One of the primary reasons your pump runs is for the purpose of filtering all of the water in your swimming pool at least one time a day. This is what is called the “water turnover rate.”
A typical swimming pool filtering system will turn the water over about two times per day. If you consider that metric, running the pool filter for up to twelve hours per day should turn over all of the water. This is dependent on many factors including the size of your pool, the size of the filter, the age and working condition of the filter. As a rule of thumb, though, running the filter for up to 12 hours per day is ideal. You can, of course, run it more hours of the day and we recommend that if you’re adding chemicals to the pool, you should run the filter at that time.
Using a variable speed pump is an option for pool owners who want to save money on the overall operating costs of running the pool pump. A variable speed pump can be run at a lower speed when the pool water simply needs to be turned over. It can be programmed to run at a higher, faster rate when the water needs to be churned more quickly, such as when you’re cleaning the pool or adding chemicals.
If you want a more focused recommendation on the amount of time to run a filter, ask us the next time we pay a service visit. Be aware, though, that running a pump longer, rather than shorter amounts of time is recommended for the health of your pool water.
