Pump running and cost

[JayK]

So... I'm cheap. I'll be the first to admit it. I'm a one week old owner of a great pool. However I am trying to keep the cost of running the pump down.
I have a 22,000 gallon pool.
I've set my pump to run at 40GPM.
At this rate I can turn over the whole thing in about 8 hours.

I'd like to run the pool for 10 - 12 hours per day.
That will cost me about $41 - $43 per month (Don't tease me)

I've been told it's best to run the pool during the day to avoid green slime. (Kid's words)

Is this a doable plan?

Jay

 

[Hootz]

The only reason to run a pump is to distribute chemicals and to bring surface dirt and debris into the skimmer. There is no reason to be concerned about rate of turnover. Usually around 4 hours a day is enough to circulate and any extra run time is up to personal preference as far as the surface appearance. If you have a SWG the time to run depends on the needs of your pool to distribute chlorine. 40 gpm is a high rate and you may be able to turn that down to save energy. Most run the minimum speed/gpm to close the flow switch on the heater or swg.

 

[HeyEng]

I run mine twice a day at 2 hours a pop and the pool looks great. I have a two speed pump and initially ran it on low 24/7 but noticed that the water level in the pump basket would lower oh-so-slowly so just decided to leave it on high. The times I run it are 830a-1030a and again 630p-830p and generally add my chlorine around 9am. I would also add that between run times, the pool gets quite a bit of lawn/leaf debris in it but once the pump comes on, the surface is clear within 30-45 minutes. My electtic rates are .09 cents a kWh in the summer and I figure my schedule costs about $25 a month. If I ran it on low 24/7 the cost would be about $22 a month.

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

I run mine from 11pm to 6am, I personally think that if running it fulltime is affordable then you should. However, most people want to save some money. I've always run it at night, because my parents did that with our above ground pool. They'd run it from dusk to dawn, and turn it off for when we were swimming. My slide water is attached to the system so it has to be running to slicken the slide so if people are sliding I'll turn it on. Really I've found the cost of running the pump to not be all that much.