How long to run your pump

[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.
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