Pentair Intelliflo VS Pump operational time

[rcurlee]

What exactly is lightning protection for a VS pump? Is this somehting that I can purchase and install? or needs a professional? The replacement VS pump was installed professionally (Leslie's Pools) into an existing exterior circuit breaker outside of the house. This is also where the Polaris Pump is connected in the same circuit box. In the same proximity of where I have two separate AC condensor units that have their own exterior circuit breaker.
Lightinng protection was not mentioned last December during the pump replacement or when I replaced the Hayward single speed pump 6 years ago.

[PoolDoc]

Lightinng protection was not mentioned last December during the pump replacement or when I replaced the Hayward single speed pump 6 years ago.

As I mentioned, Pentair and Hayward don't want to talk about this issue, because it highlights a worrisome weakness in their products -- and these are high profit products.

Surge protection limits voltage surges that can result from nearby lighting, from power company switching, and so on. It's not really lightning protection: if lightning hits within 100' of your house, surge protection probably won't stop the damage.

Plain old-style mechanical pumps don't seem to be damaged by surges, or even nearby strikes. Of course direct strikes destroy all electrical equipment. By contrast, VS pumps have electronic components that are apparently quite sensitive to voltage surges.

I won't have more specific recommendations till I finish talking to Leviton, and possibly some others.

[Watermom]

By the way, thanks for the subscription!

[nefretrameses]

Curlee,
Mark (mas985) posted a paper in another thread about a study of pump run times in Florida pools. Very enlightening. I too was advised to run my pump as long as the sun was on the pool. I have been running my pump for 2 1/2 hours for months and can't see any difference in water clarity. Of course it was during winter. I just got in the pool for the first time last week (briefly - I gotta get that solar project to the top of the list). Anyway as temperature and use go up, we'll see if I need to run longer. Seems to me, the most cost savings are achieved when the pump is OFF.

Thread 22255 "How long does the pump really need to run"

[mas985]

I have to give credit to Ben (PoolDoc) for originally finding the paper.