Thanks guys. BTW... It's the Pentair DE Quad 80 I'm installing. Several reasons I want to use Flex. First I'm moving just the filter away from the pad going down hill and I have to dig a "hole" of about 24" to get the vertical clearance to get the top off. Pad is under deck. We've already discussed making a cut out in deck but I can't do that because it is steel pier and beam with 12" beam centers. Right now my 36 sq ft, on pad, doesn't have enough head room to get the top off so I have to unhitch it from system and drag it down the slope and around the steps to get the top off for good cleaning etc. Even moving the Pentair 5 ft from pad I still can't stand up there (I'm 5'7") hence the "hole" for the filter pad.
A year or two life of the Flex will give me time to decide if I want to move the pad and redo all plumbing or just what to do. I'm really needing to get the Pentair in ASAP because I'm having to backwash every 2-3 days (switched to cellulose which shortens backwash intervals by a couple of days), because of all the extra sand and silt the doggies drag into the pool in addition to what normally blows in. Backwashing in the dead of winter is very unpleasant. And I can't trust that I can run the filter all night during freezing weather without the psi going dangerously high. Backwashing involves going all the way down the steps (skip the last one), bending over, and bending over even more as I go up the hill to the pad. To pull the push/pull valve I am bent over in half right above the valve. Pulling the valve up, going back up the steps to switch on, repeating this several times. It's murder when the temps are over 100 and murder on the back, even a young one, which mine is not. The steps totally enclose the pad on one side, the other side is going further under the deck so only place to move it is down the hill a bit but still under deck. If I wanted to get enough head room without being under the deck and/or not digging out some I would have to move it 20 ft on down the hill to get it out from under the deck. Pad is now about 30 ft from pool. Deck is 30' X 30 ft. I can stand up straight, at just the very end of deck.
BTW.... the whole pumping station is shaded by the steps and deck so virtually no sun exposure. Snakes like it under there too.
Even the nonvenomous snakes don't like to be bothered.
Can't use a sand filter because of all the extremely fine silt, and loads, and loads, and loads of it.
Almost forgot. Pumping station is totally out of view by anyone except for me and the lawn crew when they mow the path down to the barn. If only someone else, around here would see it.
In next few days I'll be posting pics of the pumping station.
Thanks, gg=alice