Power bill. OUCH

We just moved into the new house about 5 or 6 weeks ago and we'd never had a house with a pool. Just got our first full months power bill and OUCH, it left a mark. The old owners told us the power bill was about $140ish a month and we got one that was $250. Needless to say, the little womans very upset. Do you have to leave the main pump on all the time or can you just turn it on for half a day at a time to conserve energy? Ours has been running non stop and then we have another pump for the deal that runs around the pool picking up trash and leaves. I started turning it off last week and running it 3-4 hours at a time is all. Thanks

Hi Don.
Generally, you only run 24/7 when you have a problem you're clearing like an algae bloom or you're converting from bacquacil to chlorine. Without knowing your pool or pump size it's difficult to know HOW long your pump should run but the rule is it must "turn over" your water once a day. In other words if your pool is 10,000 gallons, your pump should run long enough to filter 10,000 gallons a day.

But you can experiment if you have NO idea how big your pool is nor how much water your pump/filter move (in gallons per minute). Try running your filter for 12 hours, from 7am to 7pm and see if, with proper testing and treatment, the pool stays clean. That, alone, should lower your electric bill. If you are in touch with the former owners you could ask them: How long did you run the pump per day?

Thanks so much. It's about 16x32, oval shaped. It's less than waist deep for about half of it, then drops off. Kinda a different pool as in the deep end (8') the sides slope at a 45 degree angle. I'm not sure of the pump size. They're not alot of help on anything. I have some wierd light switches, this turns this on if this other switch is up. Things like that. I tried to call them and they won't return my calls. LOL No biggie, just got to figure out things on my own. I did look up on youtube how to set the timer. Got to do that and figure out why air is coming out of my jets

If you have air coming out of your jets, then you have a suction side leak somewhere.

Yeh. Watched a couple videos on YouTube n found that out. It's just pumping air mainly now with just a little water coming out. I went out and wrapped electrical tape on all the joints to seL them to see if that would help and it hasn't. May be the seal on the pump itself?

Air leaks occur from a suction side leak and it is usually the pump lid gasket. Either the gasket is cracked or the lid is just not tight enough. Sometime it helps to add a little silicon pool lube to the gasket to help it seal. Other places that can leak are the pump drain plug in the pump basket.

I did take the pump lid off and checked the rubber gasket for cracks and gouges and didn't notice any. I'll check again though as it was almost dark when I finally got the chance to check it. THANKS so much