No Pool Timer...

[ashtonbritney]

As you may know I am a completely newbie and moving into our new house in a week with my first IG pool. I live in North Carolina and would love to extend the pool season as long as possible. Currently, the setup does not have any auto valves or timers. So, here are my questions that I wasnt able to track down reading the forums and pool school info.

No timer how long to run? I found this but how do I determine the pool filtration rate? Is this formula correct?
Use this equation: (Pool Volume ÷ Filtration rate) x 2 = Hours to run filter

I would like to at least put in a basic pool timer for the heater and pump/filter. Any recommendations? I was thinking something generic like the Intermatic P135ME timer? A stupid question is who does the install/setup? Electrician, HVAC, or pool company? That may be a really dumb question but the local pool store I dont have much faith...the first test results from them were poor and I look at the reviews online and they get 1 star rating.

Oh..one last thing....the "great" pool store said my water volume is 26Kgallons but when I go to https://www.pool1.com/pool_gallon_calculator.htm I get 32K (Rectangular IG pool 18x36 3.5ft and 10ft)

 

[LordBob]

There might be a flow meter on your return pipe. I hear they aren't very accurate, but it would give you a starting point.

The timer on our pump is a simple dial that has on and off settings that you manually set by loosening and move to the time you want it to come on and go off, so you don't need any thing too fancy, I'd say an electrician would be the way to go as far as installation, or that's where I personally would go.

does your pool have a constant fall rate from shallow to deep? I had to break my pool down into sections to get a more accurate volume. The pool I take care of goes from 3' to 4.5' in the first 23', then drops drastically from 4.5' to 9' in the next 10', and the other 10' is 9' deep. so those are the sections I broke it down and ran the sections adding them together to get what I feel is a more accurate volume.

this is what my flow meter looks like.

 

[Jimrahbe]

a&b,

Here are the reasons to run your pump...

Each pool is a little different... You generally run a pump for three reasons:

1. To keep surface debris moving and being pushed into the skimmers. The more debris the more often you need to run the pump.

2. If you have a Salt Water Chlorine Generator (SWCG) you'll need to run it long enough to generate the amount of chlorine needed.

3. To circulate the water to ensure the chlorine is effectively distributed throughout the pool. Two or three hours per day is all that is needed for this to happen in most pools.


Sounds to me like you are trying to use the "Turnover" theory, where you need to turn over the pool water x times a day. It is just not true. Chemicals keep your pool clear, not the number of times the water passes through the filter. The filter is there to capture debris that fall into your pool, like small children..

I'd have the timer installed by an electrician that has some basic understanding of pool equipment.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[Philo]

^^^