Recommendation on upgrades

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D

drpepper68

0
Aug 9, 2014
51
TX
So after reading a post by peacefulkancer about water clarity not being about your filter but water chemistry it got me rethinking my upgrade I'm fixing to do by replacing my Triton II 140c sand filter with a FNS plus 60 DE filter. My pool tends to get a lot of dirt which is my reason for changing over but now I'm worried its going to clog up all the time and do I even need it after reading the post.

What do you guys think about the filter I currently have versus switching to the FNS plus 60 DE filter? I have someone who agreed to buy my 140c for $400 and its about 8 years old.

I'm also thinking of changing my 2HP main pump motor to a 3HP Pentair VSP motor to save electricity.

Im attaching some pics of my current setup. My sig has all the other relevant info.
 

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There is nothing wrong with your sand filter. You can actually improve its filtering ability to filter smalller particles by adding a little bit of DE into the skimmer. Maybe 1 cup. Put a cup in, and wait a couple hours. The goal is to add enough so that your filter pressure rises by 1psi.

The VS pump will definitley save on some electricity, but unless your electric rate is +.20 KWH, you may not recover the investiment in the pump purely by energy savings. If your reason for changing pumps is purely for saving electricity, a 2 speed pump may be a better alternative if your electric is less than 20 cents KWH.

Having said that, the VSP does have a lot of features that are very attractive. I have cheap electric and a VSP, and would replace the VSP tomorrow if someone stole it in the middle of the night!
 
I don't think Dave read your signature.

Anyway -- Your sand filter is not the problem -- you can get a beautiful pool with a sand filter -- add a little DE and it gets better.

Im not the pump guy around here but you have three pumps. I suspect you could go down to a single 1.5 hp vs pump and do everything. You may or may not save money -- but I don't think you need the 2 hp pump unless you are moving a huge amount of water. You should be able to Run the descent, run the jets, filter the pool -- and if you replaced the Polaris 260 with a Polris 360 the pool sweep too with a smaller pump -- you may not be able to do it all at the same time. If you want to make the investment in a robot cleaner -- a robot would do an even better job.
 
Yeah that's what I was afraid I'd hear that I bought a DE filter for nothing now I have to sell it. :)

I tried the DE in sand before but the pressure would spike every time and had to backwash it out.

I'll have to lookup my electric rates, last winter it iced for two weeks straight and my electric bill was $800.

I'm going to invest in a test kit and try it myself again, I use pool store now but they are honest, not a chain store.


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With the DE in a sand filter you have to find what YOUR filter likes. Mine like about 3/4 a cup. One person's likes just 1/4 cup another likes 2 whole cups! It is playing with it 1/4 cup at a time and see how much it can handle on a day to day bases.

I LOVE my sand filter------so easy and cheap to take care of! Easier than cartridge, cheaper than DE.

You will LOVE having your own test kit. It is SO easy. You can test anything you want. No having to wait until you are heading out or making special trips to get a test done. At least you have someone you can trust to test it. I am not so lucky :(

Kim
 
kimkats said:
With the DE in a sand filter you have to find what YOUR filter likes. Mine like about 3/4 a cup. One person's likes just 1/4 cup another likes 2 whole cups! It is playing with it 1/4 cup at a time and see how much it can handle on a day to day bases.

I LOVE my sand filter------so easy and cheap to take care of! Easier than cartridge, cheaper than DE.

You will LOVE having your own test kit. It is SO easy. You can test anything you want. No having to wait until you are heading out or making special trips to get a test done. At least you have someone you can trust to test it. I am not so lucky :(

Kim
Click to expand...


Hi Kim,

Do you mix yours first or just pour straight in? I dont think ive tried mixing it first so maybe thats the problem.

I couldnt find the t-100 kit on amazon, my goto store :) Is that the one you use? Stupid me I made up my mind I was never going to test myself and threw out the kit that was left here by the previous owner. Everything was probably expired anyway im telling myself so i feel better lol.
 
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So since I already bought the DE and can sell the other one for $400 should I sill switch it out? I know DE will give me cleaner water. I'm going to see if I can return on amazon but if not I dont want to be stuck with both.
 
Divin Dave said:
There is nothing wrong with your sand filter. You can actually improve its filtering ability to filter smalller particles by adding a little bit of DE into the skimmer. Maybe 1 cup. Put a cup in, and wait a couple hours. The goal is to add enough so that your filter pressure rises by 1psi.

The VS pump will definitley save on some electricity, but unless your electric rate is +.20 KWH, you may not recover the investiment in the pump purely by energy savings. If your reason for changing pumps is purely for saving electricity, a 2 speed pump may be a better alternative if your electric is less than 20 cents KWH.

Having said that, the VSP does have a lot of features that are very attractive. I have cheap electric and a VSP, and would replace the VSP tomorrow if someone stole it in the middle of the night!
Click to expand...


My electric is 10 cents KWH

You have the pentair vsp? I read electronics on it go out prematurely and my equip is outdoors until I build a cover around it.

I think in long run better to switch to 3hp vsp since it will save money over time.

Not sure how I'd run all on one pump, it's separate lines and everything with only manual valves. Once decent or jets start for instance, only the pump has to startup for it to work, there are no automatic valves. Be quite a change, would have to plumb valves to the controller and have vsp increase speed when decent or jets are turned out. Sure would be nice.


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you could switch to one VSP motor to run everything, but are then going to get a control system, and powered GVA valves, to switch back and forth between the jett/the sheer/the returns, etc? At least with three pumps, you set everything once and then just flip the switch for the thing you need.
 
BuckeyeChris said:
you could switch to one VSP motor to run everything, but are then going to get a control system, and powered GVA valves, to switch back and forth between the jett/the sheer/the returns, etc? At least with three pumps, you set everything once and then just flip the switch for the thing you need.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't think I'm ready for that task, I'll leave it how it is but might switch to 3HP VSP to try to save electricity.

I checked with Amazon and I'm past the 30 days on returning the DE filter. Ugh. So now I'll have to switch or I'll waste all that money.


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Thanks for everyone's help. I was able to return my DE filter back to Amazon and stick with sand for now. I bought a test kit and got my chemistry tweaked and it's super clear now. Also added DE which helped a lot!


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