heater at 2800 RPM (1137 watts) no bubbles. I plan to run it at this setting during summer months to heat up the pool.
Now, if you have a better suggestion on how I can minimize my electricity bill while using the solar heater, please suggest. As for non swimming season months, I plan to set the pump at minimum. I'm thinking of running it at night for 10 hours. Maybe even 12 hours. To set to minimum RPM for this, should I just look at the skimmer to make sure it is turning? If there is a better way to test this, please suggest.
P.S. I had the Polaris PB4SQ booster pump installed as well as the old one died years ago. It is connected to a mechanical timer and I'm afraid to use this setup in case there is power outage. In the past, the mechanical timer turned on at unscheduled time due to the power outage and I was out of town. The booster pump ran with the pool pump off. It seems the only way to protect the booster pump is install a timer that will keep the time accurate in case of power outage. Any other ideas?
Now, if you have a better suggestion on how I can minimize my electricity bill while using the solar heater, please suggest. As for non swimming season months, I plan to set the pump at minimum. I'm thinking of running it at night for 10 hours. Maybe even 12 hours. To set to minimum RPM for this, should I just look at the skimmer to make sure it is turning? If there is a better way to test this, please suggest.
P.S. I had the Polaris PB4SQ booster pump installed as well as the old one died years ago. It is connected to a mechanical timer and I'm afraid to use this setup in case there is power outage. In the past, the mechanical timer turned on at unscheduled time due to the power outage and I was out of town. The booster pump ran with the pool pump off. It seems the only way to protect the booster pump is install a timer that will keep the time accurate in case of power outage. Any other ideas?
Here's another question - If I program #5 to run from 10 AM to 4 PM at 2500 RPM, then program #6 to run at the same time at 2000 RPM, I take it the pump will run #5 and ignore #6? This is a hypothetical question.
- May 3, 2014
- 59,017
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Thanks I reprogrammed 5,6, and 7 as follows and I’ll keep it this way for now and see how it turns out. Turns on at 7 pm with speed at 1000 RPM for 10 hours. Then turns on again at 10 AM for an hour at 2200 RPM and at 2 PM for another hour at 2200 RPM. I will reprogram for daytime filtering later to work with solar heater. One question, I can’t seem to get it to show power. It is showing PSI instead. How do I get it to show power?
I figured out how to make it show power. It’s pretty simple. Press the right arrow key until the display shows watts.
Where you really save money is in your everyday filtration and SWG (if you have one). Then you get to set your “just right” solar PSI, instead of your “dumb pump” blasting away at full RPM all the time. My solar bubbles a bit, and I don’t see the harm. But that is a personal thing.
One thing I noticed is with my old pump a dirty filter was obvious due to high pressure, not quite so obvious with my VSF, probably because I’m paying attention to the motor screen now and not the pressure gauge.
One thing I noticed is with my old pump a dirty filter was obvious due to high pressure, not quite so obvious with my VSF, probably because I’m paying attention to the motor screen now and not the pressure gauge.