From the Manufacturer IntelliFlo® High Performance Pump is the world's smartest swimming pool pump. Its onboard computer and intelligent software automatically calculate and program the minimum flow requirements for every pool task - filtering, heating, cleaning, spa jets, water features and more - to optimize performance and minimize energy use. As functions/tasks change, IntelliFlo self-adjusts to maintain optimal flow rates for further energy savings.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #17592 in Lawn & Patio
- Color: Almond
- Brand: Pentair
- Model: 11012
- Dimensions: 12.50" h x 28.00" w x 15.00" l,
Features
- High-performance, energy-efficient pool pump
- Links to additional water features and equipment to offer expanded control capabilities
- Automatically monitors and adjusts to pool conditions to provide long service life
Customer Reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
By Bill Hogue
I've had this pump installed now for about three weeks. It is totally awesome! I programmed it to turn on in the morning for several hours and in the evening as well. After programming my pool size (16K gallons) and the number of turns per day (1) the pump calculates how slow it can run during the times I gave it. That's about 35 gallons per minute for me and at that rate the pump is incredibly quiet -- you no longer have to listen to a noisy pool pump when you're sitting outside. And it's only using about 450 watts of power -- no longer do I have to watch the dizzying spinning dials on my electric meter when my pool pump is on! I know it sounds strange but I'm actually looking forward to getting next month's electric bill! I believe this pump will easily pay for itself in under two years. And my local power company (SC Edison) will be mailing me a $200 rebate check for putting this in. I believe everyone with a pool should take a look at installing a super quiet energy efficient pump like this one.
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
By Jim Gettys
I have had one of these pumps for several years, which I am now having to replace.
The good:
1) very, very energy efficient; they work as claimed.
2) very, very quiet; I like this very much.
The bad:
3) the user interface on the pump to program it is quite hostile: they did not do a good job on its design. I would compare it with 20 year old microwave ovens (or Microsoft Windows....).
And the ugly:
4) My several year old pump died due to lightning damage. Lightning being random, and other items being damaged at the same time, it is hard to say if this is anything you might call a design fault, though I intend to now install a surge arrester in the pool shed.
I investigated just replacing the electronics controller which was destroyed; at > $900 for the controller (online) or > $1100 (dealer) the replacement controller is priced insanely high, which bothers me greatly; the pump and motor probably have 10 years life left on them, and to throw them out seems wrong to me. With MA offering a $200 rebate on a new pump, I'm left with little choice, and am ordering an entire new pump.
I recommend having a significant surge protector installed in your pool shed panel (and to check your grounding in your pool shed) before installing any such intelligent pump, given my experience, particularly given the high cost of repair.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
By L. Harris
I installed one of these about two months ago. So far I'm very happy with it. I replaced my old pump as part of a project in which I replaced all of the plumbing I could access, replacing 1.5" pipe with 2", eliminating all elbows and tees in favor of sweeps and wyes, and plumbing in a pool sweep outlet that had never been connected to the system.
I did a lot of testing with the pump and found that with my pool the most cost effective flow rate is about 24-25 gallons per minute. Less than that and the pump uses less power, but not much less. 24-25 GPM seems to be the sweet spot for my pool. You can set the pump to run at a certain RPM in manual mode, from 400-3450 RPM. Interestingly, 800 RPM used the least power, less than the slower speeds, so don't assume slower is always a better value in terms of power consumption versus amount filtered.
Every pool is different, so I'd recommend running some tests at different flow rates to see what gives you the lowest cost per gallon pumped. As I said, that's 24-25 GPM for my pool. With a clean filter that uses about 180 watts. You can set the flow rate directly in manual mode and the pump will tell you how much power it's using, so a simple watts ÷ GPM calculation will give you a number you can compare, and ideally you want flow rate that produces the lowest value.
A few things you might want to note:
- You don't set the flow rate in filter mode. In filter mode the pump calculates the flow rate using the pool volume you input, the number of turnovers you want, and the amount of time you programmed it to run. Some simple math will tell you how many hours it should run to achieve a desired flow rate.
- One design flaw I discovered is that you can't program fractional turnovers. You can tell it you want 1, 2, 3, up to 9 turnovers a day, but you can't ask for 0.5 or 0.6 turnovers. This would be useful in cooler weather when no one is using the pool and it only needs minimal filtering. The workaround is to lie to the pump and tell it the pool is smaller than it actually is. I have a 20K gallon pool, but at the moment I've told the pump it holds 10K and to run for 7 hours a day, which produces a flow rate of 24 GPM. This half-turnover per day is keeping my water very clean and allowing the chlorinator to maintain the chlorine level. I'm probably going to revise my lie soon and tell the pump there are only 8K gallons in the pool and run it for 5.5 hours a day. There's no reason to run the pump any more than is necessary to keep the water clean and the chlorine level maintained.
- This pump has its own programmable timer, so it should have power going to it all the time. If you have a salt chlorinator you'll need to keep that on its own timer and set it so the chlorinator only comes on when the pump is running. Salt chlorinators use a flow sensor to detect when water is flowing, but shouldn't be left on when there is no flow. When I did my testing I found that the flow sensor on mine detected a flow even at 400 RPM, so low flow rates don't seem to cause a problem for salt chlorinators. The amount of time the chlorinator needs to be generating chlorine seems to be independent of the flow rate.
- This pump is very sensitive to air in the system. If your water level drops and the skimmer sucks air, or if you're messing with a hose attached to a vacuum port and the end gets to the surface and sucks air, the pump will shut off for 30 seconds and then restart.
- As others have mentioned, at low speeds this pump is extremely quiet. My pump sits about three feet from the side of my house, around the corner from the back of my house. At the speeds I run it I can't even hear it when I'm out on my patio unless I walk over to the end of it and get within about 10 feet of it. This is especially nice since the master bedroom is on the other side of the wall next to the pump, so now I don't hear the pump running when I'm in the bedroom whereas I did with my old pump.
Note, however, that the pump gets louder at higher speeds. Pump 40 or 50 GPM through it and you'll definitely hear it. On a related note, the pump will run faster as your filter gets clogged in order to maintain the set flow rate, so over time expect it to get louder as the filter fills up.
- The ability to run a pump at low speeds is most useful for pools with smaller pipe. A lot of older pools use 1.5" pipe, while newer pools use 2", 2.5" and in some cases even 3" pipe. The smaller the pipe, the faster water flows through it, and the faster it flows the more resistance the pump has to overcome, just as a car has to overcome more air friction at higher speeds.
To pump the same amount of water through 1.5" pipe as through 3" pipe the water in the 1.5" pipe would have to flow four times as fast, and in so doing would produce 16 times as much resistance due to friction. That extra resistance makes your pump work harder, and hence cost more to run. Since replacing your pipe with larger pipe isn't usually an option, the only other option is to slow the flow with a variable speed pump like this. So far I love mine.