I'm new to all of this, so I look forward to your answers. So far, I've used the Purifiber and Aquaperl. I heard that you need to watch DE because it can hurt you if you accidently breathe it in. Are the two I've used better in that respect? Is there anything else I need to watch out for? I did a search and didn't find any topics on this, sorry if this is a dupe.
What is best for a DE filter?
- Thread starter snewo
- Start date
IMHO, I don't think it makes a lot of difference which you use - I've never noticed any difference in the way they work...
Yes, DE is mildly unhealthy to breathe, reportedly long term chronic exposure can cause silicosis, which is a degenerative lung disease, sort of along the lines of the "black lung disease" that used to get coal miners... I strongly suspect that the occasional use that a pool owner sees is unlikely to be a big problem, especially if you try to keep from breathing it as much as you conveniently can, mostly by handling it gently to minimize the amount of dust created.
In theory some of the alternatives are lighter in weight, and / or go further per bag, but I've never heard any indications that they are any less of a potential health hazard than DE... (As a general rule of thumb, breathing ANY sort of dust is not a good thing...)
Gooserider
Yes, DE is mildly unhealthy to breathe, reportedly long term chronic exposure can cause silicosis, which is a degenerative lung disease, sort of along the lines of the "black lung disease" that used to get coal miners... I strongly suspect that the occasional use that a pool owner sees is unlikely to be a big problem, especially if you try to keep from breathing it as much as you conveniently can, mostly by handling it gently to minimize the amount of dust created.
In theory some of the alternatives are lighter in weight, and / or go further per bag, but I've never heard any indications that they are any less of a potential health hazard than DE... (As a general rule of thumb, breathing ANY sort of dust is not a good thing...)
Gooserider
Any hardware store will have dust masks, should be good enough to stop any worries about breathing the DE.
--paulr
--paulr
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