Optimal (indicative) pump speed and hours per day for a 21,000 gallon pool

[venexiano]

I live in Florida, Gainesville. What is the pump speed and the number of hours per day that I have to Hayward variable speed pump on to save money and still have the pool clean? I guess it varies between summer, winter and spring/fall, but if there was some tool to compute the average values and then fine-tune them myself based on the response of water quality (getting dirty greenish etc) that would be great. My pool is 11 meters by 4.9 meters and has an average depth of 1.5 m, so it is about 21,000 gallons. As of now I am using 17 hours at 1200 rpm. I wonder if I could go lower than that (timewise or speedwise). As for speed, I could go down as low as 1000 (not more than that, that is the minimum the settings would allow me). I have a pool maintenance squad coming once per week, and once they come they hit the quick clean button that runs for 2 hours at 3000 rpm.

 

[mknauss]

Determine Pump Run Time

To figure out how many hours you need to run your pump, you need to know how fast your pump works. You can find this here.

www.troublefreepool.com

How do you chlorinate? That can effect run time and rpm. Skimming needs drives how long you run the pump.

Some members run their pumps 2 hours per day and some 24 hours per day. You just have to determine what works for your pool.

 

[venexiano]

I do not chlorinate. The maintenance team does it. What should I ask them? I know nothing about chlorinating. As for skimming, I have an enclosure, so floating objects are not too much of an issue, although I would like to have some skimming going on. I noticed that by skimming for 2-3 hour at 1200 rpm every few days the top of my pool is super clean. So I dont think skimming is the limiting factor here. Please see also what I just posted here about priming and skimming ( What is priming exactly? And can it be removed? Priming makes my pump draw air when skimming ). I thought they were 2 completely different subject ( I dont think skimming needs are what sets my pump speed) so I posted them separately. I added now that I live in Gainesville, Florida, if that helps.

 

[mknauss]

If you are relying on a pool service to chlorinate they are using trichlor pucks. Do you have a tablet/puck chlorinator? If so, they need a certain rpm to erode the trichlor. If not, they are putting them in your skimmer which is very bad practice.

It would be in your interest to take over the maintenance of your water chemistry. We can help if you are interested.
Read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

 

[venexiano]

Thank you very much, appreciated. DIY it is something I would love to do when I get promoted to a permanent working position (in 1 year). Now I just don't have the time for pool maintenance I need to focus on my job. I just need an easy fix that leaves the pool in a decent state and consumes as little electricity as possible...
I dont have the tablet/puck chlorinator. What do you suggest me to say to the maintenance guys?

 

[mknauss]

Nothing you can say. They have to use what we call 'dump and run'. They cannot spend the time to manage your pool water chemistry correctly, so they spike all the levels and then hope it is good until they show up next week. If there is an issue, you pay for it anyway.

Proper pool maintenance takes 5 minutes per day and a half hour on the weekend once things are stable.

 

[venexiano]

Thank you very much. So there is not a math formula that gives you the pump speed that minimizes costs and gives you good water quality on average conditions for my North Florida Gainesville climate? I would aspect that there is a number based on the #of gallons in the pool, climate and average maintenance conditions. I mean average. Than if someone messes up the chemical, of course that speed won't work.

 

[HeyEng]

Thank you very much. So there is not a math formula that gives you the pump speed that minimizes costs and gives you good water quality on average conditions for my North Florida Gainesville climate?

No. Too many variables. You don't want to manage your pool chemistry, so it's very difficult for you to know exactly what is going on. As mentioned, some people run for 2 hours a day, some 24 hours a day. You have a VSP, so you could run it at a low setting most of the day and it will be much cheaper than someone who has a single speed that only runs 3 hours a day.

The TFP method is very simple. I spend about 5 minutes every two to three days running the robot, cleaning out the skimmer and putting in chlorine. I do a full test every couple of weeks and that takes me a whopping 15 minutes.