how long & when do you run your filters?

[kimalmac]

This may be a silly question...but...I'm on an electricity saving mission at my house! I have a 30k fiberglass IG pool in New England and I'm wondering how many hours a day everyone else runs there pump, after pool is open/stable. PB suggests 10-12 hrs/day at night ....what are your thoughts? thanks for the help...kim

[NullQwerty]

I have mine on a timer and I run it from 11 pm till 7 am every night (to get the cheaper rates), and my water is sparkling clear. I do have a DE filter though, which probably helps.

[Phillbo]

midnight to 6 am right now.. as the temps increase I'll go to 10 pm to 8 am ..also get cheaper rates at night .

[matt4x4]

9am to 5pm but use solar panels so the extra $ on the higher rates gets converted to heat for the pool

[myLABSpool]

I see that the responses so far has been to run the pump at night to get cheaper electric. But when the nights are cooler do people think that they may prevent heat loss by not running the filter at night? My logic, is that in conjunction with a solar cover, a stagnate layer of water cools at the top and the water beneath stays warmer. Any thoughts?

FYI... at present I run 24 hrs/day, mostly because I have cheap municipal electric (about .03/kwh), but when the nights get cooler at the end of the season I will experiment with shutting the filter off at night to see if it helps save heat along with the solar cover.

[CanuckPool]

I guess you have to figure which is the less of two evils, the cost of running your pump to filter your water or the cost of heating your pool.

[kimalmac]

Also, I just got a solar cover...are there any considerations with running the pump with it on? ie longer or shorter time? seems like the PB was right with the 10-12 hrs at night....Thanks for all the input ....you guys never steer me wrong thanks kim

[Phillbo]

Being in Arizona, heat loss is not an issue.

[dawndenise]

myLABSpool...Wow! 3 cents/kwh??? Could your electric provider come to TX???

But, to your point about heat loss at night...in the summer, I actually WANT to drop the temp in my pool so I log a lot of pump time in the middle of the night (unfortunately, no price break for nighttime hours here). Last year (first with the pool), we ran it 12 hours/day during the peak of summer, 11A-1P and 4P-8P and 12A-6A. My pool temp would drop from about 90-91 degrees down to 83-84 degrees by morning.

Right now, it's running for 8 hours, 11A-1P, 4P-8P, and 3A-5A.