Wiring new pump and SWG

[ndakotaninja]

My brother bought a new home last year that has a pool and he's replacing his pool pump and installing a SWG this year with my help. He purchased the Intelliflo VS pump and the Hayward Aquarite SWG. He doesn't have a pool heater or anything else special, and he has a simple Intermatic T10X (not sure which) pool timer box.

So I've read through various forum threads like this: https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/new-pentair-intelliflo-vsf-with-mechanical-timer.180170/, and wanted to get a sanity check. It seems like the best thing to do is to run the pump to the LINE so it gets constant power and run the SWG to the LOAD so it runs only when the Intermatic timer allows it. He's planning on running the pump AND SWG 24x7 so I assume he would just leave the Intermatic timer 'on'.

Question is, with this setup, is there anything to guarantee the SWG isn't on while the pump is not flowing (other than the flow switch on the SWG)? For instance, if he manually stops the pump to clean it out, the SWG would continue to get power? I assume it would always get power unless the Intermatic switch is flipped to 'off'?

I assume this would still be the best/preferred way to wire up his setup. If he decides to run the SWG for less than 24x7 (due to too much output for instance), the timer would allow for some leeway there. Any other pros/cons to this setup or 'gotchas' I haven't thought of?

 

[wireform]

You need to know which pump as it may have the capability to control something else through its control.

 

[cowboycasey]

Add a surge protector into the power panel, these pumps love to kill themselves at the thought of lightning.. This will go into the very first slot of the breaker panel, not on the pump circuit.. it gets its own 20 amp breaker...

I have one on my pump, 1 on my whole house and 1 on my air conditioner and multiple on anything of value in the house

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What size SWG did he get, if it is 2 times the size should only need to run it 12 hours or so..

Other than that the wiring is correct direct wire pump and wire SWG to timer

 

[ndakotaninja]

The pump is the Pentair 3hp Intelliflo (EC-011028).

The SWG he got is the Hayward aqr9 (for 25K gallons). His pool is ~19K gallons.

The surge protector you linked is something that would be installed at the circuit breaker inside the house? I'm not sure I follow what you mean by "This will go into the very first slot of the breaker panel, not on the pump circuit. it gets its own 20 amp breaker"

 

[cowboycasey]

ahhh, most have a breaker panel at the pool pad with breakers in it... If the power is ran from the main breaker panel out to the pad and the pump and timer are wired directly then that one will not work... You would need a whole house one to protect the pump..

The very first slot on the breaker panel is used because that is where the surge comes from and these eat themselves and stop the surge from damaging anything else..

Depending on the panel you could use one of the following

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this one would need a 240v circuit breaker installed to connect to

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[mguzzy]

The pump is the Pentair 3hp Intelliflo (EC-011028).

The SWG he got is the Hayward aqr9 (for 25K gallons). His pool is ~19K gallons.

The surge protector you linked is something that would be installed at the circuit breaker inside the house? I'm not sure I follow what you mean by "This will go into the very first slot of the breaker panel, not on the pump circuit. it gets its own 20 amp breaker"

He probably would have been better off with a tcell15 for a 40K pool. We recommend a cell at least twice the size of the pool so you don't have to run the output at full bore all the time and you can adjust it down or up for the conditions.

I think he is referring to the subpanel at the pool. Do you (or does your brother) have one? you could also turn off the timer switch.. if your SWG is wired through there it would kill it.

 

[duckcmmndr]

The pump is the Pentair 3hp Intelliflo (EC-011028).

The SWG he got is the Hayward aqr9 (for 25K gallons). His pool is ~19K gallons.

The surge protector you linked is something that would be installed at the circuit breaker inside the house? I'm not sure I follow what you mean by "This will go into the very first slot of the breaker panel, not on the pump circuit. it gets its own 20 amp breaker"

This is the breaker panel in my pool house that feeds the Omnilogic panel outside by the pool equipment. The top left two spaces is the surge protector that cowboycasey was referring to.


As for the Hayward salt cell....I think most all of them come with a controller that you can use to set the runtime and % output. You can't use just the salt cell, it has a propitiatory plug on it that will plug into a hayward controller that you use to set the schedule. Mine plugs into the OmniLogic panel that I have....you should do a little investigation there and as other's have said...if you have not already bought it, go with the 40K size for a 25K pool. It's not the end of the world if it has already been bought, I run a 40K cell on a 30K pool and it works just fine...I just run it a little longer than if I could have got a 60K rated cell.

 

[ndakotaninja]

Yeah, neither my pool nor his has a breaker panel at the pool pad, only power lines that come out of the ground and into a junction box that then splits to the GFCI outlet/power switch for pool equipment and the light switch for the pool lights. I appreciate you sharing your breaker box there, it definitely cleared things up. My brother said he has a second 'daughter box' inside the house that splits from the main one and has the pool circuit breakers in it. We'll take a look at that to see if it is basically what you shared above.

As for the SWG, I had told him to get the Tcell15, but when he ordered it he saw the recommendation on the page "for 25K gallons" and ordered the T9 one instead. It came with the Hayward Aquarite control panel, I assume same as what I have (I haven't personally seen it), so we shouldn't have any issues setting it up and getting it working, as you've said, he'll just have to run it at a higher % setting.

I assume/hope when it's time to replace the cell he'll be able to purchase a Tcell15 at that point and he can reconfigure his control panel to update the cell model and it will work? Please correct me if i'm wrong there. If he won't be able to swap cells out, I'll see if he can return it and get the T15 cell/control panel instead before he hooks this one up.

 

[duckcmmndr]

Yeah, neither my pool nor his has a breaker panel at the pool pad, only power lines that come out of the ground and into a junction box that then splits to the GFCI outlet/power switch for pool equipment and the light switch for the pool lights. I appreciate you sharing your breaker box there, it definitely cleared things up. My brother said he has a second 'daughter box' inside the house that splits from the main one and has the pool circuit breakers in it. We'll take a look at that to see if it is basically what you shared above.

As for the SWG, I had told him to get the Tcell15, but when he ordered it he saw the recommendation on the page "for 25K gallons" and ordered the T9 one instead. It came with the Hayward Aquarite control panel, I assume same as what I have (I haven't personally seen it), so we shouldn't have any issues setting it up and getting it working, as you've said, he'll just have to run it at a higher % setting.

I assume/hope when it's time to replace the cell he'll be able to purchase a Tcell15 at that point and he can reconfigure his control panel to update the cell model and it will work? Please correct me if i'm wrong there. If he won't be able to swap cells out, I'll see if he can return it and get the T15 cell/control panel instead before he hooks this one up.

He should be able to buy the T15 when the current one wears out and not have to replace the Aquarite panel. I would not sweat the smaller T9 for now...It will get the job done, It will just have to run longer and at a higher percentage output. I think you are 100% on the right track. Here is how the AquaRite panel shows to wire. You should have this in the manual that comes with it.

 

[mguzzy]

I assume/hope when it's time to replace the cell he'll be able to purchase a Tcell15 at that point and he can reconfigure his control panel to update the cell model and it will work? Please correct me if i'm wrong there. If he won't be able to swap cells out, I'll see if he can return it and get the T15 cell/control panel instead before he hooks this one up.

Don't assume.. I would check the controller box and install instructions and confirm it can accommodate different cell types. Not all of them do. Some are a package deal and they are locked to that cell type. I think if it has the jumpers to set the cell type then it can. But check first. If not it would give you reason to get the correct one ordered.

 

[wireform]

I think if it hasn't been used yet he should exchange it for the T-15 setup.

 

[ndakotaninja]

Yeah, looking around online it says if it's software version 1.5 or newer, it supports all cells, but only way i know how to check the software version is to have it powered on (and in use). Other threads on the forum ask the same question regarding upgrading software or whether you can swap cells out, with not much success.

I'll pass the info along to him and let him decide as it's his money and time.

 

[wireform]

The serial number may help