Pump run time and RPM questions.

[JessB412]

M,

The idea that you have to pass your water through the filter x times a day is just a myth made up by people that don't really understand what the filter does...

Chemicals keep your pool clear and sanitized.. The filter just captures the junk that falls into your pool.

I suggest that you run at the lowest RPM that keeps your pool skimmed.. I run my VS pump at 1200 RPM, most of the time and don't care if I turn the pool water over or not..

And... if you think about it... once the first gallon of water has passed through the filter and goes back to the pool, what prevents it from going through the filter again.. The more you run the less likely that all the water is going to be run through the filter anyway..

The whole point of running a VS pump is to run slow and save on the electrical bill..

Thanks,

Jim R.

What does most of the time mean? lol I've been reading a lot and I understand it's trial and error but I dont' even know if I know what a successful trial looks like vs an error. I know we are running ours too much 10 hrs at 2000RPM and 12 hours at 1000RPM. I read somewhere it is better to not have the pump priming a lot so VSP run better if always running like a compute. Anyways, I don't get a lot of debris in my pool. We are running for skimming of like pollen (which never seems to go away) and to run long enough for our SWG to produce what it needs to and for our heat pump which I can't seam to get to work now either (again -- Hayward victim here). So do you run 1200RPM 24 hrs a day? What conditions would make you run a different RPM?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jess,

I personally like to run 24/7.. That said, it is certainly not required, and we have many people here that run for only a three hours a day.

I like running 24/7 for a few reasons.. I have a SWCG and like to generate a little chlorine all the time.. I run at 1250 RPM most of the time, because that is the speed that ensures my SWCG is on.

I like to skim all the time.. some people don't care if stuff is floating in there pool, unless they are using it. My OCD will not let me do that..

A couple of times a day, I speed the pump up to 1500 RPM for a hour.. I tell myself I do this to help with skimming, but to be honest, I am not sure it makes any difference.. It does not hurt, so I have left the schedule in place. I also have a waterfall, that I don't run much, but I do ramp up to 2800 RPM to flush the waterfall, once a day for about 10 minutes.

My generic recommendation is to find the slowest speed that makes your SWCG turn on.. then add 100 RPM and use that as the slowest speed you ever want to run. At this point you must run long enough to generate the amount of chlorine you need. Once you have done this, you no longer "need" to run your pump... The longer you run the pump, the lower you can set your SWCG's output.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[PoolNewb2020]

What conditions would make you run a different RPM?

My pool is fairly simple, no heaters, no SWG, no chlorintaors or UV lights etc. so I can run my pump really low. I run the pump for 2 hours in the morning at 1700 RPM so that it helps the vacuum cleaner move a bit faster, then 12 hours at 1000 RPM for a total of 14 hour run time. My cleaner even at 1000 RPM moves out of the deep end and has pretty good suction, despite not meeting the minimum requirement of 8-11 RPM at the wheels. It doesn't climb walls, but I brush about weekly anyways. So these are my conditions.

For your conditions, SWG is obviously the most important one. So I would try to figure out the minimum RPM it can operate at as first priority. and then set up a schedule just for that. The next one would be the heater. It most likely has its own minimum flow requirement. Once you figure out the minimum RPM, then you have to play around with run times to maintain your desired temp. and create a schedule for the heater.
There is no need to run a VSP at higher RPM than necessary, as it negates its energy saving attributes.

Since you have Hayward equipment, then I presume you have Omnilogic. If so, you can also create themes for special requirements, like running water features, lights, bumping up the water temp for a party, things that go outside the normal schedule.

 

[JessB412]

My pool is fairly simple, no heaters, no SWG, no chlorintaors or UV lights etc. so I can run my pump really low. I run the pump for 2 hours in the morning at 1700 RPM so that it helps the vacuum cleaner move a bit faster, then 12 hours at 1000 RPM for a total of 14 hour run time. My cleaner even at 1000 RPM moves out of the deep end and has pretty good suction, despite not meeting the minimum requirement of 8-11 RPM at the wheels. It doesn't climb walls, but I brush about weekly anyways. So these are my conditions.

For your conditions, SWG is obviously the most important one. So I would try to figure out the minimum RPM it can operate at as first priority. and then set up a schedule just for that. The next one would be the heater. It most likely has its own minimum flow requirement. Once you figure out the minimum RPM, then you have to play around with run times to maintain your desired temp. and create a schedule for the heater.
There is no need to run a VSP at higher RPM than necessary, as it negates its energy saving attributes.

Since you have Hayward equipment, then I presume you have Omnilogic. If so, you can also create themes for special requirements, like running water features, lights, bumping up the water temp for a party, things that go outside the normal schedule.

thank you - that is helpful! We do not have the omnilogic bc I didn’t realize I’d be changing things around all the time lol. I figured once I get past the leavening curve things will be more “set it forget it”. All I have is heater and SWG to worry about so figuring out their minimum requirements will be the key. Good advice — I’ll start there and keep muddling forward!

 

[JessB412]

Jess,

I personally like to run 24/7.. That said, it is certainly not required, and we have many people here that run for only a three hours a day.

I like running 24/7 for a few reasons.. I have a SWCG and like to generate a little chlorine all the time.. I run at 1250 RPM most of the time, because that is the speed that ensures my SWCG is on.

I like to skim all the time.. some people don't care if stuff is floating in there pool, unless they are using it. My OCD will not let me do that..

A couple of times a day, I speed the pump up to 1500 RPM for a hour.. I tell myself I do this to help with skimming, but to be honest, I am not sure it makes any difference.. It does not hurt, so I have left the schedule in place. I also have a waterfall, that I don't run much, but I do ramp up to 2800 RPM to flush the waterfall, once a day for about 10 minutes.

My generic recommendation is to find the slowest speed that makes your SWCG turn on.. then add 100 RPM and use that as the slowest speed you ever want to run. At this point you must run long enough to generate the amount of chlorine you need. Once you have done this, you no longer "need" to run your pump... The longer you run the pump, the lower you can set your SWCG's output.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Super helpful! So how would I figure out the minimum RPM for SWG? Just start at 1000 and wait for the little error code or SWG to go off? Same with heater? I’m dealing with a FLO error code right now in my heater so today we will be cleaning our cartridge filter to eliminate that as a possible cause. Who knows - maybe it will fix it! We have never done that before so another learning experience today

 

[Newdude]

Super helpful! So how would I figure out the minimum RPM for SWG? Just start at 1000 and wait for the little error code or SWG to go off? Same with heater?

Exactly. Heater efficiency VS water volume/ pump rpm gets complicated though so read up on that once you get the other basics down.

 

[PoolNewb2020]

Does your heater have a by-pass valve on it, or does the water circulate through it all the time? A picture of your equipment pad would be helpful.
You got the right idea about figuring out the SWG minimum RPM, but I would start with say 2000 RPM and lower it until the SWG shuts off, instead of starting from the lowest RPM. Then add 100-200 RPM to have a little bit of safety margin to account for flow changes due to a dirty filter or full baskets.

 

[JessB412]

Exactly. Heater efficiency VS water volume/ pump rpm gets complicated though so read up on that once you get the other basics down.

Huh....never even considered that --- something new to research. lol Which I'm fine with. I did get rid of my FLO error yesterday after cleaning cartridge filter. It was really gunked up after 2 months (and it's a huge 4 cartridge one). I was surprised. My husband thinks lotion has to do with it, which I agree, but no way around that. I will look up heater effeciency next -- thank you!

 

[JessB412]

Does your heater have a by-pass valve on it, or does the water circulate through it all the time? A picture of your equipment pad would be helpful.
You got the right idea about figuring out the SWG minimum RPM, but I would start with say 2000 RPM and lower it until the SWG shuts off, instead of starting from the lowest RPM. Then add 100-200 RPM to have a little bit of safety margin to account for flow changes due to a dirty filter or full baskets.

No bypass - I didn't even know that was a thing when my builder was installing or I would have asked. I am actually going to have one installed when my pool gets closed for the season. It was a major problem when my heater was defective and I had to shut down the whole pool while Hayward sent me a new one. That then led to me SLAMing the pool when I didn't need to originally. So for now --- all water goes throught HP at all times. Working backwards seems like a good idea.

 

[JessB412]

No bypass - I didn't even know that was a thing when my builder was installing or I would have asked. I am actually going to have one installed when my pool gets closed for the season. It was a major problem when my heater was defective and I had to shut down the whole pool while Hayward sent me a new one. That then led to me SLAMing the pool when I didn't need to originally. So for now --- all water goes throught HP at all times. Working backwards seems like a good idea.

Oh and I'll get a pic of equipment pad this afternoon.

 

[Newdude]

. I will look up heater effeciency next -- thank you!

In a nutshell, Higher RPMs makes faster flow through the heating element so the return water doesn’t get as warm. But flooding the pool with a bazillion gallons of slightly warmer water heats the pool faster than a few gallons of hot water.

just like the SWG, the heat pump is either on or off, it will suck the full amount of energy everytime it’s on. The less the heater has to run, the less it costs you. The heater will cost more to use than the pump electric at the higher speed so the heater efficiency sets the pump RPM at heat times. The other times the SWG sets the RPMs.

 

[Newdude]

Oh and I'll get a pic of equipment pad this afternoon.

K.

 

[Newdude]

It was really gunked up after 2 months (and it's a huge 4 cartridge one)

Usually Most people have a pollen issue 1-2 months after opening. It’s pretty much the same everywhere, just at different times. When the trees are starting to bloom, it’s the right temperature to think about swimming and opening the pool. A few weeks later, nasty filters. The choice every year is to open early and suck in all the pollen, or wait it out and open to a green swamp. I always go with the extra month of swimming, but the pollen sure adds up.

skimmer socks / hairnets catch most of it before it hits the filter, but in my case I have a lot of oak trees so I would be cleaning the socks out 4 times a day. I let the filter handle it (Dumping the loaded skimmer baskets once a day). and then clean it afterwards.