New pool owner stumped with heat pump settings

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bertschb

bertschb

Bronze Supporter
Dec 11, 2021
392
Arizona
Pool Size
13600
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I've been a pool owner for six weeks now and thanks to this forum and a gazillion hours of research and YouTube videos, I'm pretty comfortable with my pool now with one exception - the heater! I have a Pentair UltraTemp 127k BTU heat pump heater (model 460965). I naively thought that to turn the heat pump on I would go into my EasyTouch remote and enable the Heat Pump and since it was set to 86 degrees, it would start up. No dice. I then decided to go the pool control panel and press the "Heat" button. No dice. I then fiddled with the control panel on the heat pump to no avail. After 30 minutes of pressing buttons and changing setting the heat pump started and I pressed so many buttons I'm not even sure what did the trick. I let it run for several hours yesterday before I shut it off before going to bed due to low overnight temps here (40's).

Fast forward to today and I again stupidly thought I could press the heater button on the control panel to turn the heat on. Nope. 15 minutes later I decided to turn the pump on and shortly after that, the heat pump started. So it appears the pump must be turned on for the heater to work. I thought pressing the "Heat" button would start the pump AND turn the heat pump on but it doesn't.

My first question is how do I get the "Heat" button at the control panel to run the "Heat" pump setting and turn the heat pump on?

My other observation is the setting on the Easy Touch remote seem to be randomly changing. For example, Under Heat/Pool/Heat - it now says "GasHeater" but on the main screen it says "HTPUMP" in the upper right corner. I've never selected "GasHeater". Only "HeatPump". If I change the Heat/Pool/Heat to "HeatPump" then back out to the main screen it shows "Heater" in the upper right corner. What the heck? Also, what is "HeatPump prf"? I saw that yesterday at one point I think after the heat pump finally started running.

OK, here's more. Just went out and saw heat pump wasn't running. Changed Heat/Pool/Heat back to HeatPump (it was "Heater" even though I've never selected that because it's for gas heaters) and the heat pump started running again. Went inside and checked the EasyTouch remote. It shows HTPUMP in upper right corner of main screen but when I go to Heat/Pool/Heat it says "Hybrid". I've never selected Hybrid. What the heck is going on? I'm going crazy.

I apologize for all these random comments. I'm just really stumped on how to configure this heat pump. What I was expecting was to enable or disable the heat pump from Settings/HeatPump Com/Settings/Enable and then press the "Heater" button on the control panel at the pool or alternatively, program the Aux3 button on my EasyTouch remote to enable the heater and start the pump at the (2,000rpm) Heat Pump setting.

For those of you with a Pentair Heat Pump heater, how do you start/stop it?
 
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Brian,

I do not have a heater, or heat pump, so what I know about them is limited. That said, the basic concept of Pentair and heater is that you do not punch a bunch of buttons to get the heater to come on, you simply turn the desired temperature of the EasyTouch up to the set point you want, and the heater should start heating.

Pretty much common sense that the main pool pump has to be running for the heater to work at all. The EasyTouch has pump speed options that will start the pump and run it at a specific speed when the EasyTouch calls for heat. They are called "on with heat"

Who installed your EasyTouch and why do you not have them come program how you want your EasyTouch to work?

Here is an example of heater speeds..


Heater Speed.PNG

Heater Speed.PNG



Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Who installed your EasyTouch and why do you not have them come program how you want your EasyTouch to work?
Click to expand...
We bought our house in late December with the pool already installed and presumably programmed by the pool builder. I have since changed the EasyTouch programming by adding second pool and cleaner schedules, adjusting pump speeds and run times and programmed the Aux3 circuit on the EasyTouch remote. That was all easy. Nothing about getting my heater to run has been easy or intuitive and the EasyTouch remote settings get switched to things I never selected (like the "Hybrid" heater setting).

I guess I need to research how to program the "Heater" button on the main panel at the pool. What I expect that button to do is turn on the existing Heater circuit at the existing pump heater RPM setting (2,000) and then turn on the heater.

OK, how about this to simplify my question - what is the heater button on the main EasyTouch control panel supposed to do when you press it? Mine does nothing.
 
Brian,

My EasyTouch manual says...

"Heater (Flame) button/LED: This button is only used in “Service” mode for manual heat on and off control. The Heater LED will be on if “Heater” is enabled in the “Heat” menu setting (see page 25). Switching the heater on automatically controls the output between a “forced off” state and a normal automatic thermostatic control operating state. The heater will continue heating the water until the heater’s current highest set point temperature triggers the heater sensor (approximately 104° F). Note that the Heater button does not activate the pump. Do not activate the heater without running the pump. The heater will not run if water flow is not detected."

If I had the direct answer to your question, I'd share it, but without a heater I lack the experience to point you in the right direction.

Maybe the heater manual might have some pointers???

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jim

I was just going to re-read the EasyTouch manual so you saved me some time. Thank you!

Since the Heater button on the main control panel doesn't activate the pump, it won't work as I intended so that's out. I did read the owners manual for the heat pump but that didn't help. I'll continue to research this and figure out why my EasyTouch is changing values on it's own and also how to operate the heater as I want. I'll start by trying to reprogram the Aux3 button on my EasyTouch remote and see if I can get that to work.

What I'd like is to have the Aux3 button:
1- Start the pump at 2,000rpm (that pump circuit already exists and is called "Solar/Heat")
2- Turn on the heater (this assumes the heater is enabled)
 
Update - sort of:
As I was going through my EasyTouch remote settings, I noticed that UltraTempeti was enabled (I didn't enable it as I don't have that model) and you COULD NOT disable it from the remote. The UP/DOWN buttons that allow you to toggle through values for all other settings do not work to disable the UltraTempeti.

I went out to the ET control panel at the pool and the settings there are not the same as my remote. There are settings on one that are not available on the other. Without writing a very long post here I'll just say there is some kind of disconnect to how my devices are communicating information. It might be time for me to upgrade to the IntelliCenter as I've lost patience with the EasyTouch interface trying to get the heat pump to work.

BTW, after I started up the heat pump again from the control panel, my ET remote says my heater is a "hybrid". And no, I didn't select that. Again, it just changed that on it's own. It's possessed.
 
Here is an example of how my EasyTouch remote shows different information than my control panel at the pool. The remote says "Hybrid" (which I never selected). The control panel says "HtPmp" which is correct. Both devices show the same firmware but clearly the remote is not synced to the control panel.

IMG_4388.jpg
 
for the different information being shown, I'm thinking the firmware versions could be mismatched so let's check it...

on your outdoor panel or on the remote (doesn't matter which), go to Menu > Diagnostics > Software Rev and tell us what it's got
 

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it's odd that the wireless remote can't get the UOC (outdoor board) firmware... can you control anything with the remote? i.e. can you turn on an aux circuit and see the corresponding led light up on the outdoor panel? and then can you shut it off on the outdoor panel and see the led on the remote turn off?
 
ogdento said:
... can you control anything with the remote? i.e. can you turn on an aux circuit and see the corresponding led light up on the outdoor panel? and then can you shut it off on the outdoor panel and see the led on the remote turn off?
Click to expand...
Hi Tom

Yes, I can control everything with the ET remote.

Yes, I can start the Aux3 button from the remote and the Aux3 button lights up on the outdoor panel. I can then press the Aux3 button on the outdoor panel and the led on the remote turns off (along with the Aux3 circuit which I programmed as a "pool" circuit at 1,500rpm).

However, - one more weird thing happened today...
I have the heat pump set for 86 degrees. When we got home this evening the pool water temp was 82 degrees and the heat pump was running. That's what I expected. So far so good! But, when I went outside thirty minutes later to test the buttons on the panel and remote as you requested, the heat pump was off but the water was still 82. I hadn't pressed any buttons on anything. I expected the heat pump to run until the water hit the 86 degree preset. More unexplained behavior. I'll try to figure that out tomorrow.
 
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Hmm, ok that's just strange then about the remote working but not being able to get the outdoor board's firmware... I'll have to try it on my test board.

As for the heater behavior, that's out of my wheel-house... I don't have a heater and my pool has an Intellitouch, and I'm much more familiar with the hardware these units are built from than the firmware.
 
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