Waterco MultiCyclone Centrifugal Filter

[4JawChuck]

Anyone have any experience with these devices?

http://www.waterco.com.au/CMS/defau...3&id=203&status=stage8&cmsnumber=1&page_id=43

I was having a discussion with a local pool supplier and I mentioned I was looking for an alternative to cleaning baskets of leaves etc and wanted a stand alone basket that was much larger than that typically installed on consumer quality pool pumps, since I travel frequently I want to eliminate the whole integrated pump/basket to go with a much better quality german made pump I have here which is all stainless construction and is permanent magnet and brushless (its used in lab process equipment). My goal was to have a basket that was 10 times the size so it never clogs, I thought there would be something commercial that might work (which there is) but they all have 4-8" diameter coupling faces which would require some plastic fabrication to fit a standard 1.5-2" pool inlet line.

We theorized that with this device and an 1.5HP open face pump impeller like I have (which would macerate most large material entering the pump) I likely could remove the basket althogether and just wire up a motorized ball valve to the device and flush it every day automatically or even wire in a pressure switch as it gets filled leaving only a motorized multiport device as the only other unit required to make my pool pumping station flush completely automatic control with my PLC controller. Have to admit the level at which it gets small particles down to 50 microns is pretty impressive even if I would have to increase the pump HP slightly to accomodate the head restriction (my original pump is 3/4HP).

I really like the idea of prefiltering the sand filter as opposed to a basket that gets clogged in less than a day if the leaves are falling, which has happened to me on a couple of occasions, not to mention getting away from the plastic closed face cheapo pumps they sell for pools with the integrated basket filter. The device cost about $400 CDN here so its not that expensive especially if you consider never having to worry about cleaning a basket again, probably just replace the skimmer basket with a grate that would allow leaves through but not items like a kids ball which would clog the line.

What do you think?

 

[teapot]

There is a new model (multicyclone plus) with an element filter on the top which replaces the whole setup. Looks very impressive and as it only uses 15 litres of water to flush it a no brainer in places with high cost water metered supplies like France. If it can keep the majority of the dirt out of the main fiter it has to be good. I am most likely to install one on my setup this year to test it before selling to the public.

The latest plus models also have a SWG cell attached.

 

[toofast]

Just curious if there is any new news on how well these work, my Pool Guy is really telling me one of these will help out a bunch.

 

[TexP51]

I installed the Multicyclone Waterco 16 a week ago during a pump replacement and I'm really impressed with the amount of sediment it collects. My pool is salt water and has flag stone bench and waterfall, so I get a fair share of sediment on the pool bottom. My pool cleaner moves around and stirs the sand/silt up use to just settle in a new place. The multicyclone appears to be collecting much of that, and the premise is that sediment doesn't get to my cartridge filter cleaner and hopefully it now needs fewer cleanings per year. It only takes maybe 5-10 seconds of opening the Waterco's valve to clean the sediment bowl, and I plumbed that drain into a nearby French drain. Seems well built, just need to remember to NOT overtightening the quick disconnect fittings.

 

[TRHinTX]

I am looking at the cyclone filter as well - can you advise as to the difference between the 12 and the 16 ?

 

[AusJohn]

I appreciate that this is an old thread, but thought I would post a reply here as I have one of these units.

There are several models in the Waterco range, you can get the multicyclone as a stand alone filter, or integrated with a cartridge filter. There are two variants, one with 12 cyclones and one with 16, mine has 12. It also has the larger of the two integrated filter cartridge set ups with a 75 square foot cartridge. I didn't buy this unit, it was in place when we bought the house and the cyclone bowl does collect a reasonable amount of muck. How effective it is will depend on the particle size and density of material that is getting into the pool. Lower density material of small size will tend to go straight through to the filter.

Our pool has a lot of palm trees around it and a large tree fern overhanging it in one corner. The hydrocyclone seems to spin off the spores from the tree fern quite well, judging by the colour of the material in the bowl, it grabs fine sand and dirt and fine particles of denser plant matter quite well too. The tree fern also generates a fair amount of fine hairs on the trunk that just go right through to the cartridge filter.

The idea behind the unit is that it stops a lot of material going through to the filter reducing filter maintenance, it probably does help with this. If I was replacing it I probably wouldn't go with the integrated unit though. I would get the stand alone version with a separate and much larger cartridge filter as I still have to clean the cartridge at least once a week. The last cartridge filter I had was nearly three times the size and it was a once or twice a season job, and we have a long season here. That had no cyclone prefilter on it. The palms and tree ferns are certainly generating a lot more load for the filter than at the last pool, but I'm not experiencing the five times capacity magnification that Waterco claim in their brochures for this unit.

Generally speaking I have found the Waterco equipment and filters to be of pretty good quality and reliability, no complaints there, I won't be throwing this unit away any time soon, but I do think the filter cartridge on the unit is undersized for my particular circumstances.

 

[AUSpool]

Bumping this up again, thanks for the review Ausjohn.

I’m in the process of researching equipment for a new pool build and came across these yesterday. I’m thinking of two of the multicyclone 16’s. One for the main filter, skimmed-eco pump-cyclone-sand filter-SWCG. And one for a separate solar heating system, deep inlet-pump-cyclone-strainer-solar.

https://www.waterco.com.au/pool-spa/filters/centrifugal-filters/multicyclone-16

 

[Costas > DownUnder]

I’m in the process of researching equipment for a new pool build and came across these yesterday. I’m thinking of two of the multicyclone 16’s. One for the main filter, skimmed-eco pump-cyclone-sand filter-SWCG. And one for a separate solar heating system, deep inlet-pump-cyclone-strainer-solar.

I was thinking of the same with my setup - ie. installing one on my solar pump, however the pickup for my solar is about half way down in the deep end so it does not necessarily suck in much debri as is. So you may not gain much on the solar side - won't hurt but it may not capture much.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Multicyclones will not capture any debri that floats so it tends to only capture the heavier stuff such as larger dirt particles.

Here is a pic of mine when I was vacuuming out a lot of debri from the floor of my pool when first installed - worked great.