Just got my PG&E bill ... ouch!

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werd98

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Feb 7, 2012
81
San Jose, CA
Now that we've installed our new 20x40 IG pool, it looks like we used 450kWh + 47 therms more than this same month last year. Ouch! What have you seen your bills do, once you turn on your pool?

All Pentair:
Intelliflow VSP pump
400k BTU heater (for spa, used sparingly)

One big question: I turned on the spa heater, and watched the gas meter - looks like 2.25 cubic feet per minute of pool heating. Does this make sense?
 
How long and at speed are you running your pump? Whatever it is, it is probably too long or too fast.

As for your heater, 400,000 btu/hr = 388 cuft/hr = 6.5 cuft/min.
 
Re: Just got my PG&E bill ... ouch!

I would suggest dropping the pool and spillway down to 1000rpm which is the most efficient. Likely do not need to run the pool for 12 hours either.
 
A total of 6-8 hours should be more than enough for everything and most of the run time can be at 1000 RPM as Jason pointed out. Plus, there is no reason to run the spa AND spillover. They accomplish the same thing. I just run my spa in spillover for 30 min in the middle of my pool run. Same thing with the cleaner although I run it all the time during pool mode. So try this schedule:

Pool: 12pm-5pm @ 1000 RPM
Pool cleaner robot with spillover: 5:30am-6:30am @ 2400 RPM

This should cut your bill by a lot.

A couple of items for you to do and read:

pool-school/read_before_you_post


pool-school/pump_run_time
 
I only run my pump 4-6 hours and my pool is crystal clear. I was running it 8 hours until I read Pool School.

eta - I would run it even less but our pool is surrounded by trees, and we get bugs and debris from being right on the edge of acres and acres of very thick woods.
 
pool mum said:
I only run my pump 4-6 hours and my pool is crystal clear. I was running it 8 hours until I read Pool School.

eta - I would run it even less but our pool is surrounded by trees, and we get bugs and debris from being right on the edge of acres and acres of very thick woods.
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Interesting! Do you have a variable speed pump? If so, what RPM do you run it at? We have a pool cover, so I'm wondering how little we can get by with :)
 
werd98 said:
mas985 said:
Pool: 12pm-5pm @ 1000 RPM
Pool cleaner robot with spillover: 5:30am-6:30am @ 2400 RPM
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! Quick question: Can I run the cleaner robot when the pool isn't running?
Click to expand...

Yes. Although I notice that the robot stirs up some finer particles, so I like to have the pump running to catch that.
 

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Ok, here's what I'm thinking:
1) Go from 12 hours (1800 rpm) once a day, to 6 hours (1000 rpm) broken in 2 chunks of 3 hour runtime
2) Spillway for the spa to "skim", and 30 minutes of pump time to filter
 

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Spillway is spa spillover mode correct? If so, there is no reason to run both spa and spillway. It is basically the same thing. In fact, spa mode really doesn't do much in the way of removing debris but spillway can if it is done at higher speeds so I would ditch spa mode and just run in spillway at a higher RPM.

Also, just checking but the cleaner mode is without the pump correct? Why does it have an RPM?
 
mas985 said:
Spillway is spa spillover mode correct? If so, there is no reason to run both spa and spillway. It is basically the same thing. In fact, spa mode really doesn't do much in the way of removing debris but spillway can if it is done at higher speeds so I would ditch spa mode and just run in spillway at a higher RPM.
Click to expand...
It makes sense that the speed should be higher, to get the sand & dirt up off the floor. What RPM would you recommend?

Also, just checking but the cleaner mode is without the pump correct? Why does it have an RPM?
Click to expand...
Good question - here's what we have:
1 Pentair letro booster pump
1 Pentair letro platnum pool cleaner
I think the pool needs to run at the same time as the robot, but I'm not sure. Our PB said the robot tail does the majority of the cleaning by kicking up dirt.
 
Oh, I misunderstood before. You are supposed to run the main pump with the booster pump for pressure side cleaners. When you said robot, I thought you meant an electric stand-alone robot and not a pressure side cleaner.
 
werd98 said:
pool mum said:
I only run my pump 4-6 hours and my pool is crystal clear. I was running it 8 hours until I read Pool School.

eta - I would run it even less but our pool is surrounded by trees, and we get bugs and debris from being right on the edge of acres and acres of very thick woods.
Click to expand...

Interesting! Do you have a variable speed pump? If so, what RPM do you run it at? We have a pool cover, so I'm wondering how little we can get by with :)
Click to expand...

Single speed as far as I know - still new to this pool thing. Your pool is 3 1/2 X bigger than mine, so I don't know if 4-6 hrs would cut it for you, but I guess it doesn't hurt to try :-D
 
jblizzle said:
Oh, I misunderstood before. You are supposed to run the main pump with the booster pump for pressure side cleaners. When you said robot, I thought you meant an electric stand-alone robot and not a pressure side cleaner.
Click to expand...
Ok sounds good. FWIW, here's the manual for what I think we have: http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/KreepyK ... inumOM.pdf

What RPM would you recommend we run the pool while the cleaner is going?
 
jblizzle said:
Have the cleaner run while the pump is in "pool" mode at 1000 rpm.
Click to expand...

All right, thanks! So here's where I am now:

Speeds
Pool: 1000 RPM (=120 Watts)
Cleaner: 1000 RPM (=120W)
Spa: 2000 RPM (=506W) - high, to kick up dirt from the bottom
Spillway: 2000 RPM (=506W) - high, to kick up dirt from the bottom
Jets: 2800 RPM (=1310W)
Heater: 2200 RPM (=658W) - does this need to be so high, or maybe even higher?

Schedule
Spillway: 3:00 AM - 4:00 AM (late at night, so the water doesn't cool down)
Spa: 4:30 AM - 4:45 AM (to filter anything left in the water, that didn't get pushed out by the spillover)
Cleaner: 5:30 AM - 6:30 AM (vacuum before pool's first use)
Pool: 5:00 AM - 9:00 AM (two separate pool cycles, to spread the chlorination across the day,)
Pool: 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM (and to have the water be moving during pool usage times)

Any other tweaks? Once I get this dialed in, it'll be time to move on to chemistry :) My TF100 kit should arrive today!
 

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