8 hours is plenty for most pools.

Yes. In summer, running your pool pump eight hours a day is usually enough, assuming your pump is sized right for your pool.

The goal is one complete turnover of all the water every 24 hours. Your pump’s flow rate determines how long that takes. For a typical residential pool, 8 hours is the sweet spot — keeps the water circulating, algae at bay, and the filter working without wasting electricity.

If your pool gets heavy use, lots of leaves, or you live in an area with intense heat and sun, bump it up to 10 or 12. But anything beyond that is overkill unless your pump is undersized.

Run it during the hottest part of the day — that’s when the chlorine works hardest and the sun burns off contaminants faster. If you have a variable-speed pump, you can split the runtime into chunks to keep the water moving constantly without running all at once.

Don’t run it 24/7. That’s just burning money.