Question about stepping down my pump speeds and run times

[Tonedeaf]

2 weeks into our pool start up and have a few questions now that the pool isn't showing sings of plaster dust and the water is balanced appropriately.

I will be introducing salt into the pool in about 2 weeks and get the SWG cell started.

As it stands now the Intelliflo 4x160 pump has been running 24/7 for the past 2 weeks. 2 speeds have been programmed into the SunTouch Controller. Low = 1750rpm and High = 3450rpm. Low is approx 70gpm and I think high is approx 140 gpm. This would give me a pool water turnover of about 3.36hrs on Low and 1.6hrs on High.

Any advice on scheduling pump running times with this info? I am not sure if I want to run on Low for 7 hours or on High for 3 hours to get the water to turn 2 times per day.

I am thinking on Low for a longer period to give the SWG time to do what it needs to do.

 

[MikeInTN]

Most folks with two speed pumps leave the pump running on low speed for several hours a day, and some I've read leave it on low speed 24/7, and only turn it on high for cleaning the pool. I think you'd be OK leaving it on low speed long enough to get the turnover you desire, whether that be 7 hours or 14 hours.

 

[JasonLion]

The most energy efficient approach is to run the pump many hours a day on a speed much slower than your current low speed, ideally a speed that gives you somewhere between 10 and 20 GPM. You should experiment with the slowest possible speed and see if you get sufficient skimming (sometimes the skimmers don't work very well on extremely low speeds). Adjust the speed up till the skimmer(s) are working well enough and then configure that as your default low speed.

 

[mas985]

I seriously doubt very much that you will get 140 GPM at full speed. You would need very large diameter pipe to accomplish that (i.e. very low head loss) and even with that the pad equipment alone will probably limit flow rates to less than 120 GPM. Typical flow rates for for 2/2 1/2" plumbing are closer to 100 GPM with half speed at about 50 GPM.

One of the probelms with the 4x160 is that there is no flow rate setting or even a readout so unless you have a flow meter, there is really no way to tell (short of head calcs) how much flow you are actually getting.

 

[Pool Clown]

They should package flow meters with those pumps...