Is there an ideal pump run schedule?

[CHtoUS]

What is a good schedule to run the filter pump?
10,850 gallons, gunite, Pentair IntelliFlo VS 3050, Polaris 280 cleaner (which comes with a 3/4 HP booster pump but I'm honestly confused about what it does, as the cleaner seems to run only off the main pump).
The PB set it at 3450 RPMs for 8 hours. I changed it later to 3000 RPMs (around 70 GPM) for 12 hours. I know it's still too much probably, but I don't mind. Ideally I guess I'd prefer to run it at 3000 for 6-8 hours (with cleaner) and another 2-4 hours at 2000 RPMs or so (without cleaner). Would that make sense?
PB told me it needs to run at a minimum of XXXX RPMs (I forgot the number he gave me) for "things to work properly" (I don't remember whether he was referring to the cleaner or the SWG?).
I'm happy to run it more than required, without being recklessly excessive. Also, in terms of electricity cost, there is no difference between day and night. Lastly, do the RPMs influence chlorine production? Or is that simply a question of the filter running, regardless of speed?
Thanks much in advance for any pointers.

 

[Bperry]

What is a good schedule to run the filter pump?
10,850 gallons, gunite, Pentair IntelliFlo VS 3050, Polaris 280 cleaner (which comes with a 3/4 HP booster pump but I'm honestly confused about what it does, as the cleaner seems to run only off the main pump).
The PB set it at 3450 RPMs for 8 hours. I changed it later to 3000 RPMs (around 70 GPM) for 12 hours. I know it's still too much probably, but I don't mind. Ideally I guess I'd prefer to run it at 3000 for 6-8 hours (with cleaner) and another 2-4 hours at 2000 RPMs or so (without cleaner). Would that make sense?
PB told me it needs to run at a minimum of XXXX RPMs (I forgot the number he gave me) for "things to work properly" (I don't remember whether he was referring to the cleaner or the SWG?).
I'm happy to run it more than required, without being recklessly excessive. Also, in terms of electricity cost, there is no difference between day and night. Lastly, do the RPMs influence chlorine production? Or is that simply a question of the filter running, regardless of speed?
Thanks much in advance for any pointers.

24x7 at lowest speed that makes the SWCG happy is ideal.

 

[Jimrahbe]

"Is there an ideal pump run schedule?"

CH,

The direct answer is no!! Every pool is different and every pool owner is different.

There are some general guide lines.

1. Don't ever think that your pool builder has a clue what he is doing when it come to pool care.. He might, but the chance's are pretty remote.

2. The key to running a VS pump is to run as slow as possible to accomplish your pool care goals.

3. Don't believe in the myth that you have to 'turnover your pool water X times a day'. Chemicals keep your pool sanitized and algae free, not the number of times your water passes through the filter.

4. The number one reason to run the pump is to generate the amount of chlorine your pool needs each day. Tab feeders and Saltwater Chlorine Generators need time to produce that chlorine. The amount of time depends a lot on the size of your pool, the pool plumbing and the equipment you have. If you are using Liquid Chlorine, then you only need to run the pump long enough to allow the chlorine to be well mixed.

5. The number two reason to run the pump is skimming. Some pool owner do not care if their pool is covered with leaves half the day, other would have a fit. You just need to run the pump so that your pool is skimmed the way you want.

6. Many pool owners have a suction side cleaner, a pressure side cleaner or an In-Floor-Cleaning System. All of these cleaners require your main pool pump to be running and in some cases a booster pump as well. These pumps need to run the amount of time it takes to clean your pool the way you want. Some owners have robot cleaner that are DC powered and do not require any of the pool equipment be operating.

The whole point of the above info is to point out why there in no one answer to your question.

In my case, I am part of the 24/7 at a low RPM crowd. I have a saltwater pool and love the fact that I am making a little chlorine all the time. I also love the fact that I am skimming all the time. And I am pretty fond of the fact that I never have to worry about freeze control. It works well for me and that is why I use it.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[HermanTX]

The PB set it at 3450 RPMs for 8 hours. I changed it later to 3000 RPMs (around 70 GPM) for 12 hours. I know it's still too much probably, but I don't mind. Ideally I guess I'd prefer to run it at 3000 for 6-8 hours (with cleaner) and another 2-4 hours at 2000 RPMs or so (without cleaner). Would that make sense?

This is why you want to run at the lowest speed possible for majority of time. The energy consumption is not linear to RPM
Also, there is no reason to run your Polaris 280 cleaner for more than 1 hr per day unless you have a very dirty pool.
The booster pump should turn on when the cleaner is scheduled to run. This provides the needed pressure to operate the cleaner. I run my VS pump at 2800rpm with the booster pump. All other times the VS pump runs between 1500 and 2000rpm depending if I have it on higher skimming speed.

 

[CHtoUS]

"Is there an ideal pump run schedule?"

CH,

The direct answer is no!! Every pool is different and every pool owner is different.

There are some general guide lines.

1. Don't ever think that your pool builder has a clue what he is doing when it come to pool care.. He might, but the chance's are pretty remote.

2. The key to running a VS pump is to run as slow as possible to accomplish your pool care goals.

3. Don't believe in the myth that you have to 'turnover your pool water X times a day'. Chemicals keep your pool sanitized and algae free, not the number of times your water passes through the filter.

4. The number one reason to run the pump is to generate the amount of chlorine your pool needs each day. Tab feeders and Saltwater Chlorine Generators need time to produce that chlorine. The amount of time depends a lot on the size of your pool, the pool plumbing and the equipment you have. If you are using Liquid Chlorine, then you only need to run the pump long enough to allow the chlorine to be well mixed.

5. The number two reason to run the pump is skimming. Some pool owner do not care if their pool is covered with leaves half the day, other would have a fit. You just need to run the pump so that your pool is skimmed the way you want.

6. Many pool owners have a suction side cleaner, a pressure side cleaner or an In-Floor-Cleaning System. All of these cleaners require your main pool pump to be running and in some cases a booster pump as well. These pumps need to run the amount of time it takes to clean your pool the way you want. Some owners have robot cleaner that are DC powered and do not require any of the pool equipment be operating.

The whole point of the above info is to point out why there in no one answer to your question.

In my case, I am part of the 24/7 at a low RPM crowd. I have a saltwater pool and love the fact that I am making a little chlorine all the time. I also love the fact that I am skimming all the time. And I am pretty fond of the fact that I never have to worry about freeze control. It works well for me and that is why I use it.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thank you, Jim, for your super thorough response. Very much appreciated!

 

[CHtoUS]

This is why you want to run at the lowest speed possible for majority of time. The energy consumption is not linear to RPM
Also, there is no reason to run your Polaris 280 cleaner for more than 1 hr per day unless you have a very dirty pool.
The booster pump should turn on when the cleaner is scheduled to run. This provides the needed pressure to operate the cleaner. I run my VS pump at 2800rpm with the booster pump. All other times the VS pump runs between 1500 and 2000rpm depending if I have it on higher skimming speed.
View attachment 484264

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, Herman, for taking the time to reply. I just needed some sort of benchmarking that I can then fine-tune off of. I really appreciate it!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Ch,

You have an IC40 SWCG, so I suggest that you determine the lowest speed that still closes the flow switch and then add 100 or 200 RPM and call that the slowest speed you ever want to run. I suggest that you never run below 1,000 RPM.

For me, that speed is about 1,200 RPM.

Just reduce the speed until the red flow light comes on, then slowly adjust the speed up until the green flow light comes on. Add 100 RPM and call it good.

Let's assume it is about 1200 RPM.. then run that way for a few days and see how well your pool skims. If the water going into the skimmers is going over the weir door that floats up and down between the pool and the skimmer basket, then you are good.

Keep in mind that skimming requires patience. The skimmer action is not going to reach out into the middle of pool and pull leaves in. The key is how much stuff gets captured by the skimmer and if you constantly have junk floating on the pool's surface. Don't worry about a leaf floating by, as it will just get caught the next time around.

As far as your clean goes, I would experiment with different speeds.. Does your cleaner really need 3000 RPM?? I have no clue, only you can tell. Does it really need 4 hours to clean your pool? I don't know, it may only need two hours or it may need 6.. Again, only you can tell for sure.

You can't hurt anything by playing with it.

I 'assume' that you have a standalone pump that is not connected to any kind of automation. Is that true? If so, I want to make sure that you know you can set the buttons to any speed that you want. You do not need to use the default setting that came with the pump.

Thanks,

Jim R..

 

[Jimrahbe]

CH,

I see we are both in Texas, so our electrical rates are probably about the same..

I can run my IntelliFlo, 24/7 at 1200 RPM most of the time, for less than $20 bucks a month.

Thanks,

Jim R

 

[MrLeadFoot]

"Is there an ideal pump run schedule?"

CH,

The direct answer is no!! Every pool is different and every pool owner is different.

There are some general guide lines.

1. Don't ever think that your pool builder has a clue what he is doing when it come to pool care.. He might, but the chance's are pretty remote.

2. The key to running a VS pump is to run as slow as possible to accomplish your pool care goals.

3. Don't believe in the myth that you have to 'turnover your pool water X times a day'. Chemicals keep your pool sanitized and algae free, not the number of times your water passes through the filter.

4. The number one reason to run the pump is to generate the amount of chlorine your pool needs each day. Tab feeders and Saltwater Chlorine Generators need time to produce that chlorine. The amount of time depends a lot on the size of your pool, the pool plumbing and the equipment you have. If you are using Liquid Chlorine, then you only need to run the pump long enough to allow the chlorine to be well mixed.

5. The number two reason to run the pump is skimming. Some pool owner do not care if their pool is covered with leaves half the day, other would have a fit. You just need to run the pump so that your pool is skimmed the way you want.

6. Many pool owners have a suction side cleaner, a pressure side cleaner or an In-Floor-Cleaning System. All of these cleaners require your main pool pump to be running and in some cases a booster pump as well. These pumps need to run the amount of time it takes to clean your pool the way you want. Some owners have robot cleaner that are DC powered and do not require any of the pool equipment be operating.

The whole point of the above info is to point out why there in no one answer to your question.

In my case, I am part of the 24/7 at a low RPM crowd. I have a saltwater pool and love the fact that I am making a little chlorine all the time. I also love the fact that I am skimming all the time. And I am pretty fond of the fact that I never have to worry about freeze control. It works well for me and that is why I use it.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Excellent post. This is exactly what I needed to hear, too. I use liquid chlorine, and never thought of it from the perspective you shared regarding chemicals keeping the water clean. But, I have a question on that:

If chemicals kill algae, don't we still need the water to pass through the filter so many times so that the dead algae and other particulates get picked up? If so, how many times would be the ideal turnover?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Foot...

You missed the whole point.

Once you get algae, it is too late, the war is over. Then you have to do a SLAM..

Chemicals keep you from getting algae in the first place. There is nothing for the filter to capture.

If you run your pump long enough to skim the pool the way you want, you will have run it long enough to mix any chemicals.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[MrLeadFoot]

Ahhh, I see. That makes perfect sense. Regarding skimming, when I look into my two skimmers with my new pump running 1150 rpm, although I can see that it's moving water, it sure doesn't look like it's moving enough to suck anything into the baskets. Is that because I'm used to seeing my previous Screaming Single Speed sucking water in like there's no tomorrow, or does that mean 1150 is too low?

 

[mknauss]

Is surface debris being collected in the skimmer?

If the water is flowing over the weir door, it is skimming.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Foot,

If you are used to a single speed pump your skimmers will 'look' like they are not working, but as long as water is flowing over the weir door, the skimmers will work just fine. The Key to skimming with a VS pump is patience...

If you don't already use hairnets in your skimmers, you should try one for a day, and you will be amazed how much junk flows into the skimmers. Without the hairnets, half of it will pass right through the skimmer baskets and end up in your filter.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[CHtoUS]

Ch,

You have an IC40 SWCG, so I suggest that you determine the lowest speed that still closes the flow switch and then add 100 or 200 RPM and call that the slowest speed you ever want to run. I suggest that you never run below 1,000 RPM.

For me, that speed is about 1,200 RPM.

Just reduce the speed until the red flow light comes on, then slowly adjust the speed up until the green flow light comes on. Add 100 RPM and call it good.

Let's assume it is about 1200 RPM.. then run that way for a few days and see how well your pool skims. If the water going into the skimmers is going over the weir door that floats up and down between the pool and the skimmer basket, then you are good.

Keep in mind that skimming requires patience. The skimmer action is not going to reach out into the middle of pool and pull leaves in. The key is how much stuff gets captured by the skimmer and if you constantly have junk floating on the pool's surface. Don't worry about a leaf floating by, as it will just get caught the next time around.

As far as your clean goes, I would experiment with different speeds.. Does your cleaner really need 3000 RPM?? I have no clue, only you can tell. Does it really need 4 hours to clean your pool? I don't know, it may only need two hours or it may need 6.. Again, only you can tell for sure.

You can't hurt anything by playing with it.

I 'assume' that you have a standalone pump that is not connected to any kind of automation. Is that true? If so, I want to make sure that you know you can set the buttons to any speed that you want. You do not need to use the default setting that came with the pump.

Thanks,

Jim R..

Thank you very much, Jim, for taking the time to leave such a detailed response! For some reason I didn't see it until just now. Your tips will definitely help me with more efficient speeds and run times. The PB (or perhaps it was a factory setting) had it at 3450, which I believe is the max. I changed it since then to 2500 when I run the cleaner and 1750 the other times. But it seems I could reduce that further. Thank you again for all the info!