So I spent the last 5+ hours looking at all this stuff. LOL should have just paid someone to look at it and give me a recommendation. That is if they knew wtf they were talking about.
Before I found the intellicomm thing I was thinking I would simply get a Intelliflo VS+SVRS unit for $1155 with the timer and set it up so that is would run for about 2 hours in the morning pushing Polaris around and pumping into the spa to pool overflow, solar, filter, etc. Then I can get a high speed pump relay for about $110 to run a high speed then see if I can get the solar valve actuator to trigger to the lower speed for when the solar isn't running. This would be a much more efficient setup for $1265 bucks. Or I could do a similar setup to this without the timer for the pool cleaner and a Intelliflo VS 3050 model. Simply have the high speed for when the solar is on and the low speed the cleaner, filter, spa to pool overflow, etc. This would run me about $870 for the pump and $110 for the relay and a total of $980
I had not realized there was this Intelliflo VF model out there. Looks like it can be had for about $1265. I could simply set the flow rate and be done right? I was thinking if I could get the Compool unit to turn the spa/pool cleaner valve as a separate program I would be set. Doesn't look exactly possible without another valve actuator, but I am going to call pentair tomorrow and ask. This would further increase the savings and not need to be interfaced. I could simply set the timer on the Compool to correspond to the VF's timer and have the VF turn on and do its thing. This way when the solar would be off it would lower its speed. When the cleaner was off it would reduce even further. Only odd thing would be when running the hot tub it be flowing a ton of water, but I guess thats probably good because it would heat the water as my old 2 hp pump did right?
So I can get the intellicomm II unit to interface directly with my compool and they are both pentair products so it will work pretty well. Now I am wondering if I really need to connect the two. The Intellicom II interface is about $229 so it may be worth it in the first two systems, but probably not the VF system. I missed the intellicomm idea in the other pump thread that I saw that was here the first time I read it. Any reason to get the VF and the intellicomm II module? I am hoping I don't need it and the system will still function. I am going to ask the pentair guys tomorrow. Sure looks like the VF is the most energy efficient way of doing it and if I can skip the extra $229 for the interface that would be sweet. From pentair site it says I am doing 8 hrs and 2.98 turns a day for a cost of ~$2000 per year at the $0.32/Kw I am getting raped at. They say I should only run it for 2.7 hrs a day and a cost of $658 a year. It says the intelliflo VF would run for 5 hrs a day for 1 turn and cost $158 a year to run. So I figure if I ran it at the 3 turns a day like my current pump I would still be at only $474 a year and saving ~$1500 a year.
Am I missing anything? I just don't want to buy something that I don't need or won't work right.