Pentair Easytouch wiring question

[Ryan Newbie]

Hello,

New here and new to pool ownership. I have a Pentair Easytouch controlling my pool pump. I am also putting in some separate water features for a small pond in the back yard as well. Will need a water pump and air pump. I was hoping that I could run an outlet to my Easytouch and simply plug the air pump and water pump into that. I would like to use the ET because I don't want the air pump and water pump for the separate water feature to run all the time. I want to run them on a schedule. Is this possible? If so, how do I wire the outlet to the ET? I am currently only using one relay for the pool pump. I have open relays, but am not an electrician. Was hoping it may be pretty simple and straight forward that I can follow step by step instructions. Any help, information or assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

You probably need to add a 120V 20 Amp GFCI CB to the panel. Or use a regular 120V 20 Amp CB with a GFCI outlet.

Then wire from the CB to an AUX relay.

Wire the outlet to the aux relay.

Use #12 wire.

Use the proper conduit and box from the ET panel to the outlet.

You understand what the hot wire, neutral, and ground wires are in a 120V circuit?

 

[Ryan Newbie]

Thanks. Yes, I understand what those wires are. I guess my outstanding question is that since 220 is coming into my ET panel to run the pool pump, how do I get that back down to 110 to run the separate water features in the small pond? If the 220 is run to the breaker, will installing the 120V 20amp CB automatically step the voltage down to 110? Now, currently my ET is not using the breaker panel on the ET unit. My ET unit is on a separate breaker in the main breaker box in the garage. The only thing running on the ET is the pool pump. I figure that is why whomever did the install did not install any breakers on the ET panel since it would have essentially been duplicative. If I were to rewire the ET so that everything does go through the ET breaker panel, would I need a 220V 20 amp CB as well?

 

[ajw22]

Best to post pics of the electrical wiring in your ET and electrical panel that feeds pool equipment since you are saying it as not done the standard way.

The question is if a neutral line was run into the panel. In that case you can install 220V CBs or 120V CBs and power whatever you want. If the CB's are not in the ET then you have to go back to the electrical breaker panel and wire from there.

A lot depends on the details of the existing CBs and wire sizes.

 

[Ryan Newbie]

in this picture the power coming into the box is via the white, green and black wires on the left. 220

 

[Ryan Newbie]

in this picture the incoming white wire is connected to the Yellow and black wire with the red wire nut. Bottom center. The black from here goes up to terminal 1 on the pump replay.

 

[Ryan Newbie]

in this picture the black wire comes in and is connected to the two other black wires with the red wire nut (left side). One of the black wires goes to terminal 3 on the pump relay.

 

[Ryan Newbie]

Here is a full screen shot of the box. You can ignore the white wire on the top that is jumping the two relays. I was playing with that. The white and black wires from relay 4 are going to the outlet I installed. I also realize whomever installed the pump used relay 2, but they used the "pump" plug to connect to it in the upper panel so it works just fine.

 

[Desert Dog]

Allow me to take a crack at your question. Your ET is basically a subpanel from the main. You should have 220 from your main going to your ET. From your pick, the ET isn't wired to the panel and the panel is not being used as a subpanel, but a junction box. You should have power going to those heavy lugs. Then you would plug Circuit Breakers (CB) into that coper bar. The circuit breaker and the wires running off those determine your circuit- 220 or 110. Not sure if that helps, but it looks like your pump is running off the house main panel or other source and the load center in the ET is bypassed. I would rewire the ET so you can use it for it's intended purpose or it's just a very expensive J-Box. Do some more searches on wiring or consult an election if unsure, which it sounds like to me. I'm not a licensed electrician but have wired sub-panels and my ET. Hopefully an electrician will jump in who can maybe explain better. If you have a VS pump for example, you should have that wired off a breaker in the ET panel and a comm cable plugged into the pump telling it would speeds to run. I would only use that relay for a SWCG or a 2 or single speed pump.

 

[ajw22]

@Desert Dog did great for his first post. Welcome to TFP!

I agree with DD. Your wiring is sort of a hack and getting complicated. Adding circuits for a water pump and air pump for your pond will complicate it further.

Wire up the ET and use it the way it was designed a a Load Center with circuit breakers and then things become easy.

Otherwise you need to add CBs back at your electrical panel for the water pump and air pump outlet, run the wiring into the ET, and then out to the outlet location.

You didn't post pics of the CB panel controlling all your pool stuff.

 

[Desert Dog]

Thanks ajw22. Sorry for the few spelling errors I just noticed. And good luck Newbie. Like what has already been stated, start over and do it right. You will be happy with what you can do with your ET. There should be plenty of pics what the correct wiring should look like out there if you search or if someone posts. Not sure if it would help if you are not familiar or comfortable with wiring a subpanel.