Need some help getting started

[ser4phx]

Hello Everyone. I have been lurking these pages for about three years now since I experimented with a 12ft circle pool and intex saltwater generator for my little ones. The wife and I pulled the trigger last November to build a real pool. We have a 38x16ft gunite pool with a 7ft sunshelf on one end spanning the entire width of the pool. There is a bubbler/fountain in the center of that and centered along the actual swimming area is a wide waterfall wall. There are 3 wall returns, 2 floor returns, have one skimmer and a long floor drain. Total volume at current water level (I keep it about 1.5" below the coping instead of 3" as recommended by the PB) is a little over 15,000 gal. The pool is covered in a screen enclosure. I have all Hayward equipment - Tristar VS 950, C200S cartridge filter, AquaRite T925 SWC, and 140,000 BTU heat pump. I opted out of the completely automated system, however I think I'll get it installed in a year or so once all of our other projects are complete (getting solar panels installed in a few months to get rid of my energy bills and charge my cars!). I called pinch-a-penny today and was kind of walked through recommended settings for my valves and pump, but I feel like its way too high still as I am drawing a lot of power.

My current settings:

Mon-Sun - Pump starts low rpm cleaning at 1200 rpm from 0200-0800.
Mon-Fri - 0800-1600 is 2150 rpm for chlorination/waterfall/heater (heater is set to 85 for the kids and wife, though I could try to get away with 83 but not too worried about the little extra time for those extra 2 degrees)
Mon-Fri - 1600-2000 is 3000 rpm for active swim time (kids get home from school and immediately get in the pool every day)
Mon-Sun - 2000-0000 rpms go back down to 2150
Mon-Sun - 0000-0200 system shuts off
Sat-Sun - 0800-2000 is 3000 rpm for active swim time (kids, friends, family, etc.)

My heater kicks on at 1450 rpm minimum. I know this from trial and error tinkering. My waterfall works nicely at 1200 rpm by itself, but when I share the return with main and floor returns, it needs at least 2000.

I have no idea what my minimum rpm/flow is for the SWC.

My valves are as follows:

Suction split between skimmer and main drain. Vacuum line stays closed until PB gives me my cleaner.
Return valves - Waterfall is splitting with other three return valves. Wall returns are half open, floor returns are half open, bubbler closed unless in use.

Now for my questions for you kind people:

1. How can I optimize my VS pump's efficiency while maintaining the aesthetics of the waterfall? I currently have the bubbler turned off unless we are actively sitting/laying on the sunshelf. Can I turn off the floor returns to give the waterfall more power if I run the pump at a lower rpm or do they need to stay on? The side returns should remain on for skimming purposes I would assume. The trade off for doing this is the heated water is closer to the surface when returned to the pool instead of coming out of the floor.
2. How long do I need to run my SWC and at what %? Is this just a trial and error type of thing or is there a sweet spot where I can set it and forget it?
3. Tied in with #2, how long should I be running my system, period. My wife wants the pool to stay 85 and while its on she wants the waterfall. How can I balance this by remaining efficient as possible?

Thanks for all your expertise and guidance. I'm sure your discussion will only raise more questions from this first time pool owner.

Regards,

Brent

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Brent- welcome out of lurkdom Glad to have you jump in to posting here on TFP!

My first question is do you cover the pool at night to keep the warmth in? If not you're having to spend energy recouping all the warmth you lose each night. Be aware that some folks find the birdcage enclosure makes the pool a tad cooler. I would say most of your energy is going to be in heating the pool more than any other requirement.

There is no requirement to run a water fall continuously. Most folks looking to save energy cut it back to run just a few minutes daily to keep the water within the system refreshed and chlorinated. In a small way the waterfall may be contributing to cooling the pool also. We often tell folks to add fountains to cool their overly warm pool down.

The true test of how much you need to keep the system on is your testing. If you are running your SWG for all those hours and making more chlorine than you need you can either turn the % down, or turn down your pump run time. For you I'd suggest the latter. Keep in mind that your SWG may need a certain minimum amount of RPM to function. Find that by noting if you get a "no flow" or "low flow" type error on your SWG.

Since running the pump longer is useful for skimming action, you probably don't need a lot of that since your pool is enclosed. Right? No plants or trees shedding into the pool, etc.

Do you prefer the pump to be running while everyone is swimming?

Does any of what I wrote help you make some decisions to try?

Maddie