Pentair Cartridge replacement time??

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G

gorji

Active member
Jun 11, 2014
34
Syracuse, NY
Good day:

I have a Pentair cartridge filter which I think needs the cartridge replaced but wanted to get opinions. I have started to see the pressure go from 8-10 psi after a cleaning to about 16 in 4 days and 20 in a week.
My water chemistry is as follows:
Cl 3
PH 7.5
Alk 120
Calcium about 120

I've read on the forum here that one should be cleaning the cartridges once every few months.

I usually clean as told in this forum. I take it out, put it in a bin with 1 cup dishwasher detergent and let it soak. A day later I rinse it out with a hose and nozzle.

In the past I've made one error which may have contributed to my problem. I've added DE to the filter but I've done it maybe a few times only. I've had the filter about 3.5 years.

Should I acid wash it?
Should I bleach it?
The pleats look good and are not damaged.

Thank you
 
Just by way of comparison my cartridges lasted 10 seasons before I replaced them. I did so because the plastic bands holding them together started to break down. My filter has 4 cartridges and can go a whole season without cleaning. It sounds as if your filter has one cartridge. It's possible that your filter may be too small for your pool and that any degradation , no matter how small, in the cartridges' performance can cause it to increase pressure in the system.

I'd probably get a new cartridge, keep the old one as a spare.

Tom
 
You say have 2 cartridges and they alternate so you use one at a time correct? I have a 13k pool and have 4 cartridges.
I was having the same symptoms as you. Clean filters and psi would be at 18. A day or two later it was back up around 28-30psi and my suction cleaner was not moving at all. I replaced them with new pleatco ones and my psi is around 8 and 4 if I open up the waterfall. Skimmer and cleaner working better then ever


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You should rinse off the cartridges any time the filter pressure goes up 25% from the starting pressure. That may be every few days, or every few months, or as little as once a year, depending on the relative size of your pool and filter and how dirty the water gets. Frequency of cartridge cleaning is not an indication of the cartridge wearing out, it is an indication of the water being dirtier than normal.

When the just cleaned pressure starts going up from what it was originally, you should soak the cartridges overnight in a detergent solution. When that fails to restore the starting pressure you should consider doing the detergent soak followed by an acid soak. If even that doesn't work, then it is time to replace the cartridge.

Adding DE to a cartridge filter will permanently increase the starting pressure and cuts down on the lifetime of the cartridge.
 
I am acid washing it now. How long in the acid? I really need to clean it. Even though I wash it I noticed that way deep inside the pleasts, there was DE powder caked in!! I think I will take an hour and wash it pleat by pleat after the acid wash.

I appreciate everyones input.
 
Are you fighting with any Algae or water clarity issues? I had all kind of pressure fluctuations in my DE filter during an algae bloom last year. You didn't mention about your CYA reading and I assume your test results are either from TF100 or K2006.
 
A bit of a feedback: After the acid wash and only 3 hours soaking in dishwasher detergent, I rinsed it well and put it back into the filter. Upon start, my psi reading is 8. The last time it was 8 was when I purchased it new. Now I am acid washing the spare one; will let that soak in dishwasher detergent for 24 hours. If my pressure in current working one goes up to mid 10s by tomorrow, I will go ahead and purchase a new one.
 

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So you think the water is clear, but I did not see you report a CYA number? Your FC is pretty low, do you have a CC number? (was that with the FAS-DPD test or a different chlorine test?) So unless your CYA is also low, you may have inadequate FC and an algae bloom starting and that is what is clogging your filter and causing the pressure to rise.

BTW, we recommend cleaning filters when the pressure rises 20-25% over the clean pressure. So if you are starting at 8psi, you should be cleaning them at 10psi.
 
Ok. I did some test moments ago.
pH 7.2
Free Cl 0.5
Total Cl= 1.5

CYA is 60


Water is clear but as I look at it really carefully, not that clear. I need to be more careful. This got away from me.

THANK YOU; I WILL add some bleach now and retest soon. It must be all the rain we had recently. Somehow the CL got away from me.
 
An update this am:
pH=7.6
Cl free=15
Cl Total= 15
Alk=140
Calcium Hardness= 110

If I am not wrong, I need to bring the shock chlorine level to 24 with my target @ 7 when things settle down??? No sign of green algae but water is not crystal clear yet (I know it takes time). Filter running all night and the psi gauge is reading 12 up from 8. I will clean filter to rid of algae as well.
I'll wait for a response.

Thank you
 
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