minimum circulation time

[engrav]

Water is clear and temp is low 40s, rather the same as ambient. Pool is not covered.

I am down to 4 hours circulation per day, four one hour periods, as per comments on TFP. However, even that is a bit of $$ for an unused pool.

How low can I go? 3? 2? 1? None.

Thank you.

 

[pwrstrk]

I think you could go down to 2 hours runtime. How much debri is getting in the pool ? Are you still monitoring your levels ?

 

[duraleigh]

As long as your pool stays clean, run it as little as you like.

You may want to recalculate your electric consumption. I seem to remember from a couple of years ago my 1.5HP pump cost about 2-3 dollars to run 24 hours. Your running 1/6 that time making your cost about 50 Cents ???. My math may not be right, I'm not sure.

 

[engrav]

I think you could go down to 2 hours runtime. How much debri is getting in the pool ? Are you still monitoring your levels ?

Debris?
Varies with the wind, some days little to none, other days a mess.
When a mess I clean it up with skimmer and vac.

Monitoring levels?
Yes, they all are within PoolMath levels set with TFP.com, bleach, plaster.

If no serious disagreement appears, I will try two hours. Would cut pump run e_bill in half.

Thank you.

 

[engrav]

As long as your pool stays clean, run it as little as you like.

You may want to recalculate your electric consumption. I seem to remember from a couple of years ago my 1.5HP pump cost about 2-3 dollars to run 24 hours. Your running 1/6 that time making your cost about 50 Cents ???. My math may not be right, I'm not sure.

Got it, "clean" is the key at this point.

Is true e_bill is not huge, I calculate $4.50 / day for 24 hours. But then $4 * 1/6 * 30 days/mo * 9 mo is $202.50. Still not huge for pool costs but if some is simply unnecessary and the electric grid is overloaded could try reducing pump time.

Or not.

Thank you.

 

[Richard320]

Just keep dropping the run time until you see a difference. Most days this time of year I shut the pump off manually after it's run an hour or so of the three hour cycle, and the water is still crystal clear.

 

[engrav]

Just keep dropping the run time until you see a difference. Most days this time of year I shut the pump off manually after it's run an hour or so of the three hour cycle, and the water is still crystal clear.

Got it
would appear I am "overthinking"
2 3 4 hours, no "real" difference

 

[stebs]

What is your electric rate and how many watts does your pump pull?

 

[engrav]

What is your electric rate and how many watts does your pump pull?

Hi

pump lists 14.8/7.8-7.4 amps (not sure what all that means)
no wattage listed

electric rate is .092103 up to 1200 kWh and .110925 over that

 

[jrs_diesel]

14.8 amps sounds like the start up current (amps), and the 7.8-7.4 the amount of current under normal operation. Motors always draw more current at startup than when running. Knowing that I can find the Watts consumed by that motor (E x I = P, or Volts x current = Power)

240 x 7.6 = 1,824 Watts. 1 kWh = 1,000 Watts/hour. 1,824 Watts is equal to 1.8 kWh.

Going from your electric rate, 1.8 kWh = 16.6¢ per hour to run for your cheaper rate or 19.9¢ per hour for the more expensive rate. If you ran the pump 24 hours that would be $3.98 or $4.79 per day depending on if you are on the cheaper rate or not.

Hope this helps.

 

[JamesW]

14.8 is the rated amperage at 120 v, 7.4 amps at 240 volts and 7.8 at 208 volts.

 

[tim5055]

I run mine 2 hours a day this time of year. Now with that being said with the holidays and such I have been traveling a lot. If I'm gone more than a couple of days I shut it down totally. Too many leaves blowing around that may fill/clog the skimmers while I'm gone.

I left it alone for up to a week, and other than debris in the bottom the water column is crystal clear. Toss the robot in and back to my 2 hours a day and everything is clean.

 

[jrs_diesel]

14.8 is the rated amperage at 120 v, 7.4 amps at 240 volts and 7.8 at 208 volts.

Thank you for catching that, and that makes more sense now. The power consumed is almost the same as what I calculated up above (1622 Watts). 208 Volts in a residential area isn't very common, since that only comes from 3 phase electric service (and typically from a 3 phase high leg delta transformer). But for 120 or 240 Volts, power consumed stays the same (1776 Watts).

 

[engrav]

above is interesting and helpful

amp numbers? I wondered what they are, now tis clear.

electric bill? was not sure my calc was correct, now tis correct; nice to know

circulation? is nice to know that no circulation for a time with periodic cleanups is Ok

thank you

 

[jmastron]

above is interesting and helpful

amp numbers? I wondered what they are, now tis clear.

electric bill? was not sure my calc was correct, now tis correct; nice to know

circulation? is nice to know that no circulation for a time with periodic cleanups is Ok

thank you

CAVEAT -- all of the below is written as a first time pool owner as of June (of a very old pool), so seek actual expert advise instead of anything I say!

The key is that low 40s water temperature that you mentioned -- keep in mind that many pools are closed up and covered for the winter, with no circulation and no chemicals. My understanding from these forums is that 60 degrees F is kind of the magic number. Our pool water is also in the low 40s, with many daytime temperatures up into the 50s and 60s. After some big storms dumped piles of leaves all at once in the pool that the pressure-side cleaner wasn't able to handle, between rain, dark, travel, and lack of the proper tool to get them out (an open mesh deep bag leaf rake to the rescue!), I had just shut off the circulation completely for about 2 weeks.

Once I got the right leaf rake and scooped out the big stuff, I fired up the pump let the cleaner go back to work again, it pulled the remaining debris and a lot of fine dirt out and the pool now looks ready to swim...if the water were 40 degrees warmer. Even leaving junk in the pool for a couple weeks and not doing more than dumping a gallon of chlorine in before we left, I saw no sign of algae.

My conclusion is that in the depths of winter running the pump for just a few hours a couple times a week is sufficient, especially if combined with some semblance of chemical management. That means I can run it on the weekend when I'm around to monitor and deal with emptying baskets and such in daylight. As the water temp climbs into the 50s I will put it back on a schedule and prepare for full attention. I also won't freak out about *trying* to get the December leaves out the instant they fall like I did this year; I'll just shut off the timer and scoop them out when I can. That wouldn't be true in areas where most of the leaves fall into warmer water in earlier months...

As always, YMMV!

 

[borjis]

engrav

I'm in the same climate as you (pacific nw) and found it unnecessary to run the pump at all during the winter except for every three weeks
when I run the robot to clean out the dirt & pine needles that accumulate on the bottom. This usually goes on for about 3-6 hours.

I check the chlorine levels every couple of weeks and it maintains levels perfectly when the water is near 40 degrees with
nearly zero chlorine loss. (I like to keep mine around 20-30ppm during winter) Though it does lose some when over 50 degrees.

My water is crystal clear.