Tweeking my pump run time for the fall/winter?

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AaronGo

AaronGo

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Dec 8, 2011
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Houston, Texas
Now that fall is upon us in Houston (nothing compared to you Northerners) and we won't be using the pool until next spring, should I consider slightly decreasing the run time for our pump or just stick with the general idea of circulating all the water through the filter once within 8-12 hours?

I have been running the pump from 9 am to 7 pm since we got the pool finished in early summer with no issues, so not trying to fix something that is not broken.

Thanks in advance!
 
It's more a matter of personal choice than anything. I deal with people who get one rotation per 24 hour period and are perfectly happy. The bonus is that if it's under 60 degrees F algae won't grow so you only really need minimal circulation.
 
I also am in Houston, and just turned my down to about half of what I had it for summer. It didn't use much power in the first place, but it's not really necessary anymore.

According to a spreadsheet I worked up, i get about 2.25 turnovers a day for $25/month at 80% low speed, 20% high speed. Been about a week and pool is still sparkly.

Paul

BTW - I have basically 4 different run times programmed - A low/high speed in the morning, and a low/high speed session in the evening.
 
Christian said:
It's more a matter of personal choice than anything.
Click to expand...
That's my take on it as well. This time of year with the cooler water and nighttime lows well above freezing, I run the pump manually on an as-needed basis (defined as when I add any chemicals, if the water needs filtering, or the pool needs vacuuming). Note that I have a single-speed pump. If I had a 2-speed or variable speed pump, I might do some further experimenting. Bottom line: Do what works well for your pool.

Once winter sets in and we begin getting some below freezing temps at night, then the freeze guard will run the pump for freeze protection purposes. Filtration becomes a secondary concern at that point.
 
houstonTex said:
According to a spreadsheet I worked up, i get about 2.25 turnovers a day for $25/month at 80% low speed, 20% high speed. Been about a week and pool is still sparkly.
Click to expand...
Where did you get the flow rate for the pump? Depending on your plumbing setup, it is probably less than 100 GPM. Also, low speed is usually always around 1/2 of high speed to within a few percent.
 
Hayward has a data sheet somewhere that I pulled that from. Head vs flow for various pumps (& speeds where applicable). I wasn't heck bent on being 100% accurate, +/- 10% or so is fine for my purposes. I mean, we'd be talking a linear coefficient vs an order of magnitude, so I'm OK with what I have on that sheet.

Flow rate is definitely less than that when going through the spa plumbing, but I have a big cartridge filter so pumping through the pool it's in the right neighborhood.
 
I suspect that you are more than 30% off. What is your filter pressure and what size pipe do you have?

A typical pool with 2" plumbing, the SP3210X152 would have an operating point close to 88 GPM @ 63' of head.

The SP32152EE would have an operating point close to 92 GPM @ 69' of head.
 

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Hey, I'm in Houston too! :) This is not a hijack of the original question, but an expansion, I hope no one minds.

1. How does one calculate how long it takes for the pool to make one whole circulation?

2. The manual states that if the temps go below 51°F, we should not use the SWG. Am I correct in assuming that's the water temp and not the air temp?? Low temps this week are supposed to go into the 40s.

3. But I should still keep the pump running for a few hours a day, depending on the answer to question 1 above?

4. Should I put chlorine tablets (leftover from new pool startup in the summer) into the chlorinator (a translucent green tube) that's hooked up to the system if I'm not using the SWG?

Thanks.
 
1. There are several methods from a very rough calculation to very labor intensive methods. The more accurate you try to be, the more information that is needed. If you want a rough estimate, give me the pump model #, and a rough description of your plumbing, sizes, lengths, # runs, etc.

2. Most SWGs will shut off by themselves but yes, it is water temp.

3. You can continue to run the pump although when the SWG shuts off, I will usually shut off my pump until it warms up again.

4. I don't because when the water is that cold, you really can't get much in the way of algae but that is what works for me. Your situation could be different. If you do shut off the pump, just keep an eye on the water and if it starts to turn green or cloudy, it is time for pump run time and chlorine.

5. Yes
 
Thank you for trying to help me. This is the best site ever.

I can give you the pump model number:
Pool:pentair Whisperflo #177475.
Spa:pentair Whisperflo #186237
Sheer Descent: Pentair Whisperflo #177476
In the manual is a very nice graph called Pump Curves. I'm a bad Chinese---Math makes my eyes glaze over! I don't know how to read it. :oops:

I don't understand the other things on your list! :oops:
Plumbing I'm sure it's 2-inch white PVC.
Lengths?? Do you mean from the pump to the closest skimmer? Not far, about 8 feet.
# runs?? I really don't know what this means. LOL

My small pool is L-shaped.
The swimming/playing section is 25 feet long by 12 feet wide. Depth runs 3½feet to 4½feet, most of it being 4feet deep.
The other part of the L is taken up by the spillover spa which is probably 8x8feet square: and a sun deck of 12feet by 4feet by 9inches deep.
 
For some pools, each skimmer and main drain is brought back on it's own pipe run while other pool setups combine the pipes near the pool and only run one pipe back. So by # runs, I am interested in the number of suction/return lines that go from the pad to the pool. Having multiple lines will reduce head loss.

One other item that would help would be the filter pressure.
 
Hello Mark,

Looks like each item has one pipe coming and one pipe going, every pipe is labelled---pool, spa, main drain, skimmers, cleaner, waterfall---and also with arrows showing direction of the water flow. The only thing that has only one pipe is the spa blower. Is this what you mean? I'm sorry to sound so "not very bright." There were a lot of pipes laid in the ground when the pool was being built, all the way from the pad to the pool.

The pressure gauge on the DE filter says 15. That's the "start."
"Clean filter" mode is not till 25.

Thanks for "holding my hand."
Yan
 
Thank you. I didn't realise it was so fast. How do you work it out?

When the pool was first finished in the summer, the pool builder had set the pump run time from 6am to 6pm. Now I've got it running from 9am to 7pm. I haven't shortened the run time by much because we are heating the pool....for now.

The later stop time is because we usually get in the spa sometime between 6 and 6:15pm, and I thought it would be good to put the pump back in pool mode for a little while after we get out of the spa. Should I have the pump running longer after we get out of the spa?

Thanks again.
 
That is a lot of run time for that pool. My pool is twice the size of yours, my pump is half as big and I only run two hours per day this time of year. In the summer, I ran only 4 hours per day and 2 of those were on low speed. Its up to you but I would try shortening your run time.
 

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