Not Sure Where to Start - Or What We Are Doing Wrong

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Is that running too much, or not enough? The pool does get direct sun for most of the day in the Texas heat.

This is our first SWG pool. We weren't given much advice from our builder, but to add muratic acid; then got conflicting advice from pool stores - one said shock the pool once a week, one said never shock, but use the SWG booster to add more chlorine. One discussed CYA, one didn't. [emoji15]. My friend who is a health inspector advised to run it more than less because of Texas heat. We've just been shooting in the dark, but now I feel so much more informed now, yet still so much to learn.
 
The reason I asked, is because your SWG chlorine production is probably tied to how long the pump runs. The SWG will only make chlorine if the pump is running.
So in order to set everythign up for the best efficiency is why I asked. (im thinking ahead).

I suspect that someone programmed a schedule for the pump to work for some amount of time? Or do turn it on and off just whenever you want to?
If the pump run time is too long, teh SWG might make too much chlorine
if the pump run time is too short, it might not make enough.

So, we're just going to have to figure that out somehow.
 
Pogueld said:
Is that running too much, or not enough? The pool does get direct sun for most of the day in the Texas heat.

This is our first SWG pool. We weren't given much advice from our builder, but to add muratic acid; then got conflicting advice from pool stores - one said shock the pool once a week, one said never shock, but use the SWG booster to add more chlorine. One discussed CYA, one didn't. [emoji15]. My friend who is a health inspector advised to run it more than less because of Texas heat. We've just been shooting in the dark, but now I feel so much more informed now, yet still so much to learn.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone here would support doing a shock on a regular basis. If you maintain a balanced chemistry with FC 5-7% of your CYA level, Algae will not grow, Combined chlorine won't be an issue, and you will have a low stress pool. The Texas sun does mean you'll have higher chlorine loss per day, so you'll need to generate enough chlorine to compensate. Higher water temperatures are more favorable for quick algae and microbial growth, which means you'll need to monitor it and avoid dips in the FC. Otherwise, it seems totally typical.

I think there are 3 answers to your question of how is enough time to run the pumps:

1. For the filter pump - you need to run it enough to keep the water clear. I haven't used a sand filter, but for my DE filter it is somewhere around 5-8 hours per day at 2250 RPM. This amounts to approximately 50-80% of the total volume of my pool pumped through the filter per day. The typical recommendation is to do 1 full turnover of the water per day. I'd say shoot for 1 turnover, and if the water looks totally clear and you want to try to save some more energy, you can drop it by 10% per week and see when you start noticing small particles when you are swimming. I wouldn't go less than 50% turnover per day. Its generally most energy efficient to run the variable speed pump around 1500-2000 rpm for a longer time, instead of max speed for a shorter time. Just remember that the flow needs to be over 20 gallons per minute for the chlorinator to operate. Also, the skimmer that draws water from the surface of the pool performs the best at higher flow rates. If you find that the lower flow you are using to save energy isn't giving adequate skimming, you can set another program to run the pump up to 3000-3450 rpm for 30 minutes at some point during the day just to get leaves to move into the skimmer basket.

2. For the Chlorinator, any time you are in "Pool" mode, the chlorinator will make chlorine at some % output. For my pool, during the 5 hours that my chlorinator ran yesterday, I had the chlorinator set at 20% output and it maintained the FC level. My CYA is 70 and its still early in the spring so this will likely go up once the sun starts burning off more of the chlorine, and the swimmer load is higher. I think it is unlikely that your chlorinator will end up requiring more time per day than your filter, but some people have commented that is the case for them.

3. The Polaris doesn't really filter, it's primarily there to pick up any loose debris from the bottom. It also can help stir up any small dirt from the floor and walls of the pool so the main filter pump can filter it out. Basically, if the pool floor looks clean after 30-45 minutes, I don't feel like it is doing much good to keep it going longer than that. Obviously this depends on how much debris falls in the pool from trees, etc.

My wife is laughing at me for spending so much time on this post. I'm just thinking how much this forum has helped me, and I want to make sure I'm doing it justice!

Have fun.
 
Let your wife laugh. My husband knows that this site is the ONLY reason he got another pool! He does not say a word about me being on here helping or cheer-leading others as he knows it works and is oh so easy and cheap!

Kim
 

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As far as setting up the pump run time, every situation will be a little different. There is no real rule about how long to run the pump.

So, where you want to start is just deciding how long you want to run your pump to keep your pool clean. If you decide later than you want to run it longer or shorter time, then thats perfectly fine. Its easy enough to make adjustments
 
After reading the article, I'm curious about two things.

1. The split run time? I know how to set up two schedules. If you were going to set up a split run time, what would the split be? How much time in between?

2. About RPM? We do have a VS pump. Do we set the RPMs too or is that automatic? They are set, but I guess our builder did it, so I don't know if they are on a good speed or not. Recommendations?
 
jblizzle said:
Sure. Still might be more run time than you need. The idea is to catch any debris with the skimmer before it sinks.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will start there since that's we have been running and we lived in a treed area. We also have dog hair [emoji17]. Realized I need a flat net, not just a leaf rake, to skim that hair off of the top. It's interesting how now that I've become the "keeper of the pool," I notice every little thing and want it PERFECT [emoji15]. I just have to share a picture from today. My husband and my kids have complimented my work. [emoji3]
3a5be92f693354a82e6f6443b405bf10.jpg
 

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