I have an older pool (~25,000 gal) with a DE filter, newish Pentair gas heater and a Caretaker system. The old single speed pump died and I replaced it with a variable speed Pentair Intelliflo pump. I tied this in exactly as the previous pump and have a question about the plumbing layout. Output from the pump goes directly into the filter and from there it splits between the heater and returns to the pool. The water return is through the Caretaker valve to the in-floor pop-ups and there are two in-wall returns as well.
In all of the layouts that I've looked at all of the filter output moves directly to the heater and any splitting for returns is after the heater (i.e., pump -> filter -> heater -> returns).
The heads on the Caretaker popups were recently replaced when I replastered and have the lower resistance springs that are supposed to be compatible with variable speed pumps. The problem that I have is that I can't lower the pump speed very much while the heater is in use without the heater tripping an overtemp and shutting down. I assume this is due to the low rate. It seems that this is likely compounded by splitting after the filter so that only some of the return flow is directed to the heater.
Is this the likely cause? Should I be able to run the heater while at lower speeds (how low)? Should I have this system replumbed to have the return split after the heater?
Thanks!
In all of the layouts that I've looked at all of the filter output moves directly to the heater and any splitting for returns is after the heater (i.e., pump -> filter -> heater -> returns).
The heads on the Caretaker popups were recently replaced when I replastered and have the lower resistance springs that are supposed to be compatible with variable speed pumps. The problem that I have is that I can't lower the pump speed very much while the heater is in use without the heater tripping an overtemp and shutting down. I assume this is due to the low rate. It seems that this is likely compounded by splitting after the filter so that only some of the return flow is directed to the heater.
Is this the likely cause? Should I be able to run the heater while at lower speeds (how low)? Should I have this system replumbed to have the return split after the heater?
Thanks!
