The stainless tank is exactly what makes it the best. I put more faith in that tank for a long life expectancy than any fiberglass or thermoplastic tank. The filtration effectiveness and flow will be the exact same on both units. That's why I said I liked what I read about the Hayward 72 over the Quad. I had a Quad comp'd to me about 4 years ago, we placed it at a salesgirls home pool. It didn't backwash as effectively as a unit with DE grids. They gave us a retro diverter assembly manifold for the unit to help in this aspect of operation. Although better I still wasn't overly impressed with the unit. My salesgirl loves it because it beat her 10+ yr old filter hands down. Trust me on this, I wont make a product switch unless I'm firmly convinced it's better, not just more expensive. And coming back to me with this retrofit diverter assembly for brand new product that's not only noticably more expensive but has lesser performance effectiveness in the backwash cycle sunk it's battleship. I just couldn't join the Quad's fan club based on my real world interaction with the unit. Note, my salesgirl, one of my longest employees loves hers. that's why I couldn't speak negatively about the product, I just couldn't speak positively about it either. Maybe Reno's correct, it's probably just real hard to give any cartridge filter an effective backwashing without a filter breakdown. I have a VERY large pool (120k gal) and only break my 60's down at the beginning of swim season (the weekend before spring break) then I backwash for the following year. I have no need for a unit that refuses to backwash as well as a product which costs the same or less. As soon as one of my tanks gives up it's ghost I'll surely regret not stepping up to the plate and getting what I really wanted but cheaped out on due to cost over-runs on my pool construction project. See ya, Kelly

Last summer, when I was thinking about getting a second set of cartridges to allow me to take my time cleaning them, I found Best Buy Pool Supply to have the best price that I could find on the net, about $277 total for both elements (told you they were pricey!). Top Dog Pool Supply came in at just over $350 and Pool Pump and Filter Superstore came in at the highest...nearly $390. I did not check eBay. After seeing those prices, I nixed the idea of having a second set for convenience. Not every site had my filter's elements, so there may be other sites with better pricing on yours. I've heard that some cartridge filters have generic filter elements that are much cheaper to replace but I haven't a clue as to how well they perform. Perhaps a PB could offer an opinion here...

Repair guy, Let me try and clear up the name and description of the pumps. There has been a description and name change identifying the pumps recently and this probably has lead to your confusion. I also think this will help others that may have the same questions. Please remember that all the pumps listed below use the exact same motor. The only thing that differs is the drive that is on top of the motor. A Variable flow pump can be changed to a variable speed pump and vice versa very easily by changing the drive. This is done with a Phillips screw driver and a taking out a few screws and replacing on drive for the other. There are 3 variable speed pumps available in the IntelliFlo family: The Pentair Variable Flow 3050 IntelliFlo Pump P/N 011012 is a variable flow pump that is programmed to a desired flow rate. User enters in gallons in pool, desired turnover time and pump calculates GPM flow for the pool. This pump monitors many conditions on the system like suction and return pressure and will adjust the flow depending on changes within a system similar to cruise control on a car. Among several other features this pump also has the ability to sense blockage on the suction side and discharge side and has a built in timer within the pump, etc. This pump will also display the GPM it is flowing at. It operates at a minimum 400 RPMs and goes up to 3,450 RPMs. In essence this pump has 3,050 different speeds it can flow at. The Pentair Variable Speed Intelliflo Pump P/N 011013 (known as the 4x160) and the Sta-Rite Variable Speed 3050 IntelliPro Pump P/N P6E6Y4-209L. Both pumps performance and features are exactly the same except the Sta-Rite pump is black and uses a Sta Rite wet end. Both are programmable multi-speed pump that have 4 preset speed (RPM) settings. When used with certain automatic controllers the presets are increased to 8 customized speeds. The preset speeds can be adjusted in 10 RPM increments anywhere between 400 and 3,450 RPMs. In essence there are 305 speed settings on both pumps. Think of the setting like a AM radio dial on your car you have 6 preset buttons on the radio but you have 100s of stations to choose from. As far as pricing: Pentair Variable Speed Intelliflo Pump P/N 011013 (known as the 4x160) and the Sta-Rite Variable Speed 3050 IntelliPro Pump P/N P6E6Y4-209L are sold by Pentair at about twice the price of a 2 HP EE pump. The Pentair Variable Flow 3050 IntelliFlo Pump P/N 011012 is sold for about $300.00 more than Variable Speed pumps. When you calculate rebates, where available, the cost of a standard pump verses a Variable Speed gets to be in the range of 100- 200.00 more. Variable Flow pump is 400-500.00 more than a standard pump. All this sounds fine and dandy but do not forget that these pumps are on a jog to reduce energy costs. Depending on your cost of a KW the extra dollars you spend can be earned back very quickly. Hope this helps, Deek

So your saying that don't use any backwash valve at all? My understanding is that you may want to do a basic backwash on a DE filter every month or two and then a complete cleaning once a year. Seems like one would not want to dissasemble the plumbing everytime. Am i missing something? Isn't there a good quality BW valve that would be best? I currently will be replacing a 1972 vintage bronze casted Sta-Rite single speed pump and SS Filter Tank with all copper and bronze casted BW valve. Its 2" copper going into the pump but only 1.5" from the pump to filter( in copper). My understanding is that it would be better to go 2 inch all the way so i'm thinking of buying the 3.2 intelliflo since it already has the built in control and the Quad 60 DE filter. My pool size is 28,000 gallon. I really like the Bronze BW valve as it appears almost new after all these years but it has a 1.5" line going in with sweat fittings,but looks like its originally all 2 inch. The 2 inch exits the filter and splits off to two 1.5" lines. One going to the pool heater and then back to pool, and one going directly back to the pool.So thats 2 x 1.5" back to the pool. Since i don't use the heater and the Leslie Tech said it does effect flow i thought of just cutting it out of the system but keeping that circuit for possible future solar heating. Whats your thoughts on this setup??