VS pump speed - how to determine?

[ajw22]

So what do you have - a schedule set to turn on the spa overflow a couple hours a day to ensure it circulates a bit in there?

Just curious. I started thinking about this and the thought popped into my head

You program the SPILLOVER AUX3 to run once or twice a day for 30 minutes.

I run my spillover at 9AM to get chlorinated water into the spa for the day and then at 2PM to refresh the spa water.

 

[MichaelT20]

Cool thanks . Sounds like a fun and relatively easy way for me to learn more about the aqualink.

 

[Stoopalini]

Running the pump 24x7 makes it much easier to adjust the SWCG generation for FC control, since you don't have to worry about when the flow switch is activated due to the pump running.

As an example, I run my variable speed pump at 1300 RPM 24x7. My SWCG will generate at 1100 RPM with a clean filter, so I bumped it 200 RPM more just to cover the scenario when my filter is due to a cleaning.

Then twice a day, I have a schedule which kicks the pump up to 2500 RPM, for an hour each time, to provide more effective skimming during those times. I do this at 8am and again at 6pm.

Once a day, during the 6pm hour when the pump is running at 2500 RPM, I also have a schedule which operates my waterfall for 20 mins. I do this just to flush the water out of the waterfall basin and plumbing.

For my heater circuit, I have it set to run the pump at 2060 RPM, as this gives me optimal heat transfer from my heat pump.

Running my pump schedule like this ends up costing me $0.30 a day, or roughly a bit less than $10 a month, or about $110 a year. I ran the numbers for my pool, and my costs to run it for a year (electricity + chemicals) was $300 total.

For your pool, you could do something similar ... run the pump around 1300 - 1500 RPM (confirming the SWCG flow switch is activated at this speed), and then set a schedule to kick the RPMs up twice a day for better surface skimming, and also enable the spa spillover during this time.

When you or the family want to go for a swim, just manually kick on the higher pump speed and/or spillover if the surface has anything which needs to be skimmed, or if you enjoy the spillover ambience while swimming

If you end up running your pump 24x7, it really does make it easy to make adjustments to chlorine generation throughout the season, since you're removing the run-time variable from the calculation. 24x7 pump run time means you can generate chlorine at anytime of the day, and not just during the 12 hours with your current schedule.

It sounds to me like your PB just isn't very familiar with variable speed pumps, and their capabilities. He set yours up like you would a single speed pump.

 

[MichaelT20]

Yea my electric bill went up about $200 a month since the pool went in. With the pump running at 2750 it’s using 1000w - 1700w in spa mode - so at 12 hour run time it’s 12kwhr/day without the spa running at all. Oof.

I’m gonna have to get brave and open up the aqualink panel and start playing with wires and dip switched and schedule it more like yours.

Sounds like my PB just didn’t know how to automate it well with the aqualink so didn’t go fancy like you have - or he just was lazy.

Question on the aqualink. Once I move my lights off aux 3 and then toggle the dip switch I’m guessing a new toggle button shows up in the app automatically called spillover that I can turn on and off ?

Also will aqualink detect that the lights have been moved to dip 6, and correctly show the “lights” menu for color changing or do I have to configure anything

 

[ajw22]

Question on the aqualink. Once I move my lights off aux 3 and then toggle the dip switch I’m guessing a new toggle button shows up in the app automatically called spillover that I can turn on and off ?

Yes, you will see a SPILLOVER mode toggle along with your POOL and SPA modes.

Also will aqualink detect that the lights have been moved to dip 6, and correctly show the “lights” menu for color changing or do I have to configure anything

Delete your light from AUX3 before you change the dip switch. Otherwise you will not be able to after AUX3 becomes the spillover.

Then when you move the light high voltage relay to the AUX6 socket you need to configure AUX6 for the type of light you have.

@PoolGate

 

[MichaelT20]

Gotcha . With my hybrid pda / web setup they gave me I suspect I’ll have to do at least some of this with the pda. Sure I’ll figure it out.

I’ll also have to modify the valve that turns on and off the jets to the spa. Currently there’s a physical piece inside that stops it from closing all the way.

Out of curiosity is there a way to program how far to open/close that valve once it’s controlled by aqualink?

 

[ajw22]

I’ll also have to modify the valve that turns on and off the jets to the spa. Currently there’s a physical piece inside that stops it from closing all the way.

See Valve Actuators - Further Reading for how the cam is adjusted to set the actuator stop points.

Out of curiosity is there a way to program how far to open/close that valve once it’s controlled by aqualink?

I am not sure what you are asking about.

Jandy has a SMART JVA add-on board that allows Aqualink owners to be able to real-time set the amount their automated valves (JVAs) are open from 0-100% in 5% increments..

Jandy SmartJVA Module **HOW TO GET IT WORKING**

I found some more information on this. This is configurable using the OneTouch controller OR through the iAqualink interface. The reason I think I could not get it working is because it is saying it works on Rev T or newer. I think I am on Rev R. So anyone looking to get variable position...

www.troublefreepool.com

Jandy Smart JVA Assembly

The Smart JVA Module is designed to control a standard Jandy JVA valve to adjust the amount of water flow to a water feature from any auxiliary.

sunplay.com

 

[MichaelT20]

Gotcha yea my assign JVA screen doesn’t look smart . I guess it’ll just open some percent then and I’ll hope it’s good

 

[ajw22]

I guess it’ll just open some percent then and I’ll hope it’s good

I am lost. What valve are you opening some percent and why?

 

[MichaelT20]

I am lost. What valve are you opening some percent and why?

I’m probably just confused on how the valve actuator works. Right now when in pool mode it turns so spa is about 75% closed and in spa mode it turns so that pool is 100% closed. Pic below is in pool mode.

When I got setup one guy showed me there’s a little dial inside that determines how far it’s allowed to turn. I gotta read up on these JVAs and figure out how spa mode works.

Don’t sweat it I’m sure it’s just my lack of understanding.

 

[ajw22]

When I got setup one guy showed me there’s a little dial inside that determines how far it’s allowed to turn. I gotta read up on these JVAs and figure out how spa mode works.

That dial is the cam adjustment I refer to.

Once you have SPILLOVER mode enabled you want the spa to be 100% closed in POOL mode.

The Jandy actuator manual is attached to this post.

 

[MichaelT20]

Cool thanks - and then once I enabled spillover aqualink turns the dial to about 75% for me? That’s the adjustment I mentioned I was curious if that was configurable. But I’ll read up on both of these links to figure it out. Looks like it is from the above post you linked.

Thanks for all your help . Now I just have to work up the courage to make all these changes to my beautiful new pool haha.

 

[ajw22]

Cool thanks - and then once I enabled spillover aqualink turns the dial to about 75% for me?

In SPILLOVER mode Aqualink opens the valve 100%, the same as when in SPA mode.

That’s the adjustment I mentioned I was curious if that was configurable.

Actuators are not smart and only have two positions set by the cams unless you have the SmartJVA card.

And SmartJVA does not work for the preset RETURN and SUCTION valves. You use SmartJVA for things like water features.

 

[MichaelT20]

Ohhhhh I get it. So in spillover mode it’s 100 return to spa. That makes sense. Thank you

 

[Stoopalini]

Aqualink just turns the circuit on or off. The actuator receives the signal from Aqualink, and just spins until it hits a mechanical stop inside (ie: the cam adjustments). So Aqualink doesn't know if the actuator is 100% rotated, or 75% rotated.

This is typical of most automation systems. It's only fairly recently the various manufactures have been developing "smart" actuators, which can rotate to different stop positions via electronic feedback, and not simply all the way until it hits a mechanical stop.

So for your setup, you get two positions on the valve. On and off. You use the cam to adjust where you want the valve to stop in these positions. So off can be say 25% rotated and on can be 75%, etc ..

 

[red-beard]

You might want to consider running the spa in spa mode for at least 15 minutes per day. I do this every morning so that the return lines from the spa have fresh chlorinated water in them every day.
As for your pH rise issue, look at your TA and calculate your Carbonate Alkalinity. I reduced my TA to 60 and my CA to around 30, my pH rise is much slower and the maximum is around 7.9.

 

[red-beard]

On the speed settings, figure out the speed that is the minimum for your SWG and then add about 100 RPM. This is your minimum speed. I set my speed to that overnight. I have also played around to see the speed needed to get "good" skimming. I have it set to that during the day. I used to set a higher skimming speed for 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the evening. In the end, I compromised on a "good" skimmer setting from 6AM to 6PM.
1250 RPM is my minimum speed and that is 85 Watts. My pools runs that 12 hours a day. My compromise skimming speed is 1800 RPM and it is about 245 Watts. If you include 2 hours of Maytronics pool robot and my SWG, I use 5kWh per day, which is about $.70/day at 13.7 cents per kWh. This is far better than the 16 hours a day at 1776 Watts for my old 1 HP pump, which was ~42kWh/day.
I may need to switch back to 1250 for 19.75 hours per day and it would drop my cost to about 50 cents per day. Price of electricity went up! I paid 7.9 cents per kWh last year.

 

[MichaelT20]

In SPILLOVER mode Aqualink opens the valve 100%, the same as when in SPA mode.



Actuators are not smart and only have two positions set by the cams unless you have the SmartJVA card.

And SmartJVA does not work for the preset RETURN and SUCTION valves. You use SmartJVA for things like water features.

On more quick question as I start thinking about making this change:

Lets say my wife has friends over and wants the spillover, so turns it on for a few hours (lets say 4-5) - any concerns with the chlorine level of the spa? I *imagine* that the water is being sucked in from the pool, chlorinated by the SWG, and then spit into the spa, which then spills over - but is there any worry about the spa getting over chlorinated there? In spa mode my SWG is set to go down to 10%, but i assume in spillover mode it'll stay at the same % as pool is, which i currently keep around 60-70%.

Since the spa mode is circulating the same water, this makes sense. In spillover mode its water from the pool coming in. So I guess it doesn't get over chlorinated? And its fine?

 

[ajw22]

In spa mode my SWG is set to go down to 10%, but i assume in spillover mode it'll stay at the same % as pool is, which i currently keep around 60-70%.

In SPILLOVER mode the FC level will be the same in the pool and spa.

Think water volume not % for FC level. In SPILLOVER mode you are still chlorinating the pool + spa water volume.

 

[MichaelT20]

In SPILLOVER mode the FC level will be the same in the pool and spa.

Think water volume not % for FC level. In SPILLOVER mode you are still chlorinating the pool + spa water volume.

Makes sense thanks! I'm gonna ask my PB's startup guy to come by sometime soon and supervise me making the changes (hes a good dude and knows how it was all setup). Make sure I make the changes correctly. Worst case, if I want to go back to the way things are now, I can just toggle the dip switch back and re-set the JVA to how it is now, and then everythings the way it was .

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions!