Please vote! Thanks! (10 seconds!)

[HardTrance9]

Please vote! Thanks!

Hi guys.

I know it is hard to know specifically what kind of filter is best sometimes but I am looking for overall votes considering:

- Easiest way to maintain (time efficiency, the quicker the better)
- Less expensive to maintain (invest as little as possible on chemicals, etc.)
- Windy place (some places with lots of leafs going into the pool)
- Temp. ranges are 75 to 105ºF
- Dry climate (not tropical)
- Very little rain
- Water has high pH levels in most places, at least 8.0-8.2

Please vote! Thanks!

 

[polyvue]

- Easiest way to maintain (time efficiency, the quicker the better)
no bumping, no backwashing... an answer will come to mind!
- Less expensive to maintain (invest as little as possible on chemicals, etc.)
no backwashing, less water siphoned from pool... same answer
- Windy place (some places with lots of leafs going into the pool)
- Temp. ranges are 75 to 105ºF
- Dry climate (not tropical)
same answer
- Very little rain
same answer
- Water has high pH levels in most places, at least 8.0-8.2

There may be some dissent because everyone loves the filter they own but from a periodic maintenance perspective, a XXXXXXXXX filter that is of sufficient size can be ignored for a long time. I would think this helpful in reducing the amount of time a pool service company needs to spend poolside.

From the pool owner's perspective (in an arid, hot climate) it's a good choice, too, but whatever savings that could be realized in lower monthly water bills and from reduced time spent backwashing the filter (or paying a pool service to do it) will ... evaporate if a solar cover is not used. That means untold hours spent placing and removing the cover (without which, a prodigious amount of pool water daily escapes into the air to be subsumed in the hydrologic cycle). Oh, wait a minute... What was the question?

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

By virtue of water clarity and versatility, I prefer the sand filter.

Skimming off the top couple inches of sand every 5 years and replacing with a fresh bag of filter sand keeps it filtering at peak performance. Sand is $10/bag. Back washing is easy! Yes, it uses some water.

Cartridge filters need to be opened periodically to be rinsed and soaked. The typical life span is 2-4 years for the cartridge elements. They are not cheap. Cleaning and soaking uses some water, less than a sand filter though.

The MPV on the sand filter offers extra versatility with 6 positions.

Nutshell: You say Toe-Mae-Toe and I'll say Toe-Mo-Toe

Scott

 

[JasonLion]

It all depends on your criteria.

Least expensive would be a sand filter.
Least water lost would be a cartridge filter.
Best water clarity would be a DE filter.
Least work depends on how you measure "work". Sand requires just a little work regularly, totally simple once you know how to do it. An oversized cartridge filter takes more work to clean, but you can oversize the filter so you only need to clean it once a season, resulting in less total time spent.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I vote Oversized cartridge filter....

(I've never had sand but my cart doesn't bother me in the slightest, cleaning it is not that big a deal....) Considering your location and your water issues your chemistry may be more stable with a cart since you'll have less water replacement. I assume given your location the pool is open year round?

I would say you could get by with hosing it off in between soakings (soak every 4-6 months). I would recommend a backup cartridge for the times when the main one is soaking. I hose my cart off as needed and then I soak it before storing it for the winter. Had the pool 9 years and I'm on my second cartridge, the replacement cost under $150. Chemistry is very stable and I have added nothing to my pool 'cept bleach for the last three years, until this past season when I needed to add CYA and Borax as we had quite a bit of dilution from rain over the last year.

Good luck with whatever you decide. If you go with Sand that's okay too, there are many sand filter owners who are more than happy to talk up the benefits of sand.

 

[mas985]

I would also vote a cartridge but mainly because I have one. Going on 5 years now without a winter closing and I think I have a few years left in them so if you take care of the filters, they can last a fairly long time. I only clean them twice a year so maintenance is not so much of an issue.

 

[bk406]

Sand!

But then again, most people will tell you whatever kind they have is the best
Sand is easy to take care of, backwashing is easy, (low mantainence in other words). Carts are a PITA to clean and deal with, IMO, and DE has to be fussed with. My builder has a "graveyard" of DE filters out behind his shop he replaced with sand. Only time he puts in carts is if the area is near a protected habitat or a Mass. DEP site where you cant run backwash water.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Yeah, I don't get why people think Carts are such a pain, but then I've never had sand so maybe compared to that it is? I just open it up, set the cart off to the side, hose it down, put it back. I do this maybe once half-way thru the season (April-Oct)-whenever the heater won't kick in... Then at the end of the season I soak it overnight per Pool School, let her dry, and she's good to go next year.

 

[no-mas]

Sand!

I have a DE filter, so not voting for what I own, but then again, you didn't ask for "best" you essentially asked for "easiest and cheapest"

I can't imagine anything easier and cheaper to operate than a sand filter. Cartridges aren't far behind sand, until it's time to clean and/or replace; then the "easy" and "cheap" comes to mind.

 

[lborne]

I built my pool last season so had to decide. My #1 criteria was whatever would create the least amount of work for me. Having grown up with a pool using a sand filter and my FIL's switch from sand to cartridge, I picked cartridge. Growing up we used to backwash about 1x a week, but I am not sure what is normal. But even 1x a MONTH is more than I wanted to remember to do. And all that lost water means more time spent adding chemicals. Also, sand filters are larger, and I really wanted everything as compact as possible.

 

[HardTrance9]

Great answers!

Thanks to all.

The poll is not for buying a new filter, is just to know overall what the experience is with the three types of filters on the market and which is more comfortable to operate/maintain over time.

I guess that after having to deal with the three types I a just wanted to know what everyone else things.

So far for me, the easiest to maintain is the Sand filter, though the waste of water can be quite a bit, but I found that if everthing else is done properly (vacuuming, water balance, etc.) the backwashing can be done easily at least once a month.

DE ingredient is not easily find in this little town and the process for coating, etc., takes more time. Then the cartdrige seems to be very efective too but still takes some time. Here pools are exposed to more dust, leafs, dirt, etc., so a ultra clean water is not needed because it is very difficult to achieve (unless it is enclosed or protected with some glass fences, etc.).

Keep voting!

Let's see overtime what the general opinion is... should be interesting!

 

[Brentr]

I like sand because it is easy to use :-D Yes you have to backwash and this does use water however I only backwash when it rains too much and the pool is near overflowing :-D Lately this have been quite a lot because we get lots of thundershowers in the summer and what a winter it has been. We are yet again expecting more rain tonight into tomorrow :grrrr: I guess I will be backwashing again this weekend :-D but at least I know that the filter is clean and the water is free

 

[waste]

Hey!

I gotta go with sand for ease of maintenance and use!

D.E. is a better filter, but not easier to play with (Thanks for your kind words in my "Use and Care for DE filter" stickie )

Cart filters do a VERY good job, but many folks find the cleaning to be a pain - and if they aren't oversized, require more frequent rinsing and replacing :|

Keep up the good work! I know your customers have the best pool dude in Los Cabos

 

[Butterfly]

Sand ......for all the reasons you have already heard! :-D

 

[ntrsandman]

I have only had experience with cartridge. Our first pool was near a peach orchard and down wind to boot. The filter and cleaner did the job. Our new to us pool has a different plumbing and cleaning system. Still cartridge. We have less airborne dirt and wind direction is different. Keeping a sock on the skimmer basket and a debris basket in the main drain plumbing should keep most of the stuff out of the filter. Installed new cartridges when we moved in 6 mos. ago and still have no significant rise in pressure and the pool is clean and clear. However, I would probably be ok with a sand or DE if the pool came with one. If it aint broke, don't fix it.

 

[geekgranny]

Great answers!

DE ingredient is not easily find in this little town and the process for coating, etc., takes more time. Then the cartdrige seems to be very efective too but still takes some time. Here pools are exposed to more dust, leafs, dirt, etc., so a ultra clean water is not needed because it is very difficult to achieve (unless it is enclosed or protected with some glass fences, etc.).
Keep voting!

Let's see overtime what the general opinion is... should be interesting!

I can't answer specifically but you did qualify very well eliminating "ultra clean water", although I would phrase it "ultra clear water". The water can be "ultra clean" by virtue of good maintenance and proper chemical balances, but still have particulates in suspension. My expectations are very high for my water but it is virtually impossible to eliminate all of the extremely fine blown in and carried in dust and silt, even using a DE filter, going many hours a day, and backwashing frequently. People around my area use DE for the best water clarity, but from what many people report DE is not the "easiest" comparing my personal experience (DE for 23 years) compared to what seems to be the two easier of the three, i.e., cart and sand.

Most people can't comprehend how much silt/dust some of use have unless they experience the extreme situation and try to keep pool/spa and buildings (homes, garages, outbuildings, sheds) somewhat clean, i.e., only somewhat dusty. I have been using cartridge filters for two decades in my large spas. My main concern about a cartridge filter would be premature clogging of the cartridge fabric from excess amounts of silt/dust; excess being many times more dust/silt than most filters will ever have to deal with. Although my spa (and two others previously) are kept covered, most of the time, I think the amount of time the top is off allows enough silt/dust in to prematurely age the cartridges. This is a totally non scientific observation. BTW... some of my silt/dust seems to be finer than even DE.

My vote for ease of maintenance, in the environment you describe, would be for sand. That is even if one is under extreme water restriction. Backwashing does use water but so does washing a cartridge properly. One solution for waste water is to return it back to the pool after "polishing" it using something like a Slimebag or use for watering plants. It seems to me that reusing water from backwashing is much easier done than reusing water from cleaning a cartridge. It takes a lot of water for soaking and spraying to clean my spa cartridges for reuse.

Every cleaner I have does really well picking up sand and some of the silt. It is the very fine silt that makes its way to the filter that necessitates so much backwashing. I would think that some of that extremely fine silt would make it through a sand filter and not clog sand as fast as it would DE.

My vote for your criteria is SAND.

gg=alice

 

[Pool Clown]

I think if it comes down to ease of maintaining. Any filter is the best to use. All filters have their own unique way of servicing/cleaning, easy/often or hard/rarely and i think Jason hit on it with his remark of "once you know how to clean it" knowledge of how to service it gets a lot of the PITA factor out of the way, and speeds up the chore.