Couple questions about getting dirt out of pool. All help welcomed!

[OutWest]

So I thought I knew what I was doing. I evidently did not. Mea culpa to my poor pool equipment.

I have thought that the basket filter poolside plus the two at the equipment pad were THE filters. But my pool has a whole mess of dirt at the bottom that wasn't going away so I got out the manuals and looked through everything carefully. When pool and equipment were installed last summer, I was given a quick pool school and since I'd managed a pool before (albeit a long time ago) I thought I knew what was what. After reviewing the literature closely I realized I had not been cleaning out the actual filter. So today I followed the instructions, drained the casing and pulled the filter cartridges out. Ick! What a filthy mess. I tried to hose them off and clean between the folds to no avail. It would take hours, a lot of water, and they are possibly damaged beyond usefulness. So I'm going to spring for a whole new set of the filters.

My questions... Is it possible to rent a piece of equipment to vacuum all the silt and dirt from the bottom of the pool so that it does not have to get run through my filter system? I'm worried that I'll just ruin the new filters because there will be so much dirt to process. If I can't rent the equipment, would a professional pool cleaner have something that would clean the water without passing it through my filters? Perhaps it would be worth hiring someone for a one-time grand cleaning.

I hope this is making sense. Going forward, I expect a lot less dirt to get into the pool because I've had a garden put in and the dirt next to the pool is now covered with plants and mulch.

 

[cowboycasey]

I would just clean the old filters and use them to clean the pool then pop in the new filters

Yes it does take a while to clean and use much water but way less than backwashing a sand filter

 

[OutWest]

So I cleaned all four filters as best I could. I put everything back together and it seems to be running properly. I'm hoping much of the silt and dirt in the pool will be cleaned out now. I'm going to order replacement filters. I hope this solves the issue!

 

[gwegan]

Was your pool built by Premier?

What size Jandy Cartridge Filter do you have?

Generally Premier puts in correctly sized filters. You generally want the largest Filter you can get. One size larger than Premier recommends.

If you have a larger filter then you generally only have to clean it twice a year.

Yea its ugly. But there are ways to make it better. First do it on the lawn so you don't waste water. Use a hose with a spray nozzle and have the water running with a very hard thin spray. Hold the nozzle 6 inches from the filter and starting fro the top clean the filter holding the hose so some of the spray is forced between the folds. Repeat. If the filters are seriousl discolered soak them in some TSP (Available at Lowes)

As for the stuff on the bottom do you have a cleaner? A robot like device that wanders aroud your pool? If not I would purchase a plug in robot to clean the pool. The filter will not do it and vacuuming is a real hassle.

 

[OutWest]

Was your pool built by Premier?

What size Jandy Cartridge Filter do you have?

Generally Premier puts in correctly sized filters. You generally want the largest Filter you can get. One size larger than Premier recommends.

If you have a larger filter then you generally only have to clean it twice a year.

Yea its ugly. But there are ways to make it better. First do it on the lawn so you don't waste water. Use a hose with a spray nozzle and have the water running with a very hard thin spray. Hold the nozzle 6 inches from the filter and starting fro the top clean the filter holding the hose so some of the spray is forced between the folds. Repeat. If the filters are seriousl discolered soak them in some TSP (Available at Lowes)

As for the stuff on the bottom do you have a cleaner? A robot like device that wanders aroud your pool? If not I would purchase a plug in robot to clean the pool. The filter will not do it and vacuuming is a real hassle.

Yes, built by Premier. Overall very happy with it.

Cartridge is L340. Four of them. When you say larger, are you talking physically larger or larger as in more fabric yardage/pleats? Can I just buy cartridges with more pleats and use them if they're the same dimensions as the originals?

I washed them much as you described. What a mucky mess! Not sure what TSP is but I'll look into it. Not looking forward to opening R2D2 (my name for filter housing) again anytime soon though.

I don't have a roving cleaner because the pool is quite narrow. Premier rep recommended against it because he said we'd be bumping into it all the time. He thought the self cleaning pop up things would handle it all. I was thinking a one in a while vacuuming would be helpful. Your thoughts? Thanks for your notes.

 

[DebbieO]

How about a PoolBlaster vac? I get a BUNCH of dirt and other assorted junk from the treeline just behind the pool. Using the Blaster keeps it out of the filter.

 

[OutWest]

How about a PoolBlaster vac? I get a BUNCH of dirt and other assorted junk from the treeline just behind the pool. Using the Blaster keeps it out of the filter.

Which PoolBlaster do you have? I got an Aqua Broom not long ago but it doesn't do enough to handle the situation.

 

[DebbieO]

I have the Pool Blaster Max. I can run about 45 mins.to an hour on a charge. If the pool is really bad I change out the bag a couple times. I use skimmer socks inside of the regular vac bag.

 

[PAGirl]

Is it general dirt, or could it be residual algae? What are you using to test?

 

[OutWest]

Is it general dirt, or could it be residual algae? What are you using to test?

I'm just using a chemical testing kit I bought on Amazon. Testing for chlorine levels and acid levels.

 

[OutWest]

So I bought a PoolBlaster Max CG. It will arrive in a couple days. I'm cleaning the cartridges again, this time soaking them in soapy water overnight. Hoping this will handle most of the troubles.