We bought our house last year and the pool has a cartridge filter. Growing up, we used to have a DE filter and I remember that as being relatively easy to backwash and clean. It also was pretty easy to vacuum to waste. I am just getting used to the cartridge filter and so far, I have not seen any real benefits. I suppose you can keep a spare set of cartridges available to swap in for dirty ones. But you still have to clean the dirty ones and that is an incredibly time-consuming process. Besides, opening the darn pump is somewhat of a pain, at least compared with what I remember about our old DE system. And vacuuming to waste is not nearly as easy. On the flip side, the filters don't catch a lot of stuff when I vacuum and it comes right back into the pool! This is the case even when the filters have been thoroughly cleaned. On top of that, the cartridges aren't cheap. I know they are only replaced every several years, but the cartridge filter is hardly cost effective compared with a DE filter.
I am sure there are benefits to a cartridge filter. I just have yet to figure them out.
I am sure there are benefits to a cartridge filter. I just have yet to figure them out.