Pump selection - Hayward HCP 2500 or Intelliflo 3 011075 pump?

[zdez]

Hi everyone, I currently have a single speed hayward tristar that I would like to replace, with a variable speed for much better efficiency / lowest power bill / less noise.

I am currently running everything through Omnilogic by Hayward, and it is doing okay. The pool company offered me two options:
Hayward HCP 2500 (not 950) - should be able to integrate to my Omnilogic control board well
Pentair IntelliFlo 3 VSF 011075 with OmniHub Converter Daughter board - needs the daughter board to connect to omnilogic

Price-wise, Pentair option is slightly more because of the additional board purchase.

I read through everything I can find here and on the internet, and keep getting conflicting info. We would love to be able to adjust everything for this high end variable speed pump, flow rate, RPM, anti freeze, etc. I do not mind using another software on my phone to control the IntelliFlo, but I do not know if that is an option. With the daughter board, would I be able to do that? I really want to avoid just have four speed control, which defeats the purpose of VS.

We have a spa with bubbler, a heater, two fountain features, 18k gallon salt water concrete. Current pump is 2.5 HP, this is why we are going for the higher end pump.

I read that Pentair has a much more robust design with longer life out of it, so I am leaning towards it. Plus, the pool company only offered me the commercial Hayward option rather than their 2.7 HP tristar VS950, so I do not know if that's a bit worse than 950, not much information about it.

What would you guys recommend? Which one might be a better option, or even find someone that can install Hayward Tristar VS 950?

Thank you all in advance! The more I read online, the more confused I get...

 

[1poolman1]

Hi everyone, I currently have a single speed hayward tristar that I would like to replace, with a variable speed for much better efficiency / lowest power bill / less noise.

I am currently running everything through Omnilogic by Hayward, and it is doing okay. The pool company offered me two options:
Hayward HCP 2500 (not 950) - should be able to integrate to my Omnilogic control board well
Pentair IntelliFlo 3 VSF 011075 with OmniHub Converter Daughter board - needs the daughter board to connect to omnilogic

Price-wise, Pentair option is slightly more because of the additional board purchase.

I read through everything I can find here and on the internet, and keep getting conflicting info. We would love to be able to adjust everything for this high end variable speed pump, flow rate, RPM, anti freeze, etc. I do not mind using another software on my phone to control the IntelliFlo, but I do not know if that is an option. With the daughter board, would I be able to do that? I really want to avoid just have four speed control, which defeats the purpose of VS.

We have a spa with bubbler, a heater, two fountain features, 18k gallon salt water concrete. Current pump is 2.5 HP, this is why we are going for the higher end pump.

I read that Pentair has a much more robust design with longer life out of it, so I am leaning towards it. Plus, the pool company only offered me the commercial Hayward option rather than their 2.7 HP tristar VS950, so I do not know if that's a bit worse than 950, not much information about it.

What would you guys recommend? Which one might be a better option, or even find someone that can install Hayward Tristar VS 950?

Thank you all in advance! The more I read online, the more confused I get...

HCP2500 is the TriStar 950 with a different name, for some reason. You could also go with a Jacuzzi JVS270 same pump in a Jacuzzi box marketed by Leslie's Pools. They sometimes offer free installation.
My original EcoStar, same pump different name to TriStar. They did have trouble with the EcoStar drives so changed the name to distance themselves from it. It is going on 15 years with zero issues. I got a good one of the original series. TriStar was the the first major change in Hayward pumps for a few decades. Tremendously good pumps.
With the plethora of service companies in your area, there has to be one that will give you what you want. You can even call Hayward and ask for a company and they will usually tell you who is in your area.
You would not regret getting the Pentair, but would save money with the Hayward/Jacuzzi.
You will likely find that, despite having the ability to have 8 different speeds, you will end up using maybe 4 after you're done "playing" with the settings. That's how it works for most people when the "newness" wears off. I only use three, could get by with two, and haven't changed them in all the time I've had the pump.

 

[zdez]

HCP2500 is the TriStar 950 with a different name, for some reason. You could also go with a Jacuzzi JVS270 same pump in a Jacuzzi box marketed by Leslie's Pools. They sometimes offer free installation.
My original EcoStar, same pump different name to TriStar. They did have trouble with the EcoStar drives so changed the name to distance themselves from it. It is going on 15 years with zero issues. I got a good one of the original series. TriStar was the the first major change in Hayward pumps for a few decades. Tremendously good pumps.
With the plethora of service companies in your area, there has to be one that will give you what you want. You can even call Hayward and ask for a company and they will usually tell you who is in your area.
You would not regret getting the Pentair, but would save money with the Hayward/Jacuzzi.
You will likely find that, despite having the ability to have 8 different speeds, you will end up using maybe 4 after you're done "playing" with the settings. That's how it works for most people when the "newness" wears off. I only use three, could get by with two, and haven't changed them in all the time I've had the pump.

Thank you for your response!
It is interesting that Jacuzzi JVS270 is also an option, and that is great to know! Leslie's Pro also sells 950 for 2199 as of today. I went in and talked to them about installation, they quoted me around 400 for that. So all together it is a few hundred dollars lower than the pool company's quote, but I get a feeling that they do not perform anything extra for installation. My pool company told me that he is also going to update my Omnilogic system with a USB drive during installation, which is a bonus. (I know computers, but I try not to mess with Hayward's control board, they are expensive). FYI, for anyone else seeing this post in the future, Leslie's does free installation promo for a few times a year, if its free, it might be worth it.

I truly appreciate your speed comment. I guess I wanted to be able to play with it to its fullest potential, but will probably end up using two speed settings, one for all day running, and one for spa/fountain feature.

I decided to go with Intelliflo 3 with the daughter board. Quality of Pentair VS pump is still relatively better than Hayward, at least reputation-wise.