hajbo- Good question and this is going to be mostly a personal preference. You're obviously doing your homework and have read this forum and others. The variable speed pump at low speed will be marginally better than the 2 speed at low speed. As you mention, the variable speed does require a circuit board (actually a high current wave chopper, as they're know in the motor industry) to operate. If the circuit board (drive) fails, then the pump will not work. Not sure what Pentair's policy is regarding replacement drives. In HVAC, there are some manufacturers that replace the drives and others that require a full motor/drive combo replacement. From my experience with variable speed technology in HVAC, I personally decided to go with 2 speed technology. Both of my 2 speeds were put into service in 2007 and no problems to report. I would get a quote for a 2 speed installed plus rebates and compare to a quote for a variable speed plus rebates and then calculate how much money you will save annually with the variable speed assuming 300W/hour difference to see how long you're payoff will be and also look at manufacturer's warranties to help with your decision. Example, if you plan to run the pump at low speed for 8 hours per day, the daily savings with a variable speed will be 8 hours x 300 watts = 2,400 watt-hours. Multiply the 2,400 watt-hours by your utility rate to determine daily savings...so if your utility rate is $.30/KWH (you said SoCal so this is a guess), then your daily savings with variable speed will be $.72 per day (not too bad) and the payoff will likely be less than 2 years, assuming no failures or drive replacements. For me, at $.07/KWH, it would have taken over 10 years to recover my investment for variable speed technology. From my experience, relying on any high speed rotation equipment to last more than 10 years is a risky assumption regardless of variable speed or 2 speed technology. As you said, it will obviously be more expensive to get the variable speed technology working again when problems occur. It's a personal preference but wanted to share my logic....you're mileage may vary as they say. Hope this helps! Tres - Welcome back....missed you on the boards the last 6 months! Hope all is well.

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

It's an old thread, but the discussion made my blood boil. I'm also an engineer who designed and self-installed the pump filter for great hydraulic efficiency and very low power costs. It normally ran at 200 watts x 10 hrs/day versus the old setup (installed by a pool company) at 1500 watts x 14 hrs/day; run for 3.5 months/year. My Pentair INTELLIPRO XF VS PUMP drive burned out today. Had it for a little more than 3 years. I have a whole house surge protector. Pump is on a GFCI breaker. Traced correct power voltage all the way into the pump wiring terminals. The drive is non-servicable because some of the components are electrically potted into the housing to protect from moisture. Local Pentair dealer quoted me $1600 for a new drive (Pentair 356878Z) that is listed online for $680. He then quoted me $2100 for a whole new pump (Pentair 022055) that is listed online for $1300. I would pick up the part from the supplier's store and install it myself. Same part lead time as an online order. I don't mind paying an extra $150 to support the local guy, but an $800 markup is outrage! How can any of you say that customer service is worth $800? I troubleshooted it, I sought out the local supplier, I would install it myself. Pentair is not going to stand behind an out-of-warranty product. Is everyone saying that if I originally over paid my local Pentair dealer $800, he would remember me 3+ years later and replace the drive 'at no cost' to me. He'd still be making $120 profit on me for something that really should be covered by Pentair and should never fail - as discussed by others above.

Thanks for the comments. I do have a VS/4 x 160 pump. It does not have the SRVS feature. I did try to use the reset button and it did not have any effect on the shutting off and on. Was in pool today and it was still shutting off and on about every thirty minutes. Again it was doing it on low speed, on cleaning speed and with the Magic Stream running. It does seem to be an Easy touch issue, as when it shuts off the red light on the pump does not come on. And right before it comes back on you can hear a click in the Easy touch panel for the pump to come on. The funny thing about the click is that the pump is not hooked to the relay in the Easy Touch for power. The pump is controlled by the control wire, but gets power directly from the electrical subpanel right beside the Easy Touch. All my equipment is inside in the back of a garage, so the Easy touch is located right beside my electrical sub panel for the entire garage. If anyone knows if wiring the pump to the subpanel and controling from Easy touch would be an issue let me know. Everything works fine other than the cutting off and on issue. Thanks for the comments again. Greg