What should a home owner do if they have a Pentair intelliFlo variable speed pump and it doesn’t seem like the Pentair Mastertemp heater and Pentair intelliFlo Salt Cell work on the lower speeds?If you have trouble with the heater, always backwash the filter first, and then make sure you are running the pump on speed 3 to turn the heater on.
Speed one on a variable speed pump is for when it ramps up to priming. Speed two is a slower speed, and it may not be enough to trigger the flow switch in the salt cell to produce chlorine. The speeds that are programmed for speed 1, 2, 3, and 4 can be custom programmed to whatever speeds you’d want. If the first couple aren’t strong enough, changing those to being a little stronger would be better. Flow rate depends on size of the plumbing, speed of the heater, and how many bends/elbows there are in the pipe.
The lower speeds are for efficiency and filtration/water turn over.
If you are having trouble with the salt cell not running and the heater not running,they will need to do so at higher speeds.
You can program run times and speeds in your Easy Touch Panel.
Heaters and Salt Cells (Operate unit with minimum flow of 25 gpm)
WATER FLOW RATE
Maximum and minimum water flow rates required by the
heater are listed below:
Minimum Flow 25-120 gpm
If the water flow rate to the heater is above 120 GPM (454
LPM), it must be reduced by installing a manual bypass
valve (Figure 16). After installing the valve, adjust the valve
to bring the flow rate within the acceptable range. Then
remove the valve handle or lock it in place to prevent tam-
pering.
Occasionally a two-speed pump will not develop enough
pressure on the low speed to operate the heater. In this
case, run the pump at high speed only to operate the
heater. If this does not solve the problem, do not try to
run the heater. Instead, correct the installation.
Do not operate the heater while an automatic pool clean-
er is also operating. If the circulation pump suction is
plugged (for example by leaves), there may not be ade-
quate flow to the heater. Do not rely on the pressure
switch in this case.
For reference here is the manual for the VBS Pump:
Pentair intelliChlor Salt Cell
Pentair Mastertemp Heater
Pentair Easy Touch Automation Panel