Leaving pump running constantly

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Bigdog43

Bigdog43

0
Jul 6, 2016
192
Memphis, TN
Previous owner of my house/pool left the pump running 24/7/365. Is this normal and/or recommended? It has one of the Intermatic timers, but there's no on/off clips on it. Was wondering if I could get some and start turning it off for certain timeframes (maybe in the middle of the night for a few hours).
 
singingpond said:
Take a look here

Pool School - Determine Pump Run Time

and see if that starts to answer your questions. And feel free to post further questions, of course!


On a different topic, if you do some further reading on this forum, you'll find that mineral sanitizers and use of trichlor tabs (both mentioned in your signature) can be problematic in the long run...
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm becoming aware as I hang around this forum. I inherited all of this a couple months ago and I'm trying to take in all this info. Definitely going to look into this.
 
The trippers are dirt cheap. Intermatic 156T1978A | Additional Trippers | 4 Pack

You can set it to turn the pump on for a few hours during the day, night, whenever. If you have extra trippers you can just stack them against each other, two offs back to back is the same as 1 off, etc. I set mine to run from 2-6pm everyday but it's all preference as long as you get enough pump hours per day.
 
Mr Bruce said:
The trippers are dirt cheap. Intermatic 156T1978A | Additional Trippers | 4 Pack

You can set it to turn the pump on for a few hours during the day, night, whenever. If you have extra trippers you can just stack them against each other, two offs back to back is the same as 1 off, etc. I set mine to run from 2-6pm everyday but it's all preference as long as you get enough pump hours per day.
Click to expand...

I bought additional trippers - I'm sure they paid for themselves within days. Running my pump on intervals lets the skimmer keep the surface clean of debris and provides circulation within reason without a huge electric bill. (well, the elec bill is still huge, but at least the pool isn't to blame)
 
I gradually reduced my daily in-season pump run time til I found what keeps the water clear.

2 hours is all I run M-F. On weekends I run it much longer during swimming (to keep debris off surface) usually 6 to 8 hours.
 
Part of it is a preference too. I am replacing my single speed pump with a VS pump which will let me at a lower RPM which is enough to satisfy salt water generator and run 24/7 at about the same power as my old pump ran for 70 minutes. I personally want to run my pump that way to have constant water flow and circulation.
 

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The Pentair Superflo VS pump is a nice 1-1/2 hp VS pump. The 342001 is the one, not the 342000. It is fairly reasonably priced and runs on 110v or 220v.
 
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