How Long Should I Run the Pool Pump?
While pool ownership can certainly be a lot of fun, keeping your pride and joy crystal clear year round means educating yourself on some decidedly less-glamorous topics, like water quality and maintenance practices.
One of the most important tools to help keep your pool in tip top shape is the pump. All pools have them, but many remain in the dark about why exactly they’re necessary, and how (or rather, when) they should be used.
What does the pool pump do?
The pump is considered the “heart of the pool”, and it’s what distinguishes them from being just a glorified pond.
It’s job is to draw water through an inlet, filter it, and return it. This process is important to maintaining water quality for a number of reasons:
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It helps disperse any chemicals that may be added to your pool.
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It prevents the water from becoming stagnant, and thereby harbouring harmful algae, pathogens, or insects.
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It filters out debris and other unwanted material.
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It effectively sanitises the water by sending it through heating and chlorination.
How long should a pool pump run in summer in Australia?
This largely depends on the size of your pool, though conventional wisdom suggests that you run your pump for 8 - 10 hours per day in the Australian summer.
In order to achieve the maximum balance between pool cleanliness and energy-saving efficiency, however, it’s necessary to do a little maths. Simply divide the volume of your pool by how many litres per minute your pool pump can process (X Litres / X Litres per Minute), and tada, you’re now left with the ‘turnover time’. This is the bare minimum number of minutes you can safely run your pump on a cool day. If your calculation is greater than 6 hours, your pump is likely undersized for it’s given application, and it’s advised that you upgrade to avoid problems like persistent algae formation.
Armed with this knowledge, you’re now prepared to account for other factors, like ambient temperature, pool usage, and rain (all of which increase the suggested running time). Be sure to run your pump an extra hour for every 10 degrees over 15 celsius.
How long should a pool pump run in winter in Australia?
Unless you live in a tropical region, this aligns pretty closely with your turnover time - ideally around 4 - 6 hours.
How long can you run a pool pump on ‘recirculate’?
Recirculate is a setting that allows you to move the pool water around without filtering it. It’s typically used when the filter itself is malfunctioning, or there is a severe algal bloom in the water that would likely overwhelm the filter.
If you want to distribute chemicals throughout the pool, without risk of clogging the filter, running your pump on recirculate for 2 hours should be sufficient. Of course, if your filter is faulty you should aim to replace it as quickly as possible, so as to avoid excessive build up of solid particles and debris.
Conclusion
With a little know-how, and the right equipment, it’s easy to strike the perfect balance between money-saving efficiency and pool cleanliness. If you’re after more information on how to best take care of your pool, visit our blog, and be sure to peruse our extensive range of pumps, filters, cleaning products, and more.
The information provided by the Poolset website must not be relied upon or regarded as a substitute for specific professional advice. We make no claim that the website is 100% accurate or suitable for an individual's unique circumstance and provide the website on the basis that all persons accessing the website responsibly assess the relevance and accuracy of its content.