Intelliflo VF and the use of a heater or salt chlorine generator
Im a first time homemoaner for all of a month and a half and in addition, IÂm a first time pool owner so please excuse what will no doubt seem like some very stupid questionsÂ
The house came with a 19,500 gallon pool and connected spa. The gas heater was brand new, a new salt chorine generator was installed, and the spa jet pump was new. The filter pump (a Whisperflo) was, however, quite a number of years old. I ran it around six hours per day and the salt system was active only during that time. Everything worked fine and the very efficient Sta-Rite Max-E-Therm heater could get the spa up to comfortable temps within an hour and a half and the pool up to 85 degrees with less than a day of running.
Unfortunately, the filter pump had issues and after I got my first electric bill and confirmed that filter pump operation was the primary driver behind an astronomic average KwH/day, I frantically started looking for a much more efficient replacement. I went with the Intelliflo VF, bought one over the internet, and had a local pool service install it though actual set up was up to me. So far (3 days worth) itÂs been working just fine. Setup and programming was straightforward. Set for a single turnover every 24 hours, the pump is consuming about 260 watts as it maintains a flow of about 15 gallons per minute.
What I donÂt understand is whether the heater and the salt chorine generator will function as effectively as originally designed when the flow through them is reduced by 75%. Here are my questions:
1) If it took an hour and a half to heat up the spa (or a day to heat up the pool) with the full speed Whisperflo, would using the 15 GPM Intelliflo takeÂ
a. Four times as long because the flow through the heater is but a quarter of what it was before.
b. The same amount of time because the water moves through the heater more slowly and remains on the heating element for a longer period of time, raising the temp much higher than before and thus negating the slower turnover rate.
c. Much longer than four times as long because the flow is so low that the heater canÂt keep up with the loss of heat from the spaÂs (or poolÂs) surface. ThatÂs why you have to set a Features program with increased flow rate when you want to run the heater.
d. None of the above.
e. All of the above.
2) If the salt chlorine generator at the 75% output level setting running six hours per day with the full speed Whisperflo produced about the right level of chorine, would using the 15 GPM Intelliflo result inÂ
a. A fourth of the chorine production because the rate of flow through the generator is but a quarter of what it was before. As such, you need to make sure the generator is running 24 hours a day rather than just six to compensate.
b. About the same level of chorine because the generation method produces the same amount over time no matter what the flow rate might be. As such, itÂs important to make sure the generator is running just 6 hours a day rather than 24 because youÂll wind up with way too much chorine at the end of the day.
c. Little or no chorine production at all, because salt generators shut down or are far less efficient when the flows they were designed for are reduced to just a quarter. As such, you have to set a Features program for a couple hours a day with markedly increased flows to kick the chorine generator into full operation.
d. None of the above.
e. All of the above.
I tried figuring these answers out from the Intelliflo VF users manual but incredibly the manual mentions the word "heater" just six times and most of those involve an interface with a Pentair brand heater. The words "salt" or "chlorine" do not appear at all. Amazing. I canÂt possibly be the only person to wonder about these things, can I?
Thanks for any guidance hereÂ
Nick
Comments (8)
poolguynj
vincel
Related Discussions
Brand of salt water chlorine generator
Q
Intelliflo VF vs. VS Question
Q
Whats needed to run rest of pool system if using intelliflo 3.2
Q
Intelliflo VF features 3-9
Q
nick_shirleyOriginal Author
ncrealestateguy
poolguynj
vincel
vincel
poolguynj