Make Older Pentair Pump Run Continuously?

[FiveSheep]

I bought a house with a pool that uses old Pentair system: an EasyTouch 8 control panel with a SuperFlo 1.5HP single speed pump. I'm not sure how old the pump is, but the panel has an inspection sticker on it with a date of 2013. Everything works well.

There is an extended freeze coming up, and while the Freeze Protection does work, my pool guy suggested that to be on the safe side I should just manually set the pump to run 24/7 while temps are below freezing. He said the way to do that was to put the EasyTouch in service mode, and then turn the pump on using the Filter Pump button on the panel, and leave it.

When I read the manual for the EasyTouch panel, it says "When running the filter pump continuously during a new pool start up, it is recommended to use the “Service” mode." But in the section about the Filter Pump button it says: "The default time before the filter pump will switch off is 12 hours. This button operates in “Auto” or “Service” mode."

Confused, I called Pentair, and the rep seemed to find it impossible that there were no controls on the pump itself, suggesting that they had to have been removed when it was installed. She said that Service Mode should do what I want anyway.

Can anybody with more experience provide some clarity here about how Service Mode works? Does Freeze Protection work in Service mode, as a backup at least? Or, should I just use an Egg Timer in Don't Stop mode?

Thank you!

 

[Jimrahbe]

5-S,

Since you have a single speed pump, putting the system in the Service mode and pressing the "F" button will close the pump filter relay and turn the pump on. It should stay on for as long as you are in the Service mode. The egg-timer has no effect when in the Service mode.

If you were in Auto and pressed the 'F' button, the pump would run until the egg-timer for the Pool circuit timed out. The default is 12 hours or whatever time you have the pool egg-timer set for..

You really should invest in a 'real' pump... My 3 HP IntelliFlo VS pump runs 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM for less than $20 bucks a month..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[FiveSheep]

Thanks Jim! Sounds like Service mode does do what I want. I have a vibration sensor on the pump that's supposed to alert me if the pump shuts off when the temperature is below freezing, but it's a new gadget and it hasn't proven itself yet.

A new VS pump would be nice- I figure this one (being 10 years old) won't last all that much longer, giving me a good excuse to upgrade. Hard to justify the cost if my current one is still running, though!