You have a disk on your meter can? I haven't seen one in a while, all of them around here have been replaced with electronic gizmos.

That's good news on the efficiency! We've found much the same thing. We run our Intelliflo at 1700 for 11 hours a day (filtering) and 2500 for 1 hour (cleaning) and also run it all-out whenever the water features are running. There was not a noticable increase on our electric bill, apparently it's a drop in the bucket compared to all the laundry we do and running of the A/C.

I have no clue how you folks come up with your calculations. A 30K pool filtered for 20hrs at 1,500 rpm. How do you know that turns your pool water over. Even Pentair can't answer that question for me. My new pool is small 17.5K. and I have no idea what the ideal rpm would be to save electricity and ultimately lower my monthly cost for filtration. I do need to run my cleaner at a minimum of 1 hr. but more than likely 2hrs. I've asked the questions here regarding rpm vs gpm, and all I got was buy and install a flow meter.

juzjon,

My logic (might be flawed):
- My AquaCal heat H155 pump needs 30-70 GPM to operate
- On IntelliFlo speed #2 (1500 RPM), the H155 LED reads "Flo" meaning insufficient flow for heat pump to operate
- I incrementally increased my IntelliFlo pump RPM until the H155 LED no longer stated "Flo". This happened to be 1700 RPM
- I inferred that the H155 was receiving 30 GPM at 1700 RPM
- 1500 RPM / 1700 RPM = 0.882, so I compute GPM @ 1500 RPM to be 0.882 * 30 GPM = approx 26.46 GPM
- 26.46 GPM * 20 hours = 31752 Gallons

-Gorilla

gorilla-

I only hope you also knew that you had another option to save a bundle of money each month when you made your decision to buy an Intelliflo. That option of course is a 2 speed pump which would have also saved a bundle of money up front in initial investment.

Using the Intelliflo as you are is the best way to use this technology. Some owners also try to use this pump for heavy duty applications requiring high flow and this pump is actually costing them more money than a 2 speed both in initial cost and every month of operation.

I have yet to hear of anyone reporting replacement costs for the motors or drives on the Intelliflo pumps. Any savings from low speed operation can be erased pretty quickly when having to replace parts on this expensive design.

Just offering another perspective here for those readers who are trying to make an informed decision.

Gorilla,
Since the people who sell the Intelliflo have no idea how to do a conversion from rpm to gpm I was left to guess. Right now I am running the cleaner from 5am to 7am in the morning at 2,200 rpm. Then at 10am the pool circ. runs until 6pm at 1,750 rpm. My pool is only 17,500 gal. but I have another issue (that being solar) which is a lengthy run from the pump thus I opted for the Pentair 4 x 160 because the head pressure kept causing an alarm mode on my first choice the Intelliflo VS 3050.

SoCal Edison will probably send me a monthly bill for $700.
What ever happened to the easy going days?

juzjon!

"I've asked the questions here regarding rpm vs gpm, and all I got was buy and install a flow meter."

If you don't know the answer why would you reject it when it comes? I gave you the solution. It's pretty straight forward. The flow meter will read GPM past a given point. Used every day on a commercial pool as the only way to know what's happening in those pipes.

"Since the people who sell the Intelliflo have no idea how to do a conversion from rpm to gpm"

You need to calculate total head on the system and then from that number at a specific rpm, you can chart the approx. gpm. Nobody can do this unless it is calculated on site. It's like calling a hairdresser and asking them on the phone what length looks good for you. Kinda impossible if they have never seen you.

It's much easier to drill a hole and install a meter.

trthought,

I was aware of the 2-speed option. I went with the IntelliFlo for 2 reasons:
1. efficiency is stated to be 90% at 3000 RPM (I think) and at 1000 RPM
2. flexibility to program any speed.

The efficiency of the 2-speed pump, as I understand it, is supposed to be lower than 90% on low speed, but that is from research here. And for me, the 2-speed, I think, would not have been sufficient to heat the pool on low speed since my HP needs a minimum of 30 GPM (ideal flow if 50 GPM), and I think 1725 RPM would have been borderline at best, and insufficient with a dirty filter, etc.

I use High speed when using the spa, and even then, I only use 2500 RPM to feed 6 therapy jets.

-Gorilla

gorilla-

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the variable speed motors are about 90% efficient and the 2 speed motors used in the 2 speed pumps are around 85-88% efficient. But, there is more to pump efficiency than just the motor efficiency. The impeller design, housing design and plumbing system all have bigger impacts on pump efficiency than just the motor. Unfortunately, the Intelliflo impeller is not very efficient especially at higher speeds. Pentair should really market this pump as a .75HP pump for all their efficiency claims to be true. Beyond .75HP, this pump is not very efficient.

Using the Intelliflo as you are is wise for low speed, light duty filtering. However, a 2 speed at low speed would have had enough flow for your pool needs also and offered about the same energy savings. There are at least 3 different size 2 speed pumps available on the residential market today (1HP, 1.5HP and 2.0HP). Each of these offers 3 different HP ratings at low speed (1/5HP, 1/4HP and 1/3HP).

I am using a 2 speed pump with 1/3 HP at low speed and it has adequate flow for my heat pump, cartridge filter and in-floor cleaning system at low speed. There are others on this forum who are also using 2 speed pumps for solar applications also which typically have high head requirements.

Properly sized, a 2 speed pump at low speed can provide adequate flow for any pool feature with a little homework up front and proper plumbing. Unfortunately, Pentair has created a shroud of mystery around 2 speed technology and has discounted its value all in favor of promoting their Intelliflo. Their website is a perfect example. Even though they offer a full line of 2 speed pumps, they do not allow a comparison to any of their 2 speed pumps in their Intelliflo engergy calculator.....hmmmm....could it be that the power savings is not that compelling when compared to 2 speed. To promote this pump as a one size fits all and base the energy savings story on apples to oranges comparisons is misleading the consumers.

Just my perspective.

Gorilla,
Both of my heat pumps will run on low speed of my 2 speed filter pumps. Perhaps the piping in your pool is slightly undersized.

Trhought,
Consider yourself very very lucky. I've yet to see any infloor cleaning system that will work properly at the low speed.

See ya,
Kelly

Kelly-

If youÂre looking for a 2 speed that will work well with the Paramount PV3, I would recommend the Jandy SHPM 2.5-2 pump (although I think any 2 HP 2 speed that is rated at 1/3 HP at low speed will work also). As you know, there are other 2 speed offerings out there, but they have lower HP ratings at low speed.

The key to making low speed work for floor systems is to close all bypass circuits so that all flow goes to the floor system main valve. For efficient and quiet pump operation at high speed, I have bypasses around the heat pump and to the pool that open during high speed. IÂm using 1.5" irrigation solenoids with flow control that immediately open and close the bypass circuits on command (JVA's will also work but will be slower and more expensive). They open in high speed and close during low speed with control from the JVA sockets that I assigned on the Jandy Aqualink.

With all bypass circuits closed, there is enough flow for my heat pump and floor system. The floor system cycles and delivers chlorinated and heated water to each zone as designedÂ..all while on low speed savings lots of energy and money!

Hope this makes sense!