SWG and Pool pump recommendations

[emmaschwartz]

We're thinking our SWG isn't working and hasn't worked in at least a year. I've been doing a deep dive into replacement swgs and I'm leaning toward the Circupool RJ45+, while researching swg I looked into pumps a bit. I found that our current jandy pump was discontinued because its no longer energy compliant, along with that I'm not sure how old it is and how well it's working, it's between 12 and 4 years old based on when the house was built and how long we've lived in it. It also seems Jandy no longer makes a pump large enough for our pool. What is a good lifespan for a pump? What is recommended? What's easy to install? Best price? How important is it that the pump and swg are the same brand? I don't even really know what I should be looking for in a pump. I'll take any recommendations or thoughts on swg but I'm mostly interested in pumps.


We have free electricity 8pm-8am so ideally all pool needs will be done in that time frame excluding a few hours here and there for a party, (our spa waterfalls over into the pool). We have been running it during paid hours for the past few years but with a new swg we're hoping it can all be done at night. We do have a heater connected to the plumbing but we don't use it. I should mention I've looked at the site extensively over the past year but only created an account today.

 

[PoolStored]

That pump means you have 230v service for the pump.
Do you have automation?
What is your budget range for the pump?
How much space do you have on your pad?
What heater do you have?
Can you post pictures of your pad?

Calimar 3hp VSP ~$500
Waterway Defender 2.7 VSP~$1250
Pentair Intelliflo3 3hp ~$1700

Lifespans can be all over the board. I have a pentair, rebuilt once, it is going on 16 years. If you maintain it properly and catch any problems, they can last a long time.
They are all about the same to install.
For usability and safety, if it were me, I'd get the pentair intelliflo3, get the i/o board and you can hook the SWG to the pump so that power only goes to the SWG when the pump is running.
For the other ones, you will need a way to remove power to SWG when not running. See:

SWG How It Works - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[HermanTX]

Welcome to TFP. Thanks for using the resources and becoming a member.

It is only important that pump and SWCG be the same mfg. If you were hooking it up to the same mfg. Automation system. You do not indicate you have a Jandy automation system (AquaLink) so assume you only had the pump and SWCG from Jandy.

The RJ45+ is a great SWCG, and if I was to spend any extra money it would be on a pump. The Pentair IntelliFlo3 provides you a lot of capability for the price.

 

[emmaschwartz]

Welcome to TFP. Thanks for using the resources and becoming a member.

It is only important that pump and SWCG be the same mfg. If you were hooking it up to the same mfg. Automation system. You do not indicate you have a Jandy automation system (AquaLink) so assume you only had the pump and SWCG from Jandy.

The RJ45+ is a great SWCG, and if I was to spend any extra money it would be on a pump. The Pentair IntelliFlo3 provides you a lot of capability for the price.

We do have an aqualink and a pda thing (we hate this). While I'm coming to understand the benefits of the aqualink (such as setting multiple run times) I'll either attempt to wire it myself or just forgo it altogether. The pool lights stopped working a few years ago and my dad installed a new one and wired it in the same place as the old one but it doesn't work and we have basically no idea what each button and wiring is for (I've attempted to figure it out but only had mild success). Jandy everything is just so expensive and has such a short warranty combined with needing a professional install, I'm just kind of fed up with them as a company.

 

[emmaschwartz]

Here are pictures of the set up.

 

[emmaschwartz]

That pump means you have 230v service for the pump.
Do you have automation?
What is your budget range for the pump?
How much space do you have on your pad?
What heater do you have?
Can you post pictures of your pad?

Calimar 3hp VSP ~$500
Waterway Defender 2.7 VSP~$1250
Pentair Intelliflo3 3hp ~$1700

Lifespans can be all over the board. I have a pentair, rebuilt once, it is going on 16 years. If you maintain it properly and catch any problems, they can last a long time.
They are all about the same to install.
For usability and safety, if it were me, I'd get the pentair intelliflo3, get the i/o board and you can hook the SWG to the pump so that power only goes to the SWG when the pump is running.
For the other ones, you will need a way to remove power to SWG when not running. See:

SWG How It Works - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

We have Jandy Aqualink. We think the pump is working just maybe not well and clearly not energy efficient, so when I saw a circupool had a discount when you buy a pump and a swg together I thought it might be a good idea but I guess ideally as long as we only need to run the pump between 8pm and 8am and the pump technically works my dad would rather not buy one at all. I added pictures. Heater is Jandy LXI I didn't see a model number on it.

We are the third owner of this house about 12 years old, we've been in for 4 years, so we aren't sure if all of the pool equipment is original install or if anything has been replaced. We also don't know how well anything has been taken care of previously. We have completely replaced the DEV48 filter in individual parts over the last year though.

I also don't see a flow switch anywhere and while the Jandy manual says the aquapure has a flow sensors internally it also says that the internal one should be used as a backup and another external flow switch should have been installed. Is that correct?

 

[PoolStored]

I also don't see a flow switch anywhere and while the Jandy manual says the aquapure has a flow sensors internally it also says that the internal one should be used as a backup and another external flow switch should have been installed. Is that correct?

Read this on powering the SWG....

SWG How It Works - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[HermanTX]

We do have an aqualink and a pda thing (we hate this). While I'm coming to understand the benefits of the aqualink (such as setting multiple run times) I'll either attempt to wire it myself or just forgo it altogether. The pool lights stopped working a few years ago and my dad installed a new one and wired it in the same place as the old one but it doesn't work and we have basically no idea what each button and wiring is for (I've attempted to figure it out but only had mild success). Jandy everything is just so expensive and has such a short warranty combined with needing a professional install, I'm just kind of fed up with them as a company.

Thanks for the update and the pictures.
I have had similar dilemma regarding Jandy and AquaLink. Quick summary, I upgraded from AquaLink PDA to AquaLink iQ3.0-RS which gave wireless and more capability to the automation. Also upgraded to Pentair IntelliFlo 3.0hp pump, and also have a Pentair Filter and Pentair Heater. Did this over a 2-3 year timeframe. Also added AquaPure SWCG. Jandy automation could control Pentair IntelliFlo pump with RS-485 cable from pump to PCB in automation cabinet. AquaPure SWCG also controlled by RS-485 cable as well. I did all electrical and plumbing except for when I upgraded the heater as that required a new gas line.

You show a clock timer which is broken. apparently the original set up was using the clock timer for the pump. Then someone upgraded to the PDA AquaLink automation. That system is old and outdated.

Knowing what I know now and looking at your situation. If you have the budget and consider the long term capability and savings (hopefully)
Assumption - the PDA AquaLink is functional and controls moving from Pool mode to Spa Mode. Is this accurate?
Also does it turn the heater on/off and set temperature?

1) Upgrade to the Pentair IntelliFlo3 pump and get the 3Hp model. Get the option with the i/o board. This allows you to hook up a SWCG without need of automation. Use the Pentair app for this pump and set the schedule.
2) Get the CircaPool RJ45+ or even consider the RJ60+ (if budget allows it). Connect the SWCG to the Pentair IntelliFlo3 pump.
3) Not sure why the light is not working other than it could be connected incorrectly. If so, find someone to figure it out so you can control it using the PDA Aqualink. Option - I am not sure light can be connected to the pump. Need to research that. Best option is to simply wire light to a simple on/off switch. You could even consider a wireless switch if you want to operate it remotely.

Note - the above requires using 3 different apps -
1) the PDA AquaLink for Pool/Spa mode, turn on the heater, and possibly operates the lights
2)The Pentair app to control the pump schedule and it ultimately ensure the SWCG powers off when the pump is turned off
3) A wireless app for the light (optional)

I am sure you may have more questions so ask away.

 

[HermanTX]

@emmaschwartz
This is what the 2 i/o relays can handle on the IntelliFlo3 pump. You have to order the pump with this i/o board
So you can do SWCG and light if you wish.

 

[emmaschwartz]

Thanks for the update and the pictures.
I have had similar dilemma regarding Jandy and AquaLink. Quick summary, I upgraded from AquaLink PDA to AquaLink iQ3.0-RS which gave wireless and more capability to the automation. Also upgraded to Pentair IntelliFlo 3.0hp pump, and also have a Pentair Filter and Pentair Heater. Did this over a 2-3 year timeframe. Also added AquaPure SWCG. Jandy automation could control Pentair IntelliFlo pump with RS-485 cable from pump to PCB in automation cabinet. AquaPure SWCG also controlled by RS-485 cable as well. I did all electrical and plumbing except for when I upgraded the heater as that required a new gas line.

You show a clock timer which is broken. apparently the original set up was using the clock timer for the pump. Then someone upgraded to the PDA AquaLink automation. That system is old and outdated.

Knowing what I know now and looking at your situation. If you have the budget and consider the long term capability and savings (hopefully)
Assumption - the PDA AquaLink is functional and controls moving from Pool mode to Spa Mode. Is this accurate?
Also does it turn the heater on/off and set temperature?

1) Upgrade to the Pentair IntelliFlo3 pump and get the 3Hp model. Get the option with the i/o board. This allows you to hook up a SWCG without need of automation. Use the Pentair app for this pump and set the schedule.
2) Get the CircaPool RJ45+ or even consider the RJ60+ (if budget allows it). Connect the SWCG to the Pentair IntelliFlo3 pump.
3) Not sure why the light is not working other than it could be connected incorrectly. If so, find someone to figure it out so you can control it using the PDA Aqualink. Option - I am not sure light can be connected to the pump. Need to research that. Best option is to simply wire light to a simple on/off switch. You could even consider a wireless switch if you want to operate it remotely.

Note - the above requires using 3 different apps -
1) the PDA AquaLink for Pool/Spa mode, turn on the heater, and possibly operates the lights
2)The Pentair app to control the pump schedule and it ultimately ensure the SWCG powers off when the pump is turned off
3) A wireless app for the light (optional)

I am sure you may have more questions so ask away.

I had also assumed that since there was a timer it was probably used before the aqualink was installed. The aqualink does seem to work pretty well, so I'm okay with trying to wire into it but I've also seen that new timers even with some wifi control aren't too expensive and would certainly be easier to do new wiring into. As far as I can remember we have only used the heater once around when we first moved in possibly. We honestly have no plans to use it, so I don't know if it still works or even how to check.

Okay so I attempted to figure out all of the electrical wiring a few months ago. I have so pictures of how the aqualink is wired and in my very non professional option it's a mess. I remember that the buttons did not control things in the order they were wired from what I could figure. I took a bunch of notes and have lost the papers but I'll try to find them. I do have plenty of pictures of the wiring if you or anyone is willing to help me try to figure out what's going on here.

I'll add that we have a spa that overflows into the pool, so I know that probably is connected somewhere in here, other than that I know the heater, the pump, the swg, the light, and the pool vacuum should all be in here somehow.

 

[HermanTX]

We will need some basic understanding of what is wired to which relay.
See the photo of how I marked mine then hand drew a wiring schematic.
Denote which piece of equipment is coming into the AquaLink cabinet then mark the wires to which aux relay they are connected to.


Confirm that you have a spa side remote. That shows to be connected to the 6 pin brown connector.
Your water sensor and air sensor are connected to the green 10 pin connector. Those are pins 5, 6, 7 & 8.
The heater is usually connected to pins 1 &2 but there are no wires connected.