The pollen is not toooo bad here. I wish I knew more about how the plumbing on this pool was actually laid out. At the bottom of my skimmers there are 2 "holes", someone told me this means they are tied to the drain. I only see one main drain. The cartridges are now 5 years old, I do not know the history of if/when they were cleaned. I cleaned them with water and a light detergent, they still looked dirty when I was done. Have not degreased the elements. I am not 100% sure the gauge is functioning correctly, but it did seem to work ok with the old pump, I consistently got a reading of around 12-13 PSI. And I can get it there now by increasing the flow. My skimmers have no flappers? When I pull the cover, I can see water swirling around, this is why I assumed they were working. Thats also how I came up with the 3-way valve switching between skimmers, when I move the valve, the water movement in the skimmers changes, one gets stronger, the other weaker.

The Eco-Star is a relatively new model so it's MTBF period is a big question mark. Past experience with Hayward brand products is not the greatest but they usually fix the product in a reasonable amount of time, for a manufacturer that is. Your description of the existing automation is quite accurate. Calling it antique hits the nail on the head. It hasn't been made for years and thus, no one would even think to do any developmental work on it or for it. What needs to be determined for the use of the Intelliflo or a two speed pump is the number of open and available relays and/or valve actuator ports. The two speed pump can be of any of the major manufacturers as they, by and large, use the same technologies and that has been available for a long time. There is a high speed coil and a low speed coil. Each gets it's own set of connections. Only one is turned on at a time. I am pretty sure your system can operate a two speed but not 100% positive. If I had the time, I would go looking for the most recent docs to find out. If it has either/and/or a free relays and valve actuator ports, each available one can represent a speed to the Intelliflo pump. The Intellicom II, used to interface between the pump and the automation system, can talk to both types of interfaces though the physical connection sometimes requires the tech be astute, electronically speaking as well as electrically. IMHO, Leslie's not sending someone is problematic. They have no idea if your existing gear can accommodate where you want to be. Add that you have no idea either and you have a blind leading the blind situation. Can the Intelliflo's internal timers be used to ramp up/down at specific times? Absolutely. If using the spa, would you need to manually change the speed on the pump? Yes you would. You would need to connect the power going to the relay that normally sends power to your pump directly to the pump for the timer to work properly. The pump's timer can have up to 8 events. A ramp up would be one even. Ramping back down would be a second event. If the caveats I have mentioned are ones you are willing to live with, you should be OK. If not, then expect to need to buy and install a new automation controller. That will cost you though. Scott

sdkath- Agree with repair guy. Consider your flows and application before sound. You will be more disappointed to not have the desired effect from your water features than to hear sound from the pump. Your stream will likely create enough sound that it will mask your pump sound. You can always abate the sound with landscape, fencing or even a pump sound cover if the sound is still objectionable. It sounds like you will be needing high flow for the stream. I would definitely recommend the single speed pump for this application as the Intellifo pumps are not very efficient at high flow rates. Also, you may want to consider a 2 speed for the stream also. This will allow you to have a "trickling stream" with low speed or a "roaring rapids" with the high speed. The 2 speed will also be more efficient than the Intelliflo at higher flows. Pentair's website has all the specs for these pumps so you can check these out. For the other pump recommendations, it is necessary to know how many gallons in your pool at a minimum. If your pool is big, then the Intelliflo may not be a good choice unless you run two of them in tandem to allow each pump to run at lower rpm which is where these pumps are most efficient and quieter. Hope this helps!

What type of Pentair pump is it? Since you said service mode I'm assuming it is a variable speed pump but is it an Intelliflo VS or an Intelliflo VS+SVRS model?