Possible effects from solar cover and pump run time < 24hrs?

[Speedo]

I'm doubting that this is or could be a problem, but I want opinions anyway

Instead of a tagline at the end I've put the details and question in bold.

I've started to turn off my pump in the morning around 7:15am (convenience) and turning it back on around 5:30pm (or even 8:30 depending on if I swim or not)

Recently the solar cover has been on 24/7 on days not in use. I've been making sure it gets at least 8-12 hours uncovered every weekend.

I decided against using a timer (which would make things easier since I could have a 2hr run time mid day), mainly because my pump can draw 16A on high and a plug in timer has a maximum of 15A (on low it only draws ~4A). By my calculations it would be cheaper running the pump 24/7 than having a hardwired timer installed. Plus I don't have any place to mount it.

Yesterday was the first day I did this and I noticed around 5:45pm that the surface seemed to be what I would guess was around 95-100 degrees and 1.5ft down the thermometer reads 85. Could this lack of circulation during the day create any problems? I've seen warnings about pH drift, so far its been stable at 7.4, which was at 7.6 but seems to correspond with my TA now reading 80 down from its prior reading of 100-120 earlier in the season.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Possible effects from solar cover and pump run time < 24

As long as you don't get areas of locally low FC because of it, it won't create any problems. A little while after turning the pump on it'll all even out.

 

[Speedo]

Re: Possible effects from solar cover and pump run time < 24

Last night I decided to take the cover off (for the next few days) since it will be warm enough. I got in and noticed there was a mixture of hot and cold spots since it hadn't been circulated since 7:15am (this was around 8pm).

I let the pump run for about 15 minutes and then tested, FC looked great. But I can't say for sure if some of those hot/cold spots had lower FC levels before turning the pump back on.

For what I'm estimating to be around $10/mo in electricity costs maybe I shouldn't even bother turning the pump off during the day.

 

[yeggim]

Re: Possible effects from solar cover and pump run time < 24

Once your chemicals are mixed, I highly doubt any stratification occurs at the chemical level. You are however minimizing heat gain when the water's still and allowed to stratify into sharp gradients when covered.