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How long should I be running my pool filter during the summer months?

I’ve just moved into my first house, which has a pool. I’ve never had a pool. The pool guy told me I should be running the filter 8 hrs a day during the summer months, and I’ve been doing that. But my electricity bill is really high! If I don’t use the pool a whole lot, can I get away with running the filter fewer hours? And if so, how many hours?

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4 Responses to “How long should I be running my pool filter during the summer months?”

  1. Hairy Hillbilly said :

    you should run it 24/7 except for cleaning the strainer,backwashing and recirculating sand in filter, assuming you have an adequate size pump, you’ll spend more money on chemicals,and time sweeping the bottom plus non use of pool for high concentrations of chemicals to clear cloudiness, consider winterizing sooner or opening in spring later for the months you will enjoy the pool more, but swimming in a pond is the same if you don’t let it stagnate too much

  2. poolman said :

    i own a pool company.depending on where you live and how hot it gets each day ,you might get by with running it five (5) hours a day but no less.also keep chlorine level at 3.0 and ph 7.2 to7.8 if chlorine drops below 3.0 good possibility algea will seat in

  3. Matthew said :

    8 hours is generally recommended in Summer to filter the whole volume of water in your pool twice in a day. This of course depends on your pump’s specifications. I would say no less than 6 hours, but this depends on temperature and bather load. To save money you could run your pump on off-peak power. In Australia we have “Tariff 33” (which needs to be set up by an electrician) but it allows you to run your pump and filter for the cheapest rate, however it gets turned off whenever the peak usage is. The problem with this is that if you have a problem with your pump and need it repaired you have to get an electrician to remove it.

  4. THS said :

    Your pool filter should run long enough to filter all of the water in your pool 2-3 times per day.

    Running the filter longer just wastes electricity and reduces the life of your pool equipment. Running it shorter may not adequately filter/clean the water.

    Calculate how long to run your filter by finding the flow rate of your pump. Then divide your pool capacity by the pump flow rate.

    For example, if your pump is rated at 50 gal/minute and you have a 5,000 gal pool, one complete filtering (called a”turn” of the water) would require 5,000gal/50 gal/mins = 100 mins. Thus, for this pool, ideally you would run the filter between 200 and 300 mins per day. That’s between 4-5 hours.

    Obviously, this is a rule of thumb and can be adjusted up or down depending on your specific needs and circumstances, but its a very good place to start.




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