As for the question of “How long to run a pool pump every day”, it’s necessary to find the practical solution to balance the filtration requirements that keep the pool water circulating clean and fresh.
Why should you keep the pool pump running?
As the heart appliance of the pool systems, the pool pump provides the power to keep the pool circulation system working normally, removing the debris, bacteria, dirty particles, mixing chemicals, and keeping the pool water healthy, clean and fresh for a refreshing swim.
In fact, if you turned off the pool pump for a significant amount of time, your pool would become a green pond of stagnating water full of unwanted algae and bacteria. Instead, if the pool pump runs for most time of the day at an adaptable speed, it results in a fully filtration, balanced chemistry, healthy clean and crystal-clear pool water. Thus, the ideal answer is to run the pool pump all the time — all day, 24/7, for all year round.
However, keeping the pool pump running all day long not only brings a fresh pool but also comes with extremely high electric bills, especially for the traditional single-speed pool pumps that runs at full speed all the time. This is where inverter pool pumps stand out for their perfect performance in saving energy, by intelligently adjusting the running capacity from 30-100% complying to different situations, inverter pool pumps save up to 15 times more energy compared to single-speed pool pumps in the daily operation.
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To meet the requirements of the pool circulation and maintain the pool’s chemical balance, you should keep the pool circulating at least 2 turnovers every day. Therefore, to determine how long to run the pool pump a day, we need to calculate the turnover rate of your pool system.
How to calculate the turnover rate for your pool?
The turnover means the circulation time needed for a cycle to filter all the water in your pool throughout the filtration system and back to the pool. Normally it includes options of 6-hour cycles, 8-hour cycles, 12-hour cycles, and 24-hour cycles. How long you should cycle your pool water depends on various situations.
Though many experts have lots of recommendations on how many times the pool water should be fully cycled per day, different situations call for typical requirements on filtration and pool pump running times.
After Algae Thrives – If your pool water is green with a great number of algae and you have just shocked the pool, you may need to keep your pool pump running to promote the chemicals to fully circulate till the water becomes clean, which may takes you 2-3 days for continuous circulation.
After Rainstorms – Rainstorms tend to bring a lot of debris such as leaves and other contaminants to your pool. In this case, your pool pump should run longer to make sure every unwelcome trash is filtered away. And remember to re-balance your pool with chemicals to remove the invisible harmful bacteria.
After Heavy Usage – If you have guests come over or have held a pool party, leave your pump running longer for a full filtration and get the water sanitized.
For daily water circulation – If you only need to maintain the pool water circulation and chemical balance, we recommend you to run the pool pump at least 8 hours a day to keep the normal filtration.
For water heating – If you need to heat up your pool in the cooler seasons, your may need to run the pool pump for a longer time at a medium speed to keep the water fully heated.
Due to different needs from complex situations, there are multiple requirements on the pool pump operating speed. This is where the energy can be saved during the daily operation. The best way to operate a pool efficiently depends on the pool pump type you choose.
How to run the pool efficiently?
How long to run a pool pump depends on what type of pool pump you have. Instead of keeping the pool pump running at full speed all the time, changing the pool pump speed under different situations can no doubt save more energy.
To keep your pool pump running 24/7 at an adaptable speed is efficient to keep your pool water fresh and clean all day long. And an inverter pool pump is your best partner to balance your electric bills at the same time!
Our Top Pick: InverPro – Full Inverter Pool Pump
An efficient, convenient & easy solution to keep the pool filtering 24/7 with a perfect balance in energy consumption. Powered by the advanced InverSilence® Technology, the full DC inverter pool pump InverPro saves up to 15 times more energy and brings subverting user experience in 30 times more silent than the single-speed pool pumps.
