Hello everyone, my wife and I are in the process of having our pool built. The shotcrete was just sprayed about a week ago. I have decided to go with pentair intellicenter for automation, I'm just trying to figure out exactly which model I need. Unfortunately my pool builder seems to have very little knowledge on automation. They have been building pools since the 80s and have an awesome track record for quality pools at a reasonable price where we live, but they really seem to lack when it comes to anything related to controllers and automation. Our pool, is only a pool, but does have a spa-like bench built into one corner of the pool with 4 jets.
Here is what we will have:
intelliflo variable pump (not exactly sure which model)
ultra temp 140k heat pump heater
automatic pool cleaner with dedicated suction line(not exactly sure what this means)
ic40 swg with the intellicenter as a kit
water features:
water slide 35-40gpm
3 bubblers on sunshelf
4 deckjets spraying into pool
4 "therapy" jets on corner bench
almost forgot, we will have 4 lights inside the pool, not sure exactly what brand, but i know they change colors
eventually we will be adding some lighting on the screen enclosure to light up the deck around the pool. We want to be able to control these and possibly a few other things that we don't yet know about from the controller.
I told the pool builder that I want to be able to effectively run all the water features at the same time if we choose too and I want to be able to control each feature independently of each other. They replied with a recommendation of adding a second variable pump for the "therapy" jets as they say they will need the most flow. They stated that everything else will be able to run off the primary pump. This is also when they made the recommendation of an easy touch system, and then they seemed to get confused when I told them that the easy touch can only control 2 valves.
I found polytecpools.com and for the 5pic40 kit is $2140 or the 8psic40 kit is $2860 difference of $720, but includes 2 intellivalve actuators at $180 a piece, so its really only a difference of $360 between the 2 kits if i added 2 actuators to the 5pic40. Also if needed the 10psic40 is only $40 more, but its on backorder for 1-2 weeks.
1 other question I have is about the heater. Having 2 pumps and only 1 heater, I assume the heater is going to be plumbed into the primary pump to heat the pool, is there a way with the intellicenter and some valves to have the ability to run the heater with the bench jets when I want to? We really only have the heater for the bench "therapy jets" for my wife as she's not a big swimmer, but wants to be able to enjoy her time with us, and we opted away from a seperate spa for the money (it was $20k more). if not would I be crazy to only hook the heater up to the 2nd pump?
Here is what we will have:
intelliflo variable pump (not exactly sure which model)
ultra temp 140k heat pump heater
automatic pool cleaner with dedicated suction line(not exactly sure what this means)
ic40 swg with the intellicenter as a kit
water features:
water slide 35-40gpm
3 bubblers on sunshelf
4 deckjets spraying into pool
4 "therapy" jets on corner bench
almost forgot, we will have 4 lights inside the pool, not sure exactly what brand, but i know they change colors
eventually we will be adding some lighting on the screen enclosure to light up the deck around the pool. We want to be able to control these and possibly a few other things that we don't yet know about from the controller.
I told the pool builder that I want to be able to effectively run all the water features at the same time if we choose too and I want to be able to control each feature independently of each other. They replied with a recommendation of adding a second variable pump for the "therapy" jets as they say they will need the most flow. They stated that everything else will be able to run off the primary pump. This is also when they made the recommendation of an easy touch system, and then they seemed to get confused when I told them that the easy touch can only control 2 valves.
I found polytecpools.com and for the 5pic40 kit is $2140 or the 8psic40 kit is $2860 difference of $720, but includes 2 intellivalve actuators at $180 a piece, so its really only a difference of $360 between the 2 kits if i added 2 actuators to the 5pic40. Also if needed the 10psic40 is only $40 more, but its on backorder for 1-2 weeks.
1 other question I have is about the heater. Having 2 pumps and only 1 heater, I assume the heater is going to be plumbed into the primary pump to heat the pool, is there a way with the intellicenter and some valves to have the ability to run the heater with the bench jets when I want to? We really only have the heater for the bench "therapy jets" for my wife as she's not a big swimmer, but wants to be able to enjoy her time with us, and we opted away from a seperate spa for the money (it was $20k more). if not would I be crazy to only hook the heater up to the 2nd pump?