Rules of thumb cost money
Most pool owners set two schedules and leave them alone. Summer: 12 hours a day. Winter: 8 hours a day. Average across the year: 10 hours a day.
Why that schedule? Because that's what we've always done. It’s a rule of thumb, and it’s the advice you’ll find almost everywhere. And to be honest, we don't really like changing the timer.
It mostly works. The pool stays clean but the bill stays high.
TED works differently, and the difference is worth around $450 a year.
The problem with fixed schedules
Your pool doesn't need the same amount of filtration every day of the year. It is also different from your neighbour's pool. In fact, every pool is unique: different equipment, size, conditions and usage.
A hot week in January with the kids in the pool every afternoon needs more run time than a cool overcast day in June with nobody swimming.
Fixed schedules are set for the worst case, and run at that level every day, whether the pool needs it or not.
How TED schedules your pool
TED suggests run times based on actual conditions: your test strip results, UV exposure, seasons, weather, bather load signals, and your local climate. Instead of two settings, it works across a range, suggesting longer runs when conditions need them and shorter runs when they don’t. You approve each change.
A pool on TED in SE Queensland might look something like this across the year:
| Season | Typical daily run time |
| Peak summer | 10 hours for two months |
| Beginning / End of summer | 8 hours for four months |
| Autumn | 6 hours for two months |
| Beginning / End of winter | 4 hours for two months |
| Mid winter | 2 hours for two months |
That averages out to around 6.3 hours per day, compared to 10 on a typical fixed schedule.
What that saves
3.7 hours a day, on a standard 1.1 kW pool setup at about 33 cents per kWh:
3.7 hours × 1.1 kW × $0.33 × 365 days = about $490 a year
Run those hours during peak tariff times and the saving is higher.
The numbers will vary if you have solar or a variable speed pool pump, but the % of savings will remain.
David and Sara, TED customers in Sydney, didn’t realise their pool was running 12 hours a day all year round. Their pool was running far longer than it needed to, at the wrong times of day, and they cut its electricity cost by 58%.
TED also shifts when your pool runs
Saving hours is only part of it. TED also suggests moving your pool’s run time to the cheapest part of the day, off-peak tariff windows and, if you have solar, the hours when your panels are generating.
Running 5 hours at off-peak rates costs less than running 5 hours at peak rates. Both savings stack.
The result
Less run time, at cheaper times, and a pool that’s still clean, because TED only suggests cutting hours the pool doesn’t need.
Want to see what your pool is costing you? Read this article.