pool owners - when do you run your pump/filter?

[Spoisal]

I have been running my pump at night because it is cheaper at that time of day, however, I have heard some say it is better to run during the day....but I don't know why. When do you run your pump & why?

Was the holiday weekend PERFECT pool weather, or what?!!

 

[BunsenH]

Our is on a timer to run 8:30 am - 6:30 pm. It is better to circulate the water during the sunlight/warmer part of the day (although I can't remember why).

 

[aprilgail2]

I have mine on a timer, it runs from 11pm-3am and then again from 10am-1pm.

 

[Evil Queen]

You know, I really don't know.....I let the pool guy worry about all that. But I must say our old pool company was bought out and the new folks did an outstanding job last week. The best I've seen my pool look in about a year!

DS10 and his friend enjoyed it over the weekend.

 

[beavismom]

According to our pool company you should run it during the day for at least 8 hours in the Summer. This is to keep up with the sanitation and cut down on algae growth. In the Winter you can run it for 4 hours at night, usually in the hours when the freeze protection will kick in anyway. This is for an inground pool.

 

[tmt martins]

We run our early Am then again some at night.

I just had to buy some new pump parts and the cover failed during the winter and we had about a 1/4 inch of sludge on my brand new 1 year old liner.

It looks like it's getting better but it went from green to black to a cloudy blue.So we will see I live in the city so it's a small pool but a pain to keep up with.

 

[ntburns22]

Wow~I better tell DH. We never had a pool until we moved into this house and we run it 24/7 while it is open.

 

[Jpgirl]

we run ours 1 hour for everyhour of sunlight and we run it in the day but don't know why(dh takes care of it) . We run Fred( the name we gave our Polaris pool sweeping thingy) for a couple of hours until it gets the debris off the bottum.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Mine circulates in the daytime. To run it at night, I wouldn't be able to heat my pool with the solar heater.

 

[DVC-Don]

Timer: Noon to 7:30 PM

 

[cryssi]

right now it is on 8am-2pm

 

[aprilgail2]

I also never run it while anyone is in the pool. Before they go in I will flip it on for a few minutes just to skim anything that happens to be on the top off. The pool company told me to never run the filter while anyone is in the pool so I do make sure its off during the hours people would be in it. If it on from the timer and someone wants to go in they know to shut it off before they go in.

 

[John VN]

We live in sunny SW Fl. and have had our pool since we had the house built in '87. Have never in all these years had the water be anything but clear. We do get some yellow algea during spring but it is easily taken care of.

I run the filter from 11:00AM to 5:00PM when the sun is really the hottest. During winter I will cut it down to 4 hours.

We have an in ground, not all that big, 14' X 28' concrete with marcite finish pool.

I maintain the pool myself and have found that it is not that hard.

As Disney does, we have our filter running even when people are in the pool. That is actually the most important time to be running the filter because of all the oils and dirt from the swimmers.

 

[Spoisal]

I also never run it while anyone is in the pool. Before they go in I will flip it on for a few minutes just to skim anything that happens to be on the top off. The pool company told me to never run the filter while anyone is in the pool so I do make sure its off during the hours people would be in it. If it on from the timer and someone wants to go in they know to shut it off before they go in.

Do you know why you wouldn't want to run it while people are in the pool?

 

[makinorlando]

I run my pool during the day - have for 3 years that I have lived here. I run the pool vac as needed - sometimes all day if I don't turn it off - our pool is screen enclosed so we don't get too much external debris, just some from plants, etc in the pool enclosure. I also have a fountain on one of the returns that I like to hear when I am working!

I got a new pump this year - bigger/better/more energy efficient and I am only having to run it about 5 hours/day - in ground pool is about 30' x 10'. I have my pool serviced weekly, and the water quality has been great, so unless something changes, I am sticking with the shorter time - last year with the old pump/filter I had to run it much longer. I have never had anything but crystal clear water! (While my neighbors who service their own - obvioulsy wrong - constantly have trouble!) We don't have peak/off peak electric rates - so makes no difference!

I was never told by my pool service to not run the pump while people were in the pool.

 

[aprilgail2]

Do you know why you wouldn't want to run it while people are in the pool?

Not sure of the specifics but it had to do with accidental shock from running the electric filter. I am sure its a one in a billion chance that it would happen but I just prefer to take precaution and not run it.

 

[monarchsfan16]

We have an inground and run our pump 24/7. We are considering not running it when people are in the pool, only because it gets pretty well circulated while people are in it. We tried cycling the pump and within days had the green lagoon in the backyard instead of a swimmable pool. But our pool is big, even for an inground

 

[Evil Queen]

I've never heard of the not running the pump while folks are in it. This house w/pool has been in our family for just about 35 years and we've always had it on with swimmers in it.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I've never heard of the not running the pump while folks are in it. This house w/pool has been in our family for just about 35 years and we've always had it on with swimmers in it.

We've always run ours with people in it too. Actually I'm not sure it's ever been off for more than a minute when people were in it, and that's just because someone was bumping it to release pressure, or cleaning out the basket after vaccuming.

 

[jbthi]

We run our pump 24/7. Our pool is at least 28 years old, probably a lot older. It doesn't have a bottom drain like most of the newer ones and when the pump is off, dirt and leaves have a tendency to settle to the bottom and not get filtered.

I will say our pool is always immaculate and sparkles like diamonds.