We Know Pools

The Three Types of Swimming Pool Filters

By removing impurities such as dirt, leaves, grass, hair, body oils, sunscreen, and even many bacteria from the water, the filter keeps your pool water clean, clear and inviting. Once the pump collects water from your pool, it is cycled through your filter to be cleaned before it enters the heater or heat pump or returns to your pool or spa.

The filter should be sized to meet the requirements of your pool and the performance characteristics of the pump. Your pool builder or pool equipment dealer can recommend the proper filter/pump combination for your pool.

For top-end filter performance with the lowest maintenance, look at a cartridge filter. This proven design uses special fabric filter elements to strip particles from pool water with great effectiveness. Maintenance? Open the top. Remove the cartridge. Hose it off. What could be simpler?

Sand filters are one of the most popular ways to filter water. For good reason. They are simple, effective, and require very little attention. Pool water is routed through a sand-filled pressure vessel. Over time, dirt accumulates in the spaces between the sand particles causing the pressure in the vessel to rise as water finds it harder to pass through. This signals you to “backwash” the filter. Simply reverse the water flow and “knock out” the dirt.

Filtering with diatomaceous earth (D.E.) filters results not only in clean water, but water that really sparkles. The secret is powdered prehistoric sponges that trap even the tiniest dirt particles. Even though particles smaller than 40 microns can’t be seen with the naked eye, large quantities of these microscopic contaminants have a very noticeable affect on water clarity. And D.E. strips them away.

D.E. filters not only filter better, they can make your life easier…if two goals are met. First is to maximize the filtration area. Because more filter area means much longer periods between cleanings. Second is to design a system that requires the least amount of pumping power to achieve a needed flow rate through the filter. Because lower pumping power means lower utility costs.

What type of swimming pool filter would you recommend?

Tags: cartridge, de, filter., sand

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Comment by Kris - Community Manager on January 20, 2012 at 10:07am: Thanks for all of the information of the pool filters, Jim. This is very helpful!

Comment by Jim Chandler on January 20, 2012 at 10:03am: Hello Kris,

As a Sacramento CA area pool builder, I have installed sand, D.E. and cartridge filtration systems. In my 35 years of experience, I have found all three systems work well and have their advantages and disadvantages. With all types of filtration systems, it is essential to size them correctly for the pool use, location and turnover rate.

Currently, I recommend the Pentair Clean & Clear Plus cartridge filter for my residential pool projects. It provides excellent filtration and requires no backwashing as with sand or D.E.

Let's talk about cleaning the filters... Hundreds of gallons of precious water are required to backwash a sand filter. Also, necessary is a disposal place for all of that water. This is a major problem in residential neighborhoods not to mention your pool chemistry is definitely affected.

For cleaning the D.E. system, you backwash the waste D.E. into a separation tank. There is about 7-8 lbs of gooey diatomaceous earth to dispose of. Then 7-8 lbs of white powered D.E.are added to the filter via the skimmer..... Backwashing does not clean the tank completely and some of the D.E. is left inside which will have to be cleaned out eventually. This is a more labor intensive system.

To clean a cartridge system basically hose off the cartridges and you're ready for another filter cycle.

Recently, I spoke to Rick Di Meola the owner of Rocklin Pool & Spa Service. For nearly 20 years his company has initially started up each new Jim Chandler Pool. He said, "the trend in our area is definitely cartridge filtration and in the last 2 years he has only started up 2 D.E. new pool systems. Today's pool cartridges have an improved filtration ability and they are a more greener and eco friendly system."

Furthermore, with the addition of pool clarifiers and a variable speed pump you can clean the pool water similar to the D.E. filter. By lowering the pump speed, (less gallons per minute) filtration effectiveness dramatically increases. Every new Jim Chandler Pool has an IntelliFlo Pump, with a Clean & Clear Plus Cartridge Filter operated by EasyTouch or IntelliTouch controls.

I also recommend hiring a professional maintenance company to take care of your pool. However, many of my customers want to do it themselves. Cleaning the cartridge system is homeowner friendly. We show each of our new pool owners how to safely remove the tank lid and how to properly hose off the cartridges.

Usually cartridges last about 3 to 5 years. With the correct equipment, diligent pool maintenance and proper water chemistry a cartridge system with provide a healthy swimming pool for many years to come.

Happy Swimming,

Jim Chandler

http://jimchandlerpools.com/

http://rocklinpoolandspaservice.com/

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