How long to run your pump

[Cal_Newbie]

I love this forum....made my life soooooooo much easier.

How long should one run their pump? I have 9,000 gallons, a 3/4 SuperPump w/22 sand filter. This is one of my last pieces to this puzzle.....

Thank You,

Bob-

[aylad]

I love this forum....made my life soooooooo much easier.

How long should one run their pump? I have 9,000 gallons, a 3/4 SuperPump w/22 sand filter. This is one of my last pieces to this puzzle.....

Thank You,

Bob-

You want your pump to run at least long enough in one day to turn the water over completely. I personally turn mine on the in the morning before I leave for work, and turn it off between the time I get home and bedtime. Average, I'd say it runs for 8-10 hours daily in the summer. Others on this forum run theirs from 6-12 hours a day, divided into 3-4 hour shifts. So it's all really a matter of personal choice, depending on your pool's needs.
Janet

[Watermom]

I do the same as Janet. On in the morning and off a couple hours after I add bleach in the evening. Of course, in the spring while all the blooming trees are dropping all their crud into the pool, I don't leave my pump running while I am at work. If I did, the skimmer basket would completely fill up with blooms, etc., and I don't want my pump to run dry. After all the trees lose all their buds, blooms, etc. and just have leaves, this is no longer a problem and it stays on all day.

[hrsdennis]

The length of time will vary depending on your system and your local temps. Here are my two simple rules. The hotter it gets the more you run it. If you ever have water issues let it run until they are resolved.

That's how I do it anyway, Dennis

[Cal_Newbie]

damn, did not realize it requires that much time

[mas985]

A 3/4 HP uprated superpump should deliver 50-60 GPM depending on your head loss. So worse case, you will have a 3 hour turnover. Therefore, you shouldn't need to run the pump more than 6 hours and could go down to as little as 3 but it really depends on how clean you want your water.

[scsteven]

Have I been wrong to run my pump 24/7?

[mas985]

Have I been wrong to run my pump 24/7?

The only thing it hurts is your pocket book. So if your interested in saving some on your electric bill, you can fine tune your run time based upon what the pool needs and how clean you really want it. 2 turnovers should be more than enough.

[badutahboy]

Do any of you guy use a timer for your pump? I'm the type who'll forget to turn it on, or turn it off at least twice a week...

[matt4x4]

I have had mine on a digital outdoor timer, but i'm scrapping it this year and going to analog, the digital drops the program every time we get a "blip' and being out in the country, blips are relatively common, the worst that will happen on an analog is the cycle will be off by x hours - x being the length of the power outage, but a blip can shut it down for a week if I'm away.

[Poolidiot]

I have my pump on a timer, I run mine from 2AM till 4AM then from 1PM till 7PM

[aquarium]

Just long enough for the Polaris to get most of the pillbugs off the bottom. :p
About 2 hours usually does it for now, but summer may need more.

[badutahboy]

I have had mine on a digital outdoor timer, but i'm scrapping it this year and going to analog, the digital drops the program every time we get a "blip' and being out in the country, blips are relatively common, the worst that will happen on an analog is the cycle will be off by x hours - x being the length of the power outage, but a blip can shut it down for a week if I'm away.


Wow, doesn't the digital have a battery backup? That's crazy that it gets killed everytime the power flickers.

[medvampire]

I have solar heating so I run the pump when I have strong sun. I have the pump set up on my home automation system. The system triggers the pump based on light sensor. If I have a day with no sun the system runs the pump for 2.5 hours around noon.
Steve

[badutahboy]

I have solar heating so I run the pump when I have strong sun. I have the pump set up on my home automation system. The system triggers the pump based on light sensor. If I have a day with no sun the system runs the pump for 2.5 hours around noon.
Steve


Sounds like an awesome setup. Tellme more about the light sensor.. any specific parts I'd need to set something like that up? I'm thinking of doing something very similar to that setup, but I didn't know there was much technology out there to run it based on weather conditions..

[medvampire]

I am using X10 CM15A for the controler and a AM466 Appliance Module for the switching. I have a M14A motion dector with a light sensor tweeked with tape to test for bright sun. I am still tweeking the light sensor with tape or I may add a variable resistor in line to get the sensor to tweek to the right point. I am thinking of adding a weeder tech board to the system to have better inputs of temp testing pre and post the solar panels to allow more control of the pump.
Steve

[badutahboy]

I am using X10 CM15A for the controler and a AM466 Appliance Module for the switching. I have a M14A motion dector with a light sensor tweeked with tape to test for bright sun. I am still tweeking the light sensor with tape or I may add a variable resistor in line to get the sensor to tweek to the right point. I am thinking of adding a weeder tech board to the system to have better inputs of temp testing pre and post the solar panels to allow more control of the pump.
Steve

lol.. that sounds like it's much more technical than I want to toy with.

Is there going to be a real advantage to running it your way vs just running your pump through the heat of the day? I was thinking of running mine from about 11am -5pm, so I'd pick up all the hours of high heat anyway.

[medvampire]

Its not bad once you get the base system set up. I also run lighting and other things through the system. X10 is not too bad on the wallet as well. I controle the pool, deck lights, bathroom lights, air cleaners, etc. etc. through the system. I have droped around $200 in the system so far and will end up with about $450 by the end of the year. System took me about 30 to 40 minutes set up to get it running and about 2 hours to replace all my wall switches.
Steve