Quote Originally Posted by dalparadise
I live in Houston and have similar water temp issues, as you might imagine.

The best thing I've found is to avoid running your pump at the hottest point of the day (or at least when the sun is directly overhead) -- 12-3pm, or so. Note that radiant heat from the sun is much more effective in heating your pool water than air temp. So, even though it's usually hottest here in Texas around 5pm, or so, the sun is not directly overhead.

My pool is on the north side of my house, so the sun tracks across it all day long in summer. I got 94 degrees every day in July.

Toward the end of summer, I planted some 8' Mexican fan palms on the western edge of the pool to cast long shadows after 5pm. That has helped.

With night filtering and some shade, I'm thinking I'll get 91 degrees this summer -- which is enjoyable for me.

Good luck!
Ok... I am resurrecting this older thread because I am in the same spot as the original poster. I, too, live in SA and today I looked and my temp was already 86. So... you are saying that I should run the pump from about 8AM-12PM and have it shut off? I usually add my bleach at about 8PM and the pump shuts off at 12AM so I could turn it back on then. I would get my 8 hours a day and miss the hottest part. Does that sounds reasonable or is that too long between? This is not a HUGE deal but I don't want 95 degree water by the end of the week (suppose to be high 90s for the next 4-5 days...)