# Forum Home Renovation Pools, Spa & Water Features  Does a pool pump need to run 24/7?

## wozzzzza

in a unit complex with a larger than average size pool, it has 2 pumps, im wondering if the pumps need to run 24/7 or only during day light hours or only during night hours??
i dont know much about pools yet.  its a salt water pool.

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## GeoffW1

Hi, 
Provided the salt content is right, and there is some stabiliser in there too, the pumps only need to run long enough to keep the chlorine up to to recommended levels. 
This would not normally need more than 8-10 hrs/day I think, and less in winter. If 24 hrs running is needed for that, something is out of order. 
If I interpret you correctly, you are thinking of noise. Typically, noise may not interefere unreasonably with a person's comfort or sleep, and specifically, must not be audible in a habitable room (excludes the toilet, bathroom, and laundry) of your residence between, typically, 8pm and 7am weekdays, and 8pm and 8am Sunday. That is NSW, but it would be similar in SA. 
Cheers

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## wozzzzza

not thinking too much about noise, just the $5000/quarter power bill that needs reducing.

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## jago

> not thinking too much about noise, just the $5000/quarter power bill that needs reducing.

  No as above in summer I run mine 6 + hours winter 2  hours in morning. How big is the pool?

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## wozzzzza

not sure of size but here it is

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## watson

Dunno what you're running in there Wozzzzza, but 5K/quarter is 10 times our power bill.

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## jago

Are you living in a spa compex  :Biggrin:  
My calculations are all assumptive for dimesnsions only ;12metre length by 6 metre wide  by 1.2m deep (average) gives you a 86.4 m3. 
there is a 1000 litres of water per m3 so you have lets say a 86,000 pool +  for arguments sake say we will round up to 100,000 which would require a min of a 750w pump and you had two you say thats 1.5kWh at 20c an hour = 30c an hour x 24 hours = $7.20 a day x 365 = $2,628.00 per year  
If thats a body corporate charge I would be asking lots of questions

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## wozzzzza

yeah im gonna start power hunting tomorrow, i almost fell over backwards when i found out the power bill was $5500 a quarter, just moved in here.

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## commodorenut

I'd be hunting for the nearest stoned neighbour, and disconnecting the power to his hydro setup..... 
$5000/quarter is ridiculous.  The pool can't have that much of an effect on power. 
How many units are there, and do you all share the same meter (and therefore split the $5K bill). 
Or are you seperately metered, and the $5K pool cost is split between residents as an addition?

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## wozzzzza

everything metered seperately, common area metered seperately.  who knows where the power is going, still havent found it. still hunting.

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## Bedford

The common  area being separately metered, may also include lighting (though this probably wouldn't amount to much), but if the pool belongs to the common area, why are you getting the 5.5k bill as an individual? Have you actually seen this bill and checked it against the meter? Surely this should be shared by all owners, and I would think be part of the owners corporation fees. 
How many separate homes are there, as it would be very very expensive if multiple homes are being charged.

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## wozzzzza

yeah body corporate pays it but ive just started managing the complex and just found out it was that high.  so my job is to find out why and manage it.

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## jago

1. I would look for the young guy driving the ute and check his supply...gerry rigging, I saw a bit of this in Melbourne. 
2. Follow the dope as per quote 9. 
You can  do a map of the electricity usage by workng total usage for lights , wattage of pool pumps etc having meters checked.

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## Compleat Amateu

Jeez Wozzzaa, 24x7 is ridiculous.  I'm not surprised at your power bill, esp with 2 pumps. 
Pool pumping requirements are driven by 2 things: 
a) The requirement to 'turn over'/filter the water 1.5 times approx /24 hours (from memory).  To calculate that you need the pool's volume and the pumping capacity of your pumps.  To find that, probably search the net having figured out what pumps you have.  For example, on my pool the minimum pumping time is about 5 hours; 
b) The requirement to distribute chemicals in the pool, if the pump is part of that process (can't remember if your pool is salt or chlorine).  Chemical balance in pools is a much, much bigger topic than this reply.  Suffice to say that in summer, I increase pumping time to about 7 hours during the week, and maybe give it another hour or 2 on a heavy-use hot weekend, for a variety of reasons. 
I'd suggest if the answer to a) and b) is "yes", then you'll have to do some work to get on top of the problem.  Most pool mtce people say "8 hours" without thinking, and over-dose your pool to hell; that way there is no risk to them of the pool going green and they sell more chemicals. 
Good luck!

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## applied

5k WTF? 
get a good electrican out there quicksmart and install some timers, is this pool heated? 
old resistive type heaters would need to run almost 24x7 and cost a insane ammount of power.

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