Pentair Easy Touch, IntelliFlo, IntelliChlor and IntelliBrite Installation Question

[mytfpaccount]

Hello all... i'm looking for opinions of whether what I have been told by the pool contractor is correct. My current pool is chlorine based and the setup is very simple. It has a single speed pump with a sand filter, a polaris booster pump and a halgen light. The single speed pump and the polaris booster pumps are controlled via two intermatic mechanical timer switches. All of this equipment gets power from one circuit breaker. According to the pool contractor is a 20amp circuit breaker. In addition to the equipment, the circuit breaker also powers my yard lights by the pool. In addition to the equipment, I have a waterfall that is manually opened and closed via a valve. Here is what i'm looking to do:

- Replace single speed pump with IntelliFlo VSF
- Convert to Salt Water with IntelliChlor
- Replace the Intermatic timers with Easy Touch
- Control opening and closing of waterfall via actuator
- Replace halogen light with Pentair IntelliBrite and control it via Easy Touch and ScreenLogic

The pool contractor has told me that my current booster pump is powered off of the single speed pump and needs to have its dedicated power supply. I informed him that i don't need the booster pump since i'm looking to replace it with a Dolphin robot. He then told me that my current circuit breaker can't handle all the equipment and if I want the Easy Touch they would have to run a trench from breaker box to pool equipment area and an electrician would have to run new conduit and wiring from breaker box to equipment area.

Somehow all this sounds like too much work. Is this really needed and do folks really have to go through all this to upgrade to Easy Touch? Any advice you can give will go a long way... thank you in advance!

 

[Jimrahbe]

M,

Your pool builder must build things using worst case planning... I'm pretty sure that technically, all the things you want to run "could" required more than 20 amps and that is why he says you need a new power line..

That said, the pump running at a low RPM only uses less than 200 watts, so in actual operation I suspect that everything will work just fine off of the 20 amp circuit you currently have.

I know if I was doing this myself, I would connect it to the current wiring and see if I ever ran into an issue... I am not sure if your pool builder can or would do this for you. Worst case, you'd have to run a new line after the ET was installed.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

M,

Just make sure you do not get a "lite" version of the EasyTouch... They have a model number of PSL4 or PL4... They have no load center for your circuit breakers and only 4 programs or schedules...

You need to get an ET with built-in SWCG power supply...

Jim R.

 

[mytfpaccount]

Thank you for the quick response Jim. The contractor also told me that since I have a simple setup, I could get the intelliconnect and that wouldn't need this new power line. Do you know much about intelliconnect or does anyone else here know about intelliconnect and will it work for my setup? I would like to control the Intelliflo, IntelliChlor, IntelliBrite and the Waterfall which will need an actuator if i want it to be controlled by the intelliconnect. Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

M,

I am not really a fan of the IntelliConnect.. If you use our "G" search box and enter IntelliConnect you can find several threads..

The difference in the power needed to run the IntelliConnect and the EasyTouch is probably half an amp... It should not really make any difference..

Maybe your builder is looking at the EasyTouch and seeing that it can be wired for "up to" 125 amps and somehow thinks it needs that amount of power, but it obviously does not..

My ET only has a 30 amp input and I run the IntelliFlo, an EasyTouch with SWCG, landscape lighting, shed lighting, standard 500 Watt pool light, a separate SWCG system for my spa, a robot pool cleaner, and a 1 HP sump pump, that runs 24/7...

What size feed does he say you need??

Jim R.

 

[mytfpaccount]

I was looking at the installation pdf here for Easy Touch and bullet 3 on page 11 says "Recommended power supply cable to the EasyTouch load center should have a minimum supply conductor current of 40 AMP (at 230 VAC using 8 AWG).". Please pardon my ignorance but does that mean at the minimum my circuit breaker needs to be 40amps?

 

[Jimrahbe]

M,

That is what they recommend, but it has nothing to do with any minimum operating amperage... Nothing inside the EasyTouch uses much current.. Things that get attached to the EasyTouch are the items that use the current.

Logic says that if you were going to run a new line for an installation, you should install 40 amps so that, if needed, you could expand later without having to add a new cable. This is not really the issue in your case.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[mytfpaccount]

makes complete sense! thank you for the explanation!

 

[Dan-H]

regarding the pump:
- Replace single speed pump with IntelliFlo VSF

I recall a number of discussions around the VS vs the VSF at the time I was upgrading my pump and adding Solar. I asked my solar installer, and they did not recommend the VSF and said the VS was better suited for my needs. I did research the two models and I decided to trust them and found no reason in my research to not trust them.

There are several posts here on TFP that might be worth reading.