Pump Run Time: I think I'm wasting $$$

fatboy1271 · Jul 30, 2015

I've read through the Pool School Determine Pump Run Time. It is general knowledge and I'm looking for help with something more specific..

Roughly 17000 gallons in a kidney bean shape. I have a Hayward Ecostar Variable Pump. At some point I changed the settings for whatever reason and now I think I'm just wasting money.

From the manual it seems as though there are 8 different timers plus four present Speed buttons:
1. How long overall should my pump run?
1a. My understanding was that this should run 24 hours a day due to the Variable nature
2. At what speeds should it run?
3. At what length of time should the timers run?
4. Anyone know of an online calculator?

mas985 · Jul 30, 2015

1. Minimum is 2 hours, maximum is up to you.
1a. Not true and unnecessary
2. Try 1000 RPM as see if that is good enough for the skimmers
3. See #1
4. For what?

fatboy1271 · Jul 30, 2015

mas985 said:
1. Minimum is 2 hours, maximum is up to you.
1a. Not true and unnecessary
2. Try 1000 RPM as see if that is good enough for the skimmers
3. See #1
4. For what?

Thanks mas985! I better get to experimenting and then seeing how much money I've lost :'(

Divin Dave · Jul 30, 2015

Hi fatboy,
how long you need to run it really vaires from pool to pool.
2 hours is a good start, 4 hours is usually enough for a lot of folks.

If you have a lot of dust which blows every day, you may need to run your pump longer, for skimming purposes, than someone who love in Florida in a lush dust free environment.

John Q Farmer with a wheatfield in his backyard in Iowa may well need to run it than the guy with lots of dust blowing in.

see what I mean?

Basically, its run it enough that keeps your pool skimmed and get some decent circulation. There really are no rules beyond that.

rolo918 · Jul 31, 2015

Get a flowvis it will tell u you. GPH. Then u can determine your run time

FlowVisÂ® Flow Meter - H2flow

mas985 · Jul 31, 2015

Gph and run time have little in common. Read pool school.

fatboy1271 · Jul 31, 2015

Divin Dave said:
Hi fatboy,
how long you need to run it really vaires from pool to pool.
2 hours is a good start, 4 hours is usually enough for a lot of folks.

If you have a lot of dust which blows every day, you may need to run your pump longer, for skimming purposes, than someone who love in Florida in a lush dust free environment.

John Q Farmer with a wheatfield in his backyard in Iowa may well need to run it than the guy with lots of dust blowing in.

see what I mean?

Basically, its run it enough that keeps your pool skimmed and get some decent circulation. There really are no rules beyond that.

Thanks Divin Dave! I was really misled about this... Anyway, fix it now and don't cry about lost money that I can't get back right? I think I'll start with 4 hours because that's 20 hours less than what its been running at.