Just got my electric bill in the first month of our new pool. We have a plan that charges us a higher rate during the day, but electricity is free between 9pm and 6am. I've received conflicting information on exactly when to run the pump - some say it would be fine to run it at night, and some say in the summer it must be run during the day. What's correct? Note: It's Texas, and it's around 100 degrees every day at this time of year. Not sure if that makes a difference...
When to run pump?
- Thread starter Deepwater
- Start date
you can run it at night if you keep chlorine levels up. i live in dallas and the free nights is a scam. you should visit powertochoose.org and go with a 6 month plan to get rates down to like .06 cents per kwh. i used to run my pump at night, but i like running it during the day so i can add chemicals since i'm home most of the time.
Run it when the electric is cheap. How many hours do you typically run each day? Check out this article: Pool School - Determine Pump Run Time
I would split your total desired run time into two sessions. 75% of that time either late in the evening after 9 pm or early morning before 6 am. Then 25% in another session around midday to ensure some chlorine circulation during the sunlight hours. You could certainly do it all after 9 pm as well. I'm not sure about your location, but in the evening and night here, there is typically less wind. That makes the skimmers and surface circulation more effective at removing floating debris from the pool than if it's windy. Lean your run time heavy during the cheap hours, light during high rates and play with the time to see what works best.
I run a session at night for adding chemicals because if you add chlorine after dark, theoretically you have that elevated FC level all night without losing any of it to sunlight so in a 24 hour cycle, your FC is higher more of those hours than if you were to add in the morning.
I would split your total desired run time into two sessions. 75% of that time either late in the evening after 9 pm or early morning before 6 am. Then 25% in another session around midday to ensure some chlorine circulation during the sunlight hours. You could certainly do it all after 9 pm as well. I'm not sure about your location, but in the evening and night here, there is typically less wind. That makes the skimmers and surface circulation more effective at removing floating debris from the pool than if it's windy. Lean your run time heavy during the cheap hours, light during high rates and play with the time to see what works best.
I run a session at night for adding chemicals because if you add chlorine after dark, theoretically you have that elevated FC level all night without losing any of it to sunlight so in a 24 hour cycle, your FC is higher more of those hours than if you were to add in the morning.
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