Pool Pad Equipment Overhaul - advice needed

[AMGolf]

My single-speed pool pump motor is dead and I can't get it off my old Anthony bronze pump. If pools were meant to be green I'd have a beautiful one right now. I want to make a bunch of changes anyway and I'm thinking of just redoing everything except the heater and Zodiac Z4/iAqualink automation system, which work well. My main design goals are ease of maintenance and readily available/cheap parts, and maintaining automation. I travel a lot and can't babysit a pool every day.

I have 2" PVC everywhere, except for a small section of 1.5" bronze coming off the pump head. Pad is 30-50 feet from various points at the pool, and is slightly elevated. I'm thinking of running 2.5" PVC on the pad to allow for additional flow from the various intake/return 2" lines. Most of the time I would run at lower RPM though, so LMK if I'm overthinking this and should just stick to 2" on the pad.

I have chronic algae problems and lots of trees around. I want to convert to a very oversized SWCG to give myself a shot at keeping chlorine up post-SLAM. The CircuPool RJ-60+ looks like a good contender. I understand it won't interface with the Z4, but I'm not clear I really need it to. Open to suggestions.

My Anthony DE VA-52-2 filter has been overhauled a bunch of times and works, but with the bronze push/pull valve and piping that is bronze all the way to the pump head, I'm looking hard at replacing it with a large cartridge filter (CCP 520, SwimClear 525, WaterWay 525, or other).

For a pump, I think I have a 1.5HP impeller currently. I've had a range of motors on it (I think... presently, a dead 1.5HP x 1.5SF motor = 2.25THP, and previously a motor with a 1.65THP rating I think). The in-floor heads and spa jets work OK - could be better. The Z4 manual indicates compatibility with Jandy pumps and Intelliflo VS pumps. I have a 15A, 240v circuit for the pump. A large basket and 2.5" unions would be a plus, depending on advice above. I'm not clear what the best choice would be.

Air Blower makes tons of noise. It has its own 15A, 240v circuit.

I've been reading on this site for years, but I'd really appreciate help tying all this together!

 

[1poolman1]

Which Anthony pump, they had a couple of different ones made for them? Your impeller may be a 1hp-fullrate/1.5 hp uprate if you were able to use a motor with a 1.65 thp rating (that is a 1hp full-rated motor).
Going to 2.5" plumbing above ground won't help much and the cost of pipe and fittings that size might surprise you. Then, you have to adapt back down to 2" anyway. This is especially true if you are going to variable speed.

 

[AMGolf]

Which Anthony pump, they had a couple of different ones made for them? Your impeller may be a 1hp-fullrate/1.5 hp uprate if you were able to use a motor with a 1.65 thp rating (that is a 1hp full-rated motor).
Going to 2.5" plumbing above ground won't help much and the cost of pipe and fittings that size might surprise you. Then, you have to adapt back down to 2" anyway. This is especially true if you are going to variable speed.

I'm not 100% positive what used to be there before the current 2.25THP replacement motor that burned out. 1.65THP rings a bell, but I'm not sure. If I could get the motor off I'd pull the impeller and look at it, but the installer didn't bond the motor and it corroded quickly.

The Anthony pump is the C76-45D wet end; pump basket lid says C3-140DA.

Definitely planning on variable speed replacement. My thought was the two 2" feeder pipes coming into 2x2.5" Jandy valves to get to 2.5" on the pad; same thing feeding the three 2" return lines, with the general idea that I could draw/return at max rate from both spa and pool if I wanted to filter something in a hurry, but if that's not going to buy me much benefit I'll pass.

One other note - there is currently a small bypass line/valve across the heater lines. The heater itself is 2", rated for 40-125GPM. It tends to cut off and on, so I now suspect it may not have been getting enough flow with that valve open. When I rework the pad plumbing, should I delete the bypass or keep it as best practice and close it?

 

[1poolman1]

That number, C76-45D, indicates your pump is a bronze copy of a Sta-Rite Max-E-Glass 1 pump made for Anthony Pools (at one time the
"World's Largest Pool Builder"). It is an older (30+ years), but very good pump design that was still available until a few years ago (maybe 5).
As parts are going to get difficult to find if they go bad, you may want to consider a new pump. That said, a 1hp, C105-137PEB impeller, C1-200PA diffuser (both of which you may have) will mate well with a V-Green 165.

If your impeller is a C105-137PDB, it will need the V-Green 2.7 as that is a 1.5 hp (2.25thp) impeller.

 

[AMGolf]

That number, C76-45D, indicates your pump is a bronze copy of a Sta-Rite Max-E-Glass 1 pump made for Anthony Pools (at one time the
"World's Largest Pool Builder"). It is an older (30+ years), but very good pump design that was still available until a few years ago (maybe 5).
As parts are going to get difficult to find if they go bad, you may want to consider a new pump. That said, a 1hp, C105-137PEB impeller, C1-200PA diffuser (both of which you may have) will mate well with a V-Green 165.

If your impeller is a C105-137PDB, it will need the V-Green 2.7 as that is a 1.5 hp (2.25thp) impeller.

If I could get the motor off the pump, I could determine the impeller size for sure (and potentially replace the motor with a 1.65THP single speed motor I just happen to have sitting here) and that would be a fine stopgap solution. I had not considered the possibility of putting a VS motor on that wet end (same issue about removing the existing motor applies..). The VGREEN mentions "compatibility with 3rd party automation systems" and looks to have a RS485 connector. I wonder if the Z4 will control it?

Supposing we never determine the current impeller size, based on my general description of the pool, would you steer towards a 2.7 VS that would run slower most of the time, or a 1.65 VS?

 

[1poolman1]

For a VSP, larger is always better for the reason you stated. I don't know what motor, other than on a Jandy pump, is compatible with your Z4.
The RS Jandy systems will control Pentair VSP (Intelliflo/Intellipro only, not Superflo). After that, it is very hard to get any data on what will work.

 

[AMGolf]

Upon further inspection, I have 3 breakers at the main panel running through conduit out to the pool pad: one 120v 15a and two 240v 15a circuits (pump & blower), all with 14ga conductors (5 hot, 1 neutral, 1 green that may be 12ga). The conduit run looks to be 130-140 feet from the panel. ...panel and pad are at opposite corners of the house basically.

The normal Intelliflo would require pulling new conductors and going 20a breaker; I'm not clear if the i1 or i2 variants are viable on my current wiring.

The Jandy FloPro 2.7 looks like it ought to work based off of max amps of 10.5a, although at this distance both the 2.7 and 1.85 variants spec 10AWG wire at 230VAC on a 15A breaker in the manual. It begs the question how I've been able to run any pump at all given the distance. Not sure the best thing to do here.

 

[1poolman1]

Recommended wire size based on load and distance are what should be followed for safety (smaller wire heats up faster in a long run with the same load), and the life of the equipment as the voltage drop at the end of a long run can cause the equipment to run a bit hotter.

That being said, I have seen 14g wire used in place of the recommended 12g for years with no major issues unless it is stranded.

 

[guinness]

The normal Intelliflo would require pulling new conductors and going 20a breaker; I'm not clear if the i1 or i2 variants are viable on my current wiring.

14AWG wire carries a maximum of 15 amps so you should be good with the IntelliFlo i2 for your wiring.

IntelliFlo i2 Variable Speed Pool pump is hydraulically engineered to provide maximum performance on a 15-amp breaker. It has a maximum rating of 11.8 amps, which makes retrofits easier in applications that are limited by existing wire gauge size.

 

[AMGolf]

Thanks folks. I appreciate the input. I wound up with an Intelliflo VSF, CCP520, and IC40. I made a couple threads specific to my implementation, which answer/confirm some of the ideas posted here. You might find them of interest.

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