Pentair Intelliflo Pump - can it replace 2 existing pumps?

[mixedup]

Thanks Richard - thats helped clarified some of the possibilities.

Few follow up questions if I may:

a) risk of all values being off - if I assume there would be times when my pump might have "only solar" / "only filter" / "both" does this imply I would typically have an on/off value for both the filter/solar inputs? In this case is there a risk that if something went wrong with the values you might have no water to suck in when the pump turns on? How is this typically handled? Is there a way to plumb values together so this is never an issue?

b) also would I want to still stick with the separate input pipes for the solar & filter - currently there is one main return from the pool for the filter (from the skimmer box). For the solar there are 2 separate points on the pool side walls that lead back to the existing dedicated solar pump. If you wanted to have the solar & filter on at the same time for example would the new pump be sucking from all these inputs?

c) following on from a) would you in fact not want to have the filter on at the same time as the solar generally? I have a creepy attached at most times to my skimmer box.

d) I've heard you need about 25 gallons/minute to run a creepy - sound right?

[mixedup]

oh - I've taken up the advice of a couple of people here re leveraging the troublefreepool site. I've posted a more encompassing request for clarification

[chem geek]

a) There is only one 3-way valve for the choice of solar off (i.e. filter only) vs. solar on (i.e. filter and solar). The valve merely chooses whether or not to send water to the solar or not. It is impossible for it to shut of flow to both -- even half-way it will send half the water each way. You don't ever have an "only solar" without filtration -- you always go from the pump to the filter (well, you can have a separate valve for the filter for bypass or backwash if one has a sand filter, but that's a manual valve and not an automatic one).

b) so the 2 separate points on the pool side walls you are talking about are suction points for bringing water to the dedicated solar pump? So yes, I think instead of this setup you would take water in from all three -- the skimmer and these two other points -- all going to the single IntelliFlo pump that would then go to the filter (always) and optionally go to the solar. Now MAYBE you'll want more skimmer action at lower speeds in which case you'll want just the skimmer to be active when the solar is off. That's what you've got today. If you want to keep that, then you'll want an automatic 2-way valve that turns on and off the suction input from the 2 separate points on the pool side walls -- the skimmer would always be active. This valve would open when the solar was on so would open at the same time the 3-way valve switched to have pump output go to solar.

c) Yes, you normally want filtration on at all times. With the Kreepy connected to the skimmer box, that's probably why they have all the flow coming from the skimmer when the solar is off. That makes the flow rate higher which the Kreepy probably needs.

d) I don't know the minimum flow rate needed for the Kreepy to operate.

I'll respond to your other post on the other forum as well.