Pentair EC-342001 - SuperFlo VS Variable Speed Pool Pump, 1.5 HP - Limited Warranty

I've had this in use now for almost 6 months. My father was an electrician, and later an Electrical Engineer, so I grew up learning quite a bit about electricity and electronics. I've installed several pool pumps in my life (I live in Florida and have had 4 pools in over 30 years). This was by far the easiest pump installation of them all; the pump determines all aspects of polarity, voltage and frequency. Just be sure to ground/bond the system. I use a salt generator to chlorinate the pool. The previous installation used a master timer to control and power both the salt generator and the pump simultaneously. As this system comes with an integral timer, I left the salt generator on the master timer and used the factory default programming on the pump. All I can say is "WOW". Most of the time you can't tell if this is running because it's so quiet, and it functions flawlessly. The single draw back to this purchase is that the manufacturer does not honor the warranty if you install the pump yourself. As a result, I purchased the warranty marketed by Amazon thru Asurion. I seldom buy additional warranties, but my previous pump didn't last more than about 3 years and I'd paid more for it than this. Further, I'd never been able to get it to prime at low speeds and trying to figure out a work around when it started after a power failure proved too difficult so I never ran it at low speed (that pump was a two speed pump, both speeds pre-set by the manufacturer, Eco Pump). This pump with it's manufacturers default programming always starts at high speed for 5 minutes to insure it primes. The pump will eventually pay for itself with the money saved by running a such low speed for most of the day.

I was hesitant about getting a VS pump but felt it should be considered. After over 6 hours of research and puring over power usage data, performance and various manufacturers I dedided on the Pentair 342001. The only issue I found with Pentair was the professional installation requirement for the full warranty, but did not want to pay the inflated price of $300.00 +. I have been a DIY guy my whole life and a good background with pools and electrical so I figured to give it a go. Decided to do my own install and purchase the Amazon extended warranty to cover what would be the "normal" Pentair warranty. The install was very easy. Had to replumb some PVC pipe using the best heavy duty glue available at HD. The power was connections were SUPER EASY. The Pentair system recognizes your avaialbe power and adjusts itself accordingly. I used adjustable appliance feet to make leveling easier and also to help with vibration of which there is very little anyways with this motor. Performance: Wow what a difference!! This motor is so quite it's hard to know that it is running. My pool filteration system was down for over a week while I gathered data and waited for the unit to arrive so you could see the water was struggling even though I added chlorine to keep it from going swampy on me. Ran the pump for 24 hours at 3000 rpm to while I balanced the chemicals. You could see the difference in in just 12 hours and by 24 hours the water was crystal clear. Changed the DE in the filter and ran it for another 24 hours just to make sure. The volume of water filtered through the system and the exit waterflow back into the pool is amazing. Should have done this a long time ago. No more loud noise and hopefully no more huge electric bills. Put the energy rating at 4 stars becasue I have not been able to gather enough data to see the savings at this point. Will really be able to know by this summer and will update the review.

Nice unit; fairly quiet. Easy to program for various speeds over various time periods. Easy to get started manually if needed. A lot more powerful than the pump I replaced while consuming noticeably less energy than the old one.

Update - May 2, 2018: After a couple of days the noise from the pump has increased significantly. I don't believe its a failed bearing; sounds more like the impeller striking the housing. I'm absolutely positive there is nothing caught in the pump as my pump strainer basket is almost pristine. I always use a skimmer sock.. This is the same sound it made out of the box, its just much more pronounced now. The sound is present throughout the full range of RPMs, just a lower pitch and less volume at slower RPMs, as you would expect. Still evident all the way down to 750 RPMs. So.... looks like I will be on the phone with Pentair tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just finished the install of my new Pentair Variable Speed pump. Installed it myself, but bought an additional 4 year warranty to supplement the Pentair 90-day warranty for homeowner installed pumps. BE SURE TO CHECK IF YOUR POWER COMPANY OFFERS A REBATE. My rebate was $400. Not bad for a $650 pump and 10 minutes of online work. Installation was a breeze, though I had to do some minor re-plumbing since the inflow and outflow ports were not identical to my last Pentair pump. Electrical connections were easy, with simple access to the pump power terminals (240V and # 12 stranded wire from my pool-side breaker) . Read the directions several times to fully understand how the pump cycles through the 4 Speeds (1, 2, 3, & Quick Clean). Its got a built in timer so if you have been using the traditional mechanical timer you will need to bypass or disable (by simply removing the on & off pins). The term "Speeds" here is a bit of a misnomer, since for each "Speed" you can set the start time, duration, and RPM. So when reading the manual, think of the three "Speeds" (1, 2, 3) as three available intervals or periods available to program in a 24 hour day that can be programmed the way you want. When first starting up, the pump goes into Primer mode for 5 minutes at 3400 RPM. Its pretty loud during this time. You can either wait for the five minutes, or hit the "1" button as soon as the pump is primed (about 10 seconds on my system). After 5 minutes of priming at 3450 RPM, it will automatically drop into into Speed 1, which is factory set to 3000 RPM. I suspect for most pools. 3000 RPM is the setting that will be used for the bulk of daily filtering. My Pentair FNS48 runs is at 12 PSI with the pump running at 3000 RPM after a backwash and new DE added. The re-programming of all speeds is very very easy. I do have to say, that at 3000 RPM this new Pentair VF pump is louder or more noticeable than my old single speed Whisper Flow. Also, the sound on the new pump is a higher pitched mechanical whine, making it more noticeable (IMHO) than the lower pitched "hummmmmm" on my old pump. Its not terrible, but if sitting around or using the pool I will definitely turn it off, if its in a 3000 RPM cycle mode. Slower RPMs result in less noise. I'll probably program mine to run at 3000 RPM, twice a day, for 3 hours each cycle (8 am and 8 pm). I've had good results with that schedule over the years. Haven't yet decided if I'll have it run at a lower RPM (~1200) during other periods just to keep circulation moving. I've been a pool owner for 14 years and have only used Pentair pumps, so can't compare this to other brands. My last Pentair pump gave-up-the-ghost after 10 years, operating at about 6 hours per day in season. I never brought it inside during off seasons and it finally rusted out around the motor capacitor. All in all, I'm pleased with the pump... and would buy the same model again (even without a rebate).

Llevo algún tiempo con esta bomba y me ha servido excepcionalmente. Primera vez que uso este tipo de bombas y me ha dejado una gran satisfacción y un notable ahorro de energía sin dejar de lado su potencia.

Same pump as I had. Surprised at the price. Pulled my bill from the last pump and it was just about double

El pejor servicio La pejor asistencia Despues de 1 mes todavia falta articulo Una verguenza Thief 1.000 dollar de compra

it is very quiet I like that i can put a timer to lower it so we don't consume too much electricity ... its a week now so far so good ... loving it..

Works efficiently, easy to instal, no issues