Filtration Schedule For A 16×32′ Pool

Filtration Schedule For A 16×32′ Pool

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When you buy a variable speed pump this is only the beginning of your cost saving adventure. Actually applying this new variable speed pump technology to your swimming pool is a little more involved however you can expect to see a drastic decrease in the cost of operating your filtration pump as well as enhanced filtration ability. If you send 120 GPM (a lot) through your pool filter then small debris can potentially pass through the filter media. A slower water velocity allows for more effective particulate removal with most filters. Unfortunately every single swimming pool is unique and there is no way to tell you precisely how to program your new pump schedule.
Most pool owners adding a variable speed pump to their system will need to do a little dialing in of pump RPM and flow rates in order to find the balance between cost savings and effective water diffusion within the pool. The skimmers most especially require higher flow rates in order to draw in floating surface debris, and similarly the return jets need sufficient force to vortex the pool water and push the floating debris to the outside edge where the skimmer can get it. Just how many hours per day you need your pump running at higher speeds to facilitate floating debris removal in your pool would depend on a dozen or more factors all unique to your pool. Just know that if you have problems with floating debris, which eventually turns into sunken debris, then you might need more hours at high speeds, or higher pump RPM’s, or both.
Do you have a salt chlorine generator in your pool? What about a gas heater, or an electric heat pump? What size is your pool? Is there much in the way of trees or falling debris that gets into this pool? The answers to these questions will make a night and day difference to how many hours per day you run your pump at high speeds, medium speeds and low speeds, as well as what RPM you attribute to each of these levels. This is why you can benefit from an experience swimming pool professional to help you set up your new variable speed pump in addition to supplying it and installing it. Ideally you could have an industry professional view the peripheral devices and environmental concerns for your pool and make informed suggestion to you for your pump schedule. However now more than ever people are taking care of their own pools. With some trial and error you can certainly figure out how to program your new VS pump on your own but the following information will be helpful to consider:
Pump speeds for salt chlorine generators – A salt chlorine cell generates chlorine from sodium slowly over a long period of time. If you have a salt chlorine generator you would need to allow for many hours of speeds great enough to close the flow switch every day. A few hours daily would not be enough time to generate the chlorine that you need for most swimming pools. This has actually long since been one of the counter-points to buying variable speed pumps if you have a salt system, but as it turns out this is more smoke than substance. In my test lab I am able to generate enough flow to close the flow switch in most commercially available salt chlorine systems with an extremely low pump RPM. Even much lower than I had been expecting to see. To view this test video you can find it at the bottom of this page about variable speed pumps on salt water pools.
Pentair Intellichlor: 25 GPM
Hayward Aqua Rite: 15 GPM (some models 11 GPM)
With flow requirements being so low for common salt chlorine generators it is actually pretty easy to have enough water velocity to close the flow switch even at relatively low motor RPM’s. For most pools you will have no trouble to achieve these flow rates for long enough to generate the chlorine that you need. It will only become an issue for salt systems if you are attempting to create the leanest possible filtration schedule with absolutely maximized savings. Otherwise you will probably meet the flow requirements for your salt system without issue with a 24 hour dynamic filtration schedule.
Pump speeds for gas pool heaters – Natural gas and propane pool heaters all have a minimum flow rate, a maximum flow rate, as well as an optimal flow rate for best heating efficiency. The amount of time per day that a gas heater needs to run will depend on the ambient temperature, the desired water temperature, the overnight low temperature, and whether the pool gets covered at night or not. Even in a worst case scenario a gas pool heater is only going to run for a short portion of the day. The only time a gas pool heater would run continuously would be if it were undersized for the pool, or the ambient temperatures are too low / the pool is losing too much heat energy overnight. With normal day to day operation of a swimming pool a few hours with motor speeds high enough to close the pressure switch in the heater should be sufficient. Double the number if you do not cover your pool at night. For most gas pool heaters from Hayward, Pentair and Jandy you are looking at 25 to 30 GPM as the minimum flow rate to allow the heater to fire up. Optimal flow rates are often about 50% greater than the minimum flow for gas heaters. For more detailed information about minimum flow rates for pool heaters broken down by size and brand you can read this article about flow rates for pool heaters.
Pump speeds for pool skimmer function – When you look at the minimum flow rates for pool skimmers such as the Hayward 1082 and 1084 series you find these only need 10 GPM in order to begin to function. The National Sanitation Foundation recommends a minimum of 15 GPM for pool skimmers to function. In both cases what you can see is that the minimum flow rates for pool skimmers is actually very small. Now, perhaps you have a big pool and only one skimmer, or perhaps your yard is wide open and you have a ton of wind, or you have a ton of trees dropping debris into the pool. In all of these cases you would need more than the minimum amount of flow in order to have your skimmers remove the floating debris effectively. As discovered with the salt water cell testing above the motor RPM’s needed to ahcieve 15 to 25 GPM is actually very low (your pool will be unique, this is why you need a flow meter for your pool. If you notice more floating debris than normal or more sunken debris then you might need to try dialing up your lowest motor speed time to allow for more effective skimming. If you do not get to the surface debris fast enough it will eventually become waterlogged and sink to the bottom of your pool where it must be vacuumed or captured by the main drains.
Pump speeds for electric heat pumps – Aside from just having a gigantic swimming pool the next most demanding filtration system requirement is an electric heat pump. An electric heat pump does not require much more flow than what a natural gas or propane heater does, however heat pumps take much longer to heat the pool water than gas heaters. This means that pools with electric heat pumps will likely need to have longer periods of time at higher motor RPM’s than other pools without an electric heat pump. The minimum flow rate for most popular brands of pool heat pumps is around 30 GPM but these might need to run for half of the hours in a day which means that your periods of time at lowest speeds might be reduced. Usually low speed operation makes up the majority of the 24 hour filtration day, but in the event of an electric heat pump it is more likely that your medium speeds are the majority of your day, lest you be unable to maintain your desired water temperature.
Aside from these individual devices the last piece of information you need to consider about filtration schedules is simply the diffusion of clean and filtered water into your pool. With periods of time of low speed pump operation that are too great you might start to develop algae especially in areas of the pool furthest from the return outlets. With all of this new information under our belts we can finally start programming the 24 hour filtration schedule for this 16×32′ swimming pool.
Pool volume = 15,360 gallons
Filtration goal = 46,080 gallons per day
High speed operation = 4 hours @ 2800 RPM (57.5 GPM) = 13,800 gallons
Medium speed operation = 8 hours @ 1750 RPM (35.5 GPM) = 17,040 gallons
Low speed operation = 12 hours @ 1250 RPM (25 GPM) = 18,000 gallons
24 hour filtration total = 48,840 gallons
What is notable about this 24 hour filtration schedule is that the minimum flow rate never drops under 25 GPM. This means that salt cells and pool skimmers are able to run all da and all night long as needed, plus there are 12 hours per day of operation in excess of 35 GPM which should allow for ample heating time for both gas heaters and electric heat pumps. Genuinely every pool is unique, but this should represent a good starting point for 16×32′ pool owners to begin their 24 hour filtration schedule. Let’s look at the cost for a 24 hour dynamic filtration schedule such as this:
High speed power consumption = 688 Watts per hour x 4 = 2.75 kW ($0.36)
Medium speed power consumption = 188 Watts per hour x 8 = 1.5 kW ($0.19)
Low speed power consumption = 81 Watts per hour x 12 = 0.97 kW ($0.13)
Based on the national average of $0.13 per kilowatt hour of power consumption this 24 hour filtration schedule would cost about $0.68 per day. This is an extremely low number made possible exclusively due to the energy saving potential of variable speed pumps. While every pool system is unique hopefully this is a good starting point to help you determine how to program your variable speed pump on a 16×32′ pool that is approximately 15,000 gallons.
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