Need adivse on Pentair Equipment and Setup

15 years ago

I have enjoyed the great information on these forums. I especially appreciate some of those from Repair Guy and others (names are not my strong suit). Hopefully, someone can help or point me in the right direction.

My PB just finished building my pool and attempted startup of the pool with my equipment without success.

Here is some of my setup:

- Oval like pool approx 16' by 34' long 3.5x4.5x5.5x7.5 evenly spaced (not sure on gallons)

- Pentair Intelliflow VF (3.2KW)

- Pentair Quad DE 100 filter

- Pentair IC40

- EasyTouch 4PSC with Remote

- 3 Sheer Descents (1x4' 2x1')

- 2 inch piping

- Skimmer

- Separate Vacumm line for vacuum

- Hayward Ultra

- Standard 400w light (no SAM)

Setup request

- Able to turn light on/off with remote (this works)

- Turn on water feature from remote (I don't think this is possible since it is a value to switch between vacuum/skim and sheers, but if value was turned to shears then could turn on the pump)

Here is my questions (appreciate the help if anyone can)

1. Can the EasyTouch turn on/off the VF (with a specified flow rating and for a specified time)?

2. Is the stuff I have overkill or did I spend money in the right place?

3. I order a Polaris ATV and got a Hayward Ultra and I am not impressed so far. Is one better than the other?

Sorry for all the rookie questions, I searched the forum and found bits and pieces but don't want to ASSuME.

Thanks,

ArizonaGuy (guy from arizona)

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Comments (4)

arizonaguy
Original Author
15 years ago
Some additional information that may help ...
- I have a baja/tanning step which is 6'x9' about 1.5' deep which is extra to the diminsions given
- The sheers are about 2' high from the water surface in the middle of the pool (over the 4.5' to 5.5' section)
- NO SPA
- NO Rock Waterfall
- NO Heater
- Approximately 5 jets to help circulate to the skimmer
- 1 Skimmer but have 2 drains in deep end of pool
- Live in AZ and is dusty, no rain
- Electricity is cheap compared to CA but want to keep costs down
- I have a "time of use" plan which monitors when electricity is used and charged differently
- Interior is a smooth "upgraded plaster/quartz aggregate" called Ultrapoz
repair_guy
15 years ago
Bad choice of pump for an Easytouch but here it goes....

If you plug that pump into the EasyTouch, it will become a 4x160. So, that's what my answers will be.

YOU CAN ASSIGN A VALVE ACTUATOR TO THE SHEER VALVE AND SET A SPEED TO RUN IT IF YOU CREATE A CIRCUIT CALLED WATERFALL OR WHATEVER.

YOU CAN ALSO PUT IN AN ACTUATOR FOR THE SWEEP AND ASSIGN A SPEED FOR IT TOO ON ANOTHER VALVE CIRCUIT.

Here is my questions (appreciate the help if anyone can)
1. Can the EasyTouch turn on/off the VF (with a specified flow rating and for a specified time)?

YES, YOU ASSIGN A PROGRAM TO "POOL" FOR THE SPECIFIC SPEED YOU WANT.

2. Is the stuff I have overkill or did I spend money in the right place?

THE PUMP IS FOR AN ET.

3. I order a Polaris ATV and got a Hayward Ultra and I am not impressed so far. Is one better than the other?

YOU DID NOT RETURN IT? PEOPLE HERE SWEAR BY THE ATV BUT IT IS RATHER JUNKY AFTER TIME.
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Peter- Thanks for the link to the Intelliflo technical discussion. Obviously this was an Intelliflo only discussion and only addressed low speed efficiency. Variable speed pumps with BPM motors will always use less power than a PSC motor at low speed. There is no argument here. However, variable speed at higher speeds suffers from large power consumption due to two primary power robbers 1) high current inversion of AC to DC power in the VFD, which is very inefficient and produces a lot of waste heat as a result 2) Compromised impeller design because the impeller can not operate at peak efficiency for a large gpm range so the engineers have to make a choice where they want to optimize the impeller and at the same time a choice at where the impeller will not be very efficient. In the case of Intelliflo, from their published power, TDH and gpm curves, they have optimized for low speed operation and rightly so, but this choice also causes the higher speed efficiency to be miserable. Also of note, while I agree with your warning of using FLA to estimate power consumption, I would also add that the Intelliflo curve is true power consumption in watts and not FLA. Using FLA to calculate 2 speed pump power is worst case and, to your point, will only be better in the real world which makes the 2 speed even more favorable over variable speed. Just wanted to offer a balanced view here. Variable speed has its own merits, mainly low speed efficiency and ability to tune flow to plumbing resistance for optimum performance. But, to suggest using a variable speed pump for multi-tasking, which requires higher speeds, is not doing the energy conscious homeowner any good. In the case of pools with multiple water features or in-floor cleaners which require higher flows, multiple 1 speed or 2 speed pumps that are tuned for the higher flows will always save energy over a variable speed that is trying to inefficiently cover a large operating range. jj- In your case with a floor cleaning system...the floor cleaner will have to run for about 2 hours a day to get full rotation of the heads and full cleaning. For other hours of the day, the pump can ran at low speed allowing the pump to operate easier against lower resistance providing turnover and filtering for your pool. A variable speed or a 2 speed will both provide energy efficient operation for your cleaning and filtering needs. Only you can make the decision if you want to spend the extra money for the variable speed. To help you justify the extra cost for variable speed over 2 speed, use 200 watts per hour savings over 2 speed at low speed and 1,000 watts per hour cost over 2 speed at high speed. Knowing how long you will run the pump at high and low speed will allow you to calculate how much money is saved per day with variable speed and 2 speed, helping to make your decision. Hope this helps!
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arizonaguy
Original Author
15 years ago
Repair_Guy,

In response to

2. THE PUMP IS FOR AN ET.

I am not up with all the appreviations, do you mean it is meant for the Intellitouch IT? You also said it was bad choice for an Easytouch is that because you can only have 4 speeds programmed ergo 4x160? If so, then I don't see why that is a problem in my situation since I only need 3 (skim, vacuum, sheers) - or am I missing something?

3. I ordered a Polaris ATV and the PB gave me Hayward Ultra. I have a call into my PB to give me the Polaris ATV as I feel it is better than the Hayward Ultra. I am hoping to demand the Polaris ATV but if the PB pushes back I won't fight him if they are both about the same.

Some other additional information - the easytouch is hooked up via the RS-485 input to the easy touch but the PB installer can't get it to work and is waiting on Pentair to help out. I bet he didn't set the address or setup the circuit names yet. It looks like the installer was going to just plug it in and it auto recognize it (this is 4th-ish VF they have installed and I bet the others were attached to Intellitouch panels).

And BTW thanks for all the help you give on these forums (I know you hear this alot) but it takes a lot of patience and a kind soul to spend the time you do answering all these questions.

I don't have the pool & spa knowledge you have but if you ever have any Q's regarding computers/software/hardware I will help you out if I can (I work for one of the largest software companies in the world).

Thanks again ...
arizonaguy
Original Author
15 years ago
Sorry for the long posts ...

If there is a better setup let me know as I may have some pull with my PB on some things.

I.e. I could have them upgrade the EasyTouch with Remote to an Intellitouch i5psc with some type of remote and pay for the difference.

Need adivse on Pentair Equipment and Setup

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Need adivse on Pentair Equipment and Setup

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