Pump run time is to do the following:
- Skim the surface
- Filter the water of suspended debris
- Satisfy a SWG’s chlorine production
Skimming is usually handled with a few hours per day, depending on how frequently you want the surface to be totally clear.
Suspended debris can vary depending on your environment. But in season 4 or 5 hours may be a good number. If the water is crystal clear you are filtering enough and can reduce until you see ill effects (within reason).
A SWG running at 100% will need x hours to make your daily FC requirement. That is a fairly simple math equation with a few variables. SWG model for FC daily production, Pool’s FC usage, and pool size in gallons. This can range from a few hours to 24 hours in extreme cases.
In the end, many of us run our pumps longer than needed because we value perfectly skimmed water more often. Some run a variable speed pump 24/7 because they are pretty inexpensive to run depending on local electric rates.
In general, 8-10 hours per day is a reasonable amount of time to run your pump in season. I run ours about that much from 10 A to 8 P. That means it’s running whenever we are swimming and when I get home so I can verify proper daily pump operation visually.
There is another issue with your Nature2 that will come up (it puts copper in your water - bad) but for the pump run time conversation, what model # is it specifically?
For the proper amount of FC production you’ll likely set the SWG to some % of pump run time less that 100% and vary that % to keep your FC in the recommended FC range.
I do realize I basically just re-wrote the article that Texas Splash linked earlier, but I just felt like typing.