Pentair VS pump Questions

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Endless Flow

Member
Nov 20, 2020
17
Seattle
I am looking at the IntelliFlo VSF 011056 pumps but have a question. We plan to control the pump speed via their RS-485 link. They are TEFC (Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled) motors. When you run the pumps at lower speeds, their cooling fan also runs slower.

Is there ever an issue with them overheating at lower speeds? Do they have overheat shutdowns? Does the RS-485 bus provide any data on temperature?
 
E-Flow,

I have three IntelliFlo pumps that have been running 24/7, most of the time at 1200 RPM.. For a total of over 20 years. The IntelliFlo is the Gold Standard of pool pumps and if they don't overheat in Texas, I think they might make it through a typical Seattle summer.. :mrgreen:

Unless you are using a Pentair automation system, I doubt that you will have much luck communicating with the pump..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Thanks re: overheating concerns. As for the RS-485, there some useful writeups out in the world, and I have a friend who decodes protocols and embedded software as a profession and a hobby. He thinks it will be a good challenge.
 
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If power consumption is any clue, the Intelliflo running at one half speed (1725 rpm) consumes 1/8 as much power as at full speed. Actual reported power and GPM from my pump. 3450rpm uses 2530 watts and moves 86 GPM. At 1725rpm it uses 298 watts and moves 26 GPM. These are of course just readings on the pump panel or Intelliconnect app and will vary according to outside forces. So the reduction in water flow is to 30% while the power is down to 12%. That's bound to be a lot less heat generated at the low speed.
 
Variable Speed Drives have gotten cheap enough that many machinist hobbyists have been using them to upgrade old mills and lathes. Some have found that long runs at lower speeds do have overheating issues.

The crux of the issue is the fans were designed to run at 1725 or 3450 RPM; their throughput at lower RPM's was not linear to speed. In other words, cut the ROM in half, you get say 35% of the airflow.

Based on responses here, this is not been seen as an issue with the Intelliflo's which is good news for my task.
 
Flow,

Things change and I might be behind the times, but all the guys I knew that added Variable speed drives to there shop machines, were still using their standard motors... The IntelliFlo does not have a standard motor and was designed to be a VS pump/motor...

Either way, you are not going to have an over heat issue.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Endless Flow said:
Some have found that long runs at lower speeds do have overheating issues.
Click to expand...
Endless Flow said:
In other words, cut the ROM in half, you get say 35% of the airflow.
Click to expand...
We don't know the details of the overheating in the machinist equipment. Maybe they were overloading the motor or some design issues.

For a pool pump, at half speed the power is about 1/6th. So, the heat generated is substantially less. Even if the airflow is 1/3, there should not be an issue.

As noted, the variable speed pumps are designed with the motor and drive to match the application.

The motor is a three phase motor and the drive outputs the correct voltage and frequency to effectively and efficiently operate the motor.
 
Endless Flow said:
As for the RS-485, there some useful writeups out in the world, and I have a friend who decodes protocols and embedded software as a profession and a hobby. He thinks it will be a good challenge.
Click to expand...

I am all for challenges but if you use a SuperFlo instead Intelliflo you could buy a Sonoff 4 Ch Pro v3 (27.00)and be able to control the pump over Wifi and use Alexa to turn on, off and change speeds. There is documentation in the SuperFlo on how to setup external relays to control the pump. I am patiently waiting for my pump to die and will be going this route. Depending on how deep you want to go down the rabbit hole you can reflash the hardware and use even more home automation. IFTT and MQTT come to mind. Here is a link to the Sonoff.https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-4ch-r3-pro-r3.html
 
JamesW said:
As noted, the variable speed pumps are designed with the motor and drive to match the application.
Click to expand...

And that is the most important point. Clean sheet design helps avoid gotchas.
I appreciate your experience and reassurances on the issue.

As for the pump choice, the client already has 3 Intelliflo's for his koi pond so that's an incentive to stay the course. I'll read the Sonoff link, but I'm not thrilled with controlling actual machinery over WiFi; it's one thing to run your DVR or lighting, but....

Yes, we'll be using MQTT on the project. The custom controller/management system will be using it for sharing data with the AWS system that monitors many other aspects of the property. That's a plus of the RS-485; it's well-supported in the industry.
 

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We're well on our way on our project. Tommy & I found 90% of the pump protocol posted and he sniffed out the missing parts with the pump we sent him. He can stop, start, vary speed, read all the alarms, etc.

We're now building the hardware. There is a om13088 dev board from NXP & a custom made RS-485 board. For debugging/remote updates, we're using a small formfactor FitLet2 running FreeBSD to talk to the NXT.

I'll get together a photo array after we get all the parts bolted down.

One of my concerns was adding ports to the swimspa for the water circulating through the heat exchanger. (52 gpm). The GC was at the plumbing wholesaler and met a spa builder/customizer; we're farming that part out to him. Not sure if he will want dual ports at the flow rate, TBD.
 
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