I wanted to find out what the experts here think about when you should run your pump for max benefits. I had been running mine at night to save electricity and I also thought the lower night temps would make it work less hard or over heat, but then I read it's best to run it during the day when the temps are the highest to avoid algae because the chlorine burns off faster when it's not circulating. I also read to run the pump 1 hr for every 10 degrees outside temperature too. It's going to reach 110 degrees here in AZ in a day or so I'm trying to get everything up to par now. So that would mean I need to run it 11 hrs and during the day too to get the most benefit out of my chlorine. Is this information correct?
Preparing Pump for AZ Summer Temps
- Thread starter Drd
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 58,522
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
The 1 hour per 10 degrees is bogus. I run my pump for about 6-7 hours a day and our daytime temperatures will be near 120F the rest of the summer.
As long as you keep the FC/CYA ratio correct, you can run your pump when you want. Main reason to run the pump after mixing in your liquid chlorine is to skim the surface.
You have a VS pump. Your other option is to run it at low speed 24/7. You do not say what VS pump you have but at 1000-1200 rpm they typically use less than 200 watts.
As long as you keep the FC/CYA ratio correct, you can run your pump when you want. Main reason to run the pump after mixing in your liquid chlorine is to skim the surface.
You have a VS pump. Your other option is to run it at low speed 24/7. You do not say what VS pump you have but at 1000-1200 rpm they typically use less than 200 watts.
I have a VS pump and it starts out at 3200 rpm during priming and then 2800 and then 1500. I have a liquid chlorine feeder that requires a min of 2800 to pump the chlorine into the water as it flows "in" to being filtered. My feeder is low right now so not really adding any chlorine until I fill it again and I have noticed since I have been trying to get my TA down because it's 180 right now and the pump has been running a lot during the day, I am finding I'm not using up as much chorine as usual and needing to manually add much. It takes time to truly get an accurate picture but there might be something to circulating during day hours. The up side too is it's nice and clean from floating bugs etc when you want to swim during early evening too. Previously I thought it was better to add chlorine at night when the sun wasn't out because it gave it time to disinfect since it burns up more rapidly during the day. I have CYA in the pool somewhere around 50-60 which I think maybe a little high right now that 40 is better so you have more FC to do the job. This stuff can get very complicated the more you disect it LOL!