ptaemt911 said:
I Have a sand filter now and have been fighting my pool for 2 years due to poor education about pool maintenance. I am considering upgrading to a DE filter next year, this is about a $1000 investment. I have a 18' x 36' in-ground pool.
I have a DE and my only experience with a filter cartridge was with my spa and my Intex Cartridge A filter with my EasySet (easyAlgae) pool. A DE filter will filter out more debris, faster than a sand filter and many cartridges. That being said, my Perflex filter, which allows bumping to extend media (DE) changes, is a double edged sword. I read so often that the recommendation is to add X, keep your CL up to Y and run your pump 24/7 for a week to solve a green pool bloom.
The "problem" with that logic for my DE system. I have never been able to run my pump for more then a couple hours (2-4) if I have a significant amount of visible debris in the water. The filter pressure will rise (25-50%) and I need to bump. I continue to bump until I get to a point where the filter will run less than an hour before the pressures rise too much and the flow is severely restricted. If I hand Vacuum a dirty floor, I can plug the filter in less than 10 minutes. If I run my Aquabug, she might make an hour if the pool is dirty.
The other side of the sword, the "benefit" of my DE. If I brush the walls and hand vacuum the floor (bumping when needed) I can remove 100% of the debris in the amount of time it takes me to do these tasks. When I am finished doing the above tasks, I am likely to have a clear pool with a little floating debris that I can remove with a 2-hour run time. If it's bad, I might need to change my DE (or cellulose like now) and that takes me 30-45 minutes after doing the vacuum and brush with a dirty pool. I don't really have a backwash system. i physically remove my entire filter from my pump and i just dump my old DE in the green waste garbage can. I use a garden hose to clean the fingers on our front lawn. I just rinse away the extra DE in the lawn. Cellulose is easier to get rid of.
When I have a clean filter, I can normally have a clear pool without floating debris with a 2-4 hour daily run time. My pressures might rise from 14 to 16 in that time and then I bump and it's ready for the next day.
Bottom line, DE will do a faster job than a sand filter but if you get a big bloom, plan on dedicating some time watching your pressures to get your water clear. I can normally do this babysitting of the filter while I am in the back yard doing other gardening duties (weeding, kid-stuff collection, painting the playhouse, working on another outside project). I listen to the pump as much as I watch the gauge. It cavitates when the filter pressures are high.
