How many hours does your filter run??

15 years ago

This is my first summer with my new pool. I just received my June/July electric bill...OUCH!! The pool gets alot of use from the kids and their friends. I have been running the filter for about 8 to 10 hours a day which I think is the reason for the big electric bill. I have an electric heat pump that I used only a few times but I was told they are not that expensive to run. How many hours a day do you guys/gals run your filters??

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Comments (14)

sandradee
15 years ago
I feel your pain - I still remember seeing my first electric bill with the pool.

In (hot) TX, I'm running 9 hours, soon to go to 10 hours, I think. Unfortunately, I also have an uprated 2HP pump which sucks a lot of juice. May is also when my electric rate goes to peak rates which are higher. Even with higher electric bills, I'd rather have a higher bill than a green pool.
creativcat
15 years ago
We are in Las Vegas and run our pump from 5pm-10pm, and have not had any problems..I would start low and work your way up that way you are not over spending on electric and you will know where to be with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: my blog
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I have the same setup and that's the schedule I'm on as well. You (we) could probably get by with less filtering time. The chlorinator is programmed in the percentage of time it's operating while your filter pump is on. With our 8 hours/day of filtering, I'm operating the generator at 25% capacity which is very low. And the chlorine level still reads high. So the same amount of chlorine could be generated by running the filter pump for only 2 hours/day with the chlorinator set at 100%. I'm still trying to sort out the pump run time myself, so I'll be interested in the answers you get. One metric I've heard is that you want to turn around the pool water once per day. I haven't done the calculation on our pool yet to determine where we're sitting (frankly, there's some guess work in determining that number.) At any rate, my pool is usually sparking clean, so I don't have a big incentive to change anything.
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zl700
15 years ago
I run mine long enough to turn pool over twice (6 hours)

If were swimming during no-run times we hit the override for more pump time.
barco
15 years ago
I run my pool for 3 hours in the day at full speed and 3 hours at midnight at low speed. Chlorine around .5-1 PPM. No algae, no cloudy water. I can see the bottom and can count the number of holes in the drain grate.
busyredhed
15 years ago
Right now I run mine for 6 hours on low speed 12:30am to 6:30am and 4 hours on high speed 7:00am to 11:00am. Before the heat set in and we were using it a lot, I ran it for 5 hours on low and 3 hours on high. My electric bill hasn't that gruesome. Maybe it's the low speed time that keeps it down. I think I'm spending about $50.00 more per month. My gas is what gets the punch when I use my spa a lot.
jerseymom
15 years ago
We run ours from 7:00 am to 7:30 pm.( Our pool is in full sun all day).
dssxxxx
15 years ago
New Jersey - run the filter 24/7. Have been for the past 24 years. Middle of May until end of September. Never noticed any real increase in electric bills. But, do notice large jumps when using the A/C 24 hours per day.
thejimbar
15 years ago
24/7 in NJ? No wonder you never noticed the increase...Reminds me of my Grandmother who was taking a phenobarbital pill and I told her they were addicting. She told me "no they aren't, I've been taking them for 30 years".....

We runs our Jandy 1.5hp pump with the SWG from 8AM to 4PM, that works for us. Our electric bill went up about $200 per month on our budget amount, but we are also running a cabana with a ref/freezer, an ice machine, inside and outside cabana lights, about 700 watts of landscape lights, and a 3hp pump for our hot tub, which gets used for at least an hour or more everyday.
repair_guy
15 years ago
9 hours all year. No problem with the bill on IntelliFlo.
concretehole
15 years ago
We run ours 1 hour high in the morning, nice to wake up to the waterfall noise from the spa spill over. Then we run three hours of low. Some may call my low med at 1800 rpm but it keeps a nice little spill over running. At 5PM I have it kick back on in high for another hour of spa spill over noise through the dinner hour. Most nights somebody is out swimming and we probably pick up another hour of high. So 2+ hours high per day and 3 hours low. Pool is crystal clear only problem has been getting my acid level dialed in.
boksh
15 years ago
Well, how long to run your filter all depends on how big your pool is and how long it takes to run your water through totaly twice. I run mine for 12 hrs and I have 24000 gal pool. I am a new pool user and my PB recomended I run it that long. I run mine at night.
poolowner
15 years ago
I turn it on in May and shut it down in October. It runs 24/7. On our 4th summer. Cartridge filter, 1hp pump
rayusmc
15 years ago
Middle Tennessee, no heater, run the pump 24/7 all yr. No big difference in electric before we did that to now. Saves closing it and winterizing it; prevents algae and the salt system takes care of it. Need to check the computer on salt and add once in a great while. We do get an 8 to 10 below on occasion, but averages around 20/30 above most days. Lots of rain, have to pump some out on occasion.
landa_mac
15 years ago
I run my IntelliFlo VF about 8.5 hours per day. I have it set to 38GPM to push the water up to my solar panels - this consumes about 670W. Then I have it set to 25GPM when solar heat is not available - this consumes about 250W.

My electric bill out here in SoCal went up from about $80/month to about $135/month. I don't have AC since I live near the beach.

Note: I used to have a sand filter and 38GPM required about 980W due to the back pressure of the sand filter. This dropped to 670W when I installed a cartridge filter.

How many hours does your filter run??

Comments (14)

sandradee

creativcat

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