Run your pool pump intermittently – most pools don’t need 24/7.

Yes, you can and probably should. Continuous pump runs are a holdover from when we had less efficient pumps and didn’t worry about electricity bills.

The simple rule: you only need to cycle the entire pool volume once per day. For an average residential pool, that’s about 8-12 hours of pump runtime in warm weather. Running it longer doesn’t make the water cleaner – it just wastes electricity and wears out the pump faster.

A few things matter:

• If you have a saltwater chlorine generator, it needs to run long enough to produce enough chlorine. Check your manual.
• In hot weather or heavy debris season, you might need closer to 12 hours.
• Variable-speed pumps are way cheaper to run at lower speeds for longer periods, so don’t set it to one hour on full blast.

Use a timer (mechanical or smart) and split the runtime into two chunks – say 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the evening. That keeps the water turning over and prevents algae from getting a foothold.

Final thought: Your electric bill will thank you, and your pool won’t know the difference.