Pentair Inteliflo OR Hayward Maxflo Pump?

[TNova]

Hi all...

I have a 24k gallon in ground plaster pool with a Nautilus DE filter and a 1.5 HP single speed Hayward pump (7yrs old), a Hayward heating system, and an auxiliary pump that I never use anymore. The other day the main pump started smoking and basically burnt itself out. I'm now looking at replacing the entire system since I find myself replacing the filters in the Nautilus every two years and going to a Sand filter using either silica sand (ZeoSand) or the new glass media (Maytronics Activate Glass Filter Media). However, my question here is which pump to go with... I have had two different recommendations from two different local pool stores (no surprise there).

One recommended a Hayward Maxflo VS pump with a Hayward S244T Pro Series Top Mount Sand (24in. Tank) In Ground Pool Filter using Maytronics Activate Glass Filter Media.
The other recommended a Pentair Inteliflo VS pump with a Pentair 145322 - (22" tank) Sand Dollar SD60 Top Mount Sand Filter using silica sand.

I'm hoping that someone can point me in the right direction based on any experiences you might have. I have attached a couple of pictures of my current setup. Thanks!

 

[Newdude]

I have the 3hp intellipro. It is a beast and barely has to run in order to push the water. 1200 rpms only uses 214 watts on the digital readout. As long as you oversize and go with a VS pump, it will pay for itself very quickly. You will find many fans here of each of those 2 brands so you probably can’t go wrong either way. I have many friends with single speed pumps and I always hear about their $100 a month extra in electric during pool season. Mine is so small of a difference around $15 that we can’t even tell. I happened to look up my pump last night and it was selling for $1160. That’s one year of full service or 2 years of half seasons depending on how long your season lasts. After that it is making you money.

 

[Newdude]

I also have a 500 sq ft dual cartridge filter. It takes 30 minutes to rinse off after the pollen is done falling (which I don’t have to do, but choose to anyway) and another 30 min when the season is over. Of course I’m partial to my own setup but there are hundreds of posts here talking about the work that goes into the other style filters. I’m sure my setup won’t wprk for everybody but I don’t have any of that work.

 

[ajw22]

Pool stores recommend what they are dealers for. Not exactly unbiased.

I like the Pentair 011028 pump.

 

[1poolman1]

You may be comparing apples to oranges. A Maxflo is a medium-head head pump and less expensive (though very good) pump. I have installed several. They are rated at 1.65 THP and would be good for a system with 1.5" plumbing like yours. You did not mention exactly which Pentair VSP you are comparing it to. You may be thinking of the Pentair Superflo , which is similar in specs to the Maxflo. The regular Intelliflo VS is a high-head 3.7 -3.9 THP pump. Also a very good pump, and more expensive, but the RPM would have to be greatly reduced to use on your system. That's one of the beauties of a VSP, you can fine-tune it to your system. Both Pentair and Hayward make a slightly larger sand filter that are designed for 80 gpm (the ones you have listed are 60 gpm) and would likely be a better fit for a pool as large as yours

 

[TNova]

You may be comparing apples to oranges. A Maxflo is a medium-head head pump and less expensive (though very good) pump. I have installed several. They are rated at 1.65 THP and would be good for a system with 1.5" plumbing like yours. You did not mention exactly which Pentair VSP you are comparing it to. You may be thinking of the Pentair Superflo , which is similar in specs to the Maxflo. The regular Intelliflo VS is a high-head 3.7 -3.9 THP pump. Also a very good pump, and more expensive, but the RPM would have to be greatly reduced to use on your system. That's one of the beauties of a VSP, you can fine-tune it to your system. Both Pentair and Hayward make a slightly larger sand filter that are designed for 80 gpm (the ones you have listed are 60 gpm) and would likely be a better fit for a pool as large as yours

Thank you very much for that information. I plan to go back to one of the stores tonight to discuss more options. Based on your thoughts of an 80 gpm vs 60 gpm, do you have a recommendation? I could always replace the filter grids again in the Nautalis but don't think it will save that much money. My only concern with going over to sand is how clean the pool will be. Right now I probably filter to around 6-8 microns. I know typical sand is reported to do 20-30 microns but can go down with the choice of media. Again, I appreciate any suggestions!

 

[TNova]

Hi all...
I'm in the process of getting a new pump and I realized that I may not have the right calculations for my pool. I have an irregular shaped kidney style gunite pool. I'm hoping someone can help me with the math for getting my gallons correct so I can properly size my new pump. I'm looking to purchase a Hayward Maxflo VS 1.65hp (SP2303VSP) with either the Hayward S244S sand filter or the Hayward S270T sand filter (maybe bigger if I need it).

I have a picture of my pool attached (before getting a proper water fill). The length is 40 ft. The shallow end is 3 ft and the deep is 8.5 ft. At the widest point, it is 25 ft, at the narrowest, it is 10 ft (up at the top by the diving board). I thought that I had a 24,000-gallon pool (as I was told by the previous owners) but I think that it is much bigger than that.

My calculation using Length x (average) width x average depth x 7.5 or 40 x 17.5 x 5.25 x 7.5 = 27,562.5 gallons.

If I cut up the pool into segments and use the same style formula I get the following:

(19 Ft wide x 15 ft long x 3 ft depth x 7.5) + (25 ft wide x 15 ft long x 5 ft depth x 7.5) +(15 ft wide x 10 ft long x 8.5 ft depth x 7.5) = 30,037.5 gallons

I also found this for calculating a kidney-shaped pool: 0.45 x (A+B) x length x average depth x 7.5 = volume (in gallons). Assuming that A & B are the widths at it's widest and skinniest points, I would get this:

0.45 x (25+10) x 40 x 5.25 x 7.5 = 24,806.25 (in gallons). This last calculation seems to be as close to what I was told by the previous owners but looking at the above I have no idea.

Any help is greatly appreciated!