For how long do you keep your pump running?

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akaCarioca

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Nov 22, 2011
58
Tampa Bay FL
I live in Tampa Bay Florida and had my pool filled on May 03rd 2012 with around 14K gallons.
My pool builder setup the Pentair Intelliflo Variable speed pump to work everyday from 9AM to 5PM. Is this the right time? 8 hours?
Today he installed the Pentair Great White vacuum.
My electrician and plumber suggested that I call my local energy company to find out when is the peak and off peak hours and then
setup the pump to work 50% on peak and 50% off peak.
Any suggestions?

I noticed that the PB closed the 2 maindrains and almost closed the 2 skimmers while living the vacuum on. Again, is this the right way?

Thanks in advance.
 
I would follow what the PB says for the first couple of weeks.
I run my pump at night during off peak hours which for me are 7PM - noon. I'm only running the pump for about 4 hours a night right now. I'll be bumping it up to soon though as the temps will be staying above 100 consistently for the next few months. I'm not sure why they would suggest running the pump 1/2 on peak and 1/2 off peak. It would be more economical to run the pool during off peak hours. Aslo a good way to judge run time is by the look of the water. If its cloudy or a bit dirty looking bump the time up a bit.
 
All pump run times vary by the pool, bather load, etc. Start by running your pump 10-12 hours daily st any time that works for you and then slowly bring run time down as long as the pool is clean. Peak or off-peak is something you can calculate but, frankly, probably isn't worth the trouble for many residential electrical rates....others it might be.
 
Pump run time is more art than science. It's going to be trial-and-error, because every pool is different. Different filters, different pumps, different bather loads, different amounts of blown-in dust and debris.

I sucked my spa down about 6", and timed the emptying and refilling. I averaged the two and crunched some numbers to get a close approximation of my flow rate, then crunched some more numbers and figured out that just under 4 hours ought to circulate 16000 gallons, my pool size. So that's what I run it. It gets more filtering when I'm vacuuming or dosing. Once it cools down and we stop swimming, I reduce it. 2.5 hours is enough to keep it clear over the winter. And again, it gets more filtering when I'm vacuuming or dosing.

I bought another set of timer dogs at the local Ace hardware, so during the summer I give it an hour midday to mix it up and 3 hours in the evening when we're most likely to be swimming.
 
Richard320 said:
I sucked my spa down about 6", and timed the emptying and refilling. I averaged the two and crunched some numbers to get a close approximation of my flow rate, then crunched some more numbers and figured out that just under 4 hours ought to circulate 16000 gallons, my pool size.
Click to expand...
That's funny. I just did the same thing recently...
 
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