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Summary

If you are lucky enough to own a swimming pool, running it will consume a lot of electricity. This is because the heavy-duty pumps that circulate the water for filtering and drive the swimming pool cleaner are very power-hungry.

Here are some things to pay attention to:

• Keep a balance between chemical use, manual cleaning, automatic pool cleaning and filtration.
• Run the main pool pump for the right time based on your swimming pool size (water volume).
• Run the swimming pool cleaner for less time than the main pool pump.
• Install a two-speed or variable-speed main water pump, and run the pump on low speed most of the time. Reserve the high speed for the time you run the swimming pool cleaner.

There are interactive calculators below to help you optimize the run-time of your swimming pool pumps. But first, let's understand why running a swimming pool is so expensive.

Swimming Pool Back Information

Keep a balance between chemical use, manual cleaning, and filtration

Here are the priorities:

• Your primary task is to keep the water in your swimming pool in good chemical balance. It's not too difficult to do and avoids extra work and expenses correcting issues later.
• Your next job is to ensure the swimming pool pumps run for the correct duration and that you regularly clean your filter.
• Finally, brush your swimming pool regularly to lift the buildup of algae and other dirt from surfaces.

How Swimming Pool Cleaning Works

• How does your swimming pool get dirty?
  • Leaves, dust, soil, and other garden litter get blown into your swimming pool.
  • Think of your swimming pool as a large communal bath. Swimmers will bring dirt, sunscreen, lotion, and body fluids into your swimming pool. Note: A 1-minute shower removes most of the dirt, sweat, and oils on your body that use up the swimming pool chemicals needed to kill germs.
• How do skimmers work?
  • Floating debris is moved by the circulation of the water and collected in the skimmer baskets.
• How do swimming pool cleaners work?
  • Items which sink will collect at the bottom of your swimming pool to be picked up by the swimming pool cleaner. The swimming pool cleaner uses brushes or water flow to push items into the leaf bag.
  • Many swimming pool cleaners have a sweeper hose with a tail scrubber which will lift algae and other particles into the water to be filtered out.
• How does water filtration work?
  • All things that go in your swimming pool will leave a residue, dissolved or suspended in the water. The swimming pool filter catches small suspended particles as the water circulates through it.
• What do swimming pool chemicals do?
  • Chlorine kills germs, and it also kills algae.
  • Muriatic acid reduces total alkalinity and adjusts the pH of the water.

How Chemical Balance Works

• What is water chemical balance?
  • To maintain the water in your swimming pool, test for Total Alkalinity, Free Chlorine and pH using a simple testing kit.
  • Total alkalinity measures the alkaline buffers in your swimming pool that help stop pH changes. It should be between 80 and 120 parts per million.
  • You should keep Free Chlorine levels high enough to kill germs. The American CDC suggests 1–10 parts per million (ppm or mg/L) for swimming pools and 3-10 parts per million for hot tubs.
  • pH level should be between 7.2 and 8. This range reduces skin and eye irritation for swimmers. In addition, a pH in this range is best for disinfectants (Chlorine or Bromine) to kill germs.
• How can we reduce algae?
  • Regular sweeping of your swimming pool removes algae buildup on surfaces and enables free chlorine to treat the algae.
  • Regularly but temporarily increasing the Free Chlorine level (also known as "shocking") kills algae.
• How much do swimming pool chemicals cost?
  • The basic chemicals you need to maintain your swimming pool are less expensive than some of the products sold as remedies once things are out of control.
  • Invest in chlorine powder, tablets and muriatic acid and use them regularly to stay on top of your water balance and avoid expensive issues later.

Running Cost Optimization

Swimming Pool Running Cost

• Main pump run-time.
  • The main pump does the majority of the work required to make sure all the water (volume) in the swimming pool passes through the filter regularly to remove particles (including algae).
  • It must be run when the swimming pool cleaner (booster pump) is run. It doesn't need to run 24-7, just long enough to circulate all the water through the filter daily.
  • It must run beyond the time the swimming pool cleaner runs to filter the water after the cleaner has stirred up the debris in the swimming pool.
• Booster (pool cleaner) pump run-time.
  • The swimming pool cleaner's job is to vacuum up leaves, scrub algae from surfaces and stir up debris to filter it out.
  • The booster pump should run long enough for the swimming pool cleaner to visit all the pool's surfaces (walls and floor) daily.
  • The booster pump provides additional water pressure to a pipe connected directly to the swimming pool cleaner.
  • Note: The booster pump requires the main pump to feed it water at pressure. Therefore, the main pump must run whenever the booster pump runs.
• Install a two-speed main pump.
  • The description above highlights that the main pump performs two distinct tasks, filtering the water and feeding the booster pump. These two tasks can run for a different amount of time.
  • A more efficient solution is to have a two-speed main pump. This type of pump can run at high speed (pressure) when the booster pump runs and at low speed (pressure) when filtering water.
• Modern swimming pool pump controller.
  • Most swimming pump controllers installed are mechanical timers. These have been historically cheaper and simpler to operate.
  • Electronic pump controllers are available, which provide additional features. Some features can save money on pump running costs, e.g. by operating a two-speed pump or adjusting pump run times based on the seasons.

Pool Calculator

Try our free Pool Calculator to optimize your swimming pool setup.

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