Pentair VSP - surging/spiking

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JamesW said:
Are you getting any Alerts or Warnings?

Maybe it is detecting loss of Prime?

The pump has many settings that are adjustable.

I would turn off Priming unless you really need it.

Can you check all of these settings and report what they are?

Set Maximum System Pressure

Set Maximum Flow Rate (GPM)

Set Flow Limit for Speed Program

Set Pressure Limit for Speed Program

Set Ramping Rate

Priming Features

Max Priming Duration

Priming Range

Priming Delay

Priming Speed

Loss of Prime

Disabled/Enabled Default: ENABLED

Allows IntelliFlo® VSF Variable Speed and Flow Pump to automatically detect if pump if is primed for startup.

The pump will speed up to 1800 RPM and pause for three (3) seconds - if there is enough water in the basket, the pump will go out of priming mode and run the commanded speed.

Default: 11 minutes

The maximum priming time can be set from 1 - 30 minutes.

This setting is the amount of time the pump will try to prime before it gives a priming error.

If this occurs, fill the pump basket with water and restart the pump.

Default: 20 seconds

Priming delay can be set from 1 second to 10 minutes.

When a pump ramps to full priming speed in an attempt to establish a prime, priming delay allows the pump to operate at that speed for an additional set period of time prior to continuing on to the requested or scheduled program.

Default: 5

Priming range can be set from 1-10. The smaller the range, the more water the pump has to be moving to detect that it is primed.

At larger ranges, the pump will detect that it is fully primed while moving less water.

If the range is set too high, then the pump may exit Priming mode before it has fully primed.

The range will automatically adjust with the priming set speed because the flow rates of the pump will be lower at lower speeds.

Default: 3450 RPM

The priming speed can be set between 2400 RPM and 3450 RPM.

If the pump is on an equipment pad that is close to the water level, it will not need to run at 3450 RPM to successfully prime.

The setting can be lowered to prevent running at a higher speed than necessary.

Day to day factors (i.e. local ambient pressure, water/air temperatures, amount of water retained from last system run) can affect priming performance.

Because of the frequently changing nature of these factors the priming speed should be set high enough to accommodate environmental and mechanical changes to ensure that the pump can successfully prime.

Finding the most effective and efficient speed for your specific needs may take careful testing and evaluation of priming performance.

PRIMING

MENU

Default: Enabled

This feature allows the pump to recognize unanticipated low-flow or no-flow situations while running a program.

For example, the pump will pause for one (1) minute after detecting that it has lost its prime unexpectedly.

After this pause the pump will attempt to prime, and if prime is successful it will continue programmed operation. If priming is not successful the pump will continue attempting to prime, per normal priming operation, until a prime is achieved or priming error occurs and is displayed.

Click to expand...
Thank you for your detailed response. I haven't checked any of these values before so i am not a 100% confident that I can get all those results to you. But I will try as soon as i get back home.

Also, no alerts or warnings.
 
Jimrahbe said:
H,

I like the idea of cleaning your filter, but here are a couple of others things you can do..

1. Put the system in the Service mode and use the pump's control panel to find what F/W is loaded into the pump. If it turns out to be 3.03 or 3.04, that F/W has a known bug for an intermittent com port issue. The pump may be going into the priming mode because it 'thinks' it is just starting up.

2. Show me your ScreenLogic Schedules for a day.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
Is it easy to get the answer to your 1st question? For the 2nd one, here is the schedule
 

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Jimrahbe said:
H,

I like the idea of cleaning your filter, but here are a couple of others things you can do..

1. Put the system in the Service mode and use the pump's control panel to find what F/W is loaded into the pump. If it turns out to be 3.03 or 3.04, that F/W has a known bug for an intermittent com port issue. The pump may be going into the priming mode because it 'thinks' it is just starting up.

2. Show me your ScreenLogic Schedules for a day.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
Where will I find the F/W? Under Settings? Which one?
 
hamanbhatia said:
RPM. And its been like this for months now (build was completed in Dec 2022)
Click to expand...

HermanTX said:
Are you setting your pump based on GPM or RPM. If on GPM, the pump will ramp up speed to meet the set GPM setting. The flow can be affected as the filter captures more debris, or your skimmer basket becomes full.
Click to expand...
Its actually set on GPM.
 
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I suggest that you try the following schedule..

Pool - 8 am until 10 pm
High Speed - 8 am until 3 pm
Waterfall - 5:30 until 10 pm.

When the pump sees two or more speeds it will always run the faster one.

Just curious.. Why do you run your pump at 2800 RPM (High speed) for 8 hours a day???

When you turn on the waterfall, does this just move a valve or do you have a separate waterfall pump? If you use your main pool pump for the waterfall, does the pump speed stay the same?

Edit... Do you have a SWCG (salt cell)???

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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Reactions: hamanbhatia
Jimrahbe said:
I suggest that you try the following schedule..

Pool - 8 am until 10 pm
High Speed - 8 am until 3 pm
Waterfall - 5:30 until 10 pm.

When the pump sees two or more speeds it will always run the faster one.

Just curious.. Why do you run your pump at 2800 RPM (High speed) for 8 hours a day???

When you turn on the waterfall, does this just move a valve or do you have a separate waterfall pump? If you use your main pool pump for the waterfall, does the pump speed stay the same?

Edit... Do you have a SWCG (salt cell)???

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
No salt cell. Also waterfall has a separate pump. No idea why the schedule is like that. The PB set it up that way. Should I set it up the way u suggested or r u suggesting to run the pump all day long?
 

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H,

Your original schedule and the one I suggested above would run your pump just like it does now, except that the pump would not be told to shut off at 3 pm and then immediately start again at 3 pm.

The schedule I suggested has your pump running from 8 am until 10 pm and the only thing that happens at 3 pm is that the pump slows down.

It is a cleaner way to do it.

That said, I just copied your schedule but there is just no reason to run your pump at 2800 RPM unless you have a reason to do it.

Back to your surging issue... As a test you can try the following schedule and see if your surging goes away or not..

1. Set the Pool schedule for 8 am until 8 am at 1700 RPM
2. Set the High Speed schedule for 8 am until 9 am at 2800 RPM.
3. Leave your waterfall schedule as is. (separate pump)

This will run your main pump 24/7, mostly at 1700 RPM, except for one hour in the morning where the pump will run at 2800 RPM.

Run that schedule for a week and see if your surging happens again or not.

The cost for me to run at 1200 RPM for a month is less than $20 bucks, really closer to $10 bucks. So you won't even notice running at 1700 for a week.

Try that and tell us want happens..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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Jimrahbe said:
H,

Your original schedule and the one I suggested above would run your pump just like it does now, except that the pump would not be told to shut off at 3 pm and then immediately start again at 3 pm.

The schedule I suggested has your pump running from 8 am until 10 pm and the only thing that happens at 3 pm is that the pump slows down.

It is a cleaner way to do it.

That said, I just copied your schedule but there is just no reason to run your pump at 2800 RPM unless you have a reason to do it.

Back to your surging issue... As a test you can try the following schedule and see if your surging goes away or not..

1. Set the Pool schedule for 8 am until 8 am at 1700 RPM
2. Set the High Speed schedule for 8 am until 9 am at 2800 RPM.
3. Leave your waterfall schedule as is. (separate pump)

This will run your main pump 24/7, mostly at 1700 RPM, except for one hour in the morning where the pump will run at 2800 RPM.

Run that schedule for a week and see if your surging happens again or not.

The cost for me to run at 1200 RPM for a month is less than $20 bucks, really closer to $10 bucks. So you won't even notice running at 1700 for a week.

Try that and tell us want happens..

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
Ok I will. Are you saying that I don't need so many hours at 2800 RPM? Is it an overkill?
 
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