2

A Florida small HOA pool needs approximately 8 hours of pump time

What is the thought process to optimize the duty cycle? For starters, minimizing transients (cycling on / off) should extend the service life the pump.

My first cut at a schedule is a controller that switches the pump on at 6 AM, and off at 11 PM. Hopefully, someone with a success story can provide a better suggestion.

gatorback
  • 3,088
  • 7
  • 36
  • 64
  • If it needs 8 hours of run time, why would you schedule it for 17 hours? – brhans Jan 23 '20 at 20:12
  • I believe its more common to run the pump when the pool is expected to be used. You don't have to worry about freezing, but do you have electricity that costs more at certain times? – JPhi1618 Jan 23 '20 at 20:25
  • 1
    What is the purpose of running the pump? What happens if you don't? I know it's a dumb pool-101 question, but thinking about purpose is helpful. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 23 '20 at 20:41

1 Answers1

1

Some of this was discussed in your previous questions. The 8 hour run time in a generally accepted standard at least here in Florida. It is used to determine pump and filter size. While once a day cycles limits transients, it hardly extends live of pump. The actual wet end usually fails before the motor, and it's easier and probably cheaper to replace the entire pump that mess around looking for a wet end only to find out the motor shaft has corroded threads. Many power companies offer a time-of-use rate where you get a discount for running your pool pump from maybe 9PM to 5AM.

JACK
  • 80,300
  • 19
  • 72
  • 190
  • Interesting! Does your Power Company (FPL?) grant a discount for using off-peak power? – gatorback Jan 23 '20 at 23:02
  • I left there 22 years ago. They did when I left... I'll try to find out. – JACK Jan 23 '20 at 23:09
  • @gatorback It's a different program than before. You sign up and FPL can shed some of your load when they're generating at a max. They install the equipment. you get the credit even if they don't need to shed. https://www.fpl.com/save/programs/on-call.html?cid=aliasoncall – JACK Jan 24 '20 at 15:14