Am I running my pump enough?

[jtb33]

Spec's:

15,150 gallon in-ground pool
2" PVC piping
2HP Tri-star pump
Salt system (if it matters)

I live in Phoenix, AZ.

I was running my pump for about 10 hours a day to clean things up. Right now, the water is *perfect*. Pool is absolutely clean, chemical balance is great and water is sparkling. I recently bought four new cartridge filters, and cleaned the salt cell, etc. We're good.

So, now, I'm thinking that if I don't need to run it that much, I can save on some electricity costs. I don't know the GPM my system pushes. I do realize that if I lower the run time, I will need to increase the % for my salt system.

Anyway, I was thinking of dropping it to six hours per day and see if the water remains sparkling after a week. Think that's OK?

Also, trying to decide to run the pump for 6 hours straight, or for 3 hours on (say, 6AM-9AM), then again that day from 4PM-7PM.

 

[Richard320]

It's all trial-and-error. pool-school/pump_run_time

I get by with 4 hours, plus some extra here and there when I'm vacuuming or adding chemicals outside the programmed run time. I have an hour around noon, just to keep things mixed, and the rest in the evening when we're most likely to be using the pool.

 

[GuinnessPhish]

Not to hijack the thread....


new to pools here too. I've got a 12,000 gallon fiberglass pool, with a 1 hp whisperflo pump.

Previous owner told me he ran the pump 24/7.

I've got a handle on the testing using the tf-100, so I don't think I'll need to run the pump 24/7. Should I start off running it about 12 hours a day? I plan on turning the pump on right before I add the daily dose of 6% bleach, and leaving it on all night until I wake up in the morning to turn it off.

 

[GuinnessPhish]

to be clear...I plan on adding the dose of bleach at night, around 11 pm or midnight...

 

[jblizzle]

12 hours is a good start ... that is likely more than you need as well. Just keep shortening run time until the pool is not as clean as you like.
See the link that Richard posted.