Cartridge filters ever hour?!

[sbmiller]

Last year when I opened my pool it barely had any algae. This year it is horrid! The filters don't make it more than an hour so I am having to bypass them until I can clean them while keeping my fc between 16-20. It takes 45 minutes for to do the filter cleaning process. So here are my questions: should I convert to a de when the filters are trashed so it's not as time consuming (not a big cost difference)? The filters are 2.5 years old and I've never deep cleaned them with the dishwasher detergent/ muriatic acid process. Could this be part of my problem?
Fc17
Cya60
Ta 100
Ch 310
I didn't bother with the cc's because I'm almost out of 871

 

[duraleigh]

Of the three types of filters, DE is the hardest to use when clearing an algae laden pool. You may have to backflush them every 30 minutes!!

By far sand filters are the easiest to use when clearing a murky pool.

 

[Patrick_B]

Could be that they are badly fouled, possibly scaled, but I'm not jumping to conclusions on the latter. Carts are fine when properly sized and should work well. A swamp is different though as it puts an extreme load on the filters. That said, this is where personal taste comes into filter selection. I wouldn't have a cart system mostly because of my environment. Way to much dust. Only you can decide if a change is worth it. During a slam, you'll have to BW DE often, but I would prefer it over cleaning carts. All this is why I wouldn't have this type of filtration, and chose sand.

Depending on how bad your swamp is, you may just have to clean a whole lot on the front end of your SLAM.

All that said, there is a bigger picture item here, and I'm not trying to beat you up with it.

Let it be a lesson in the future.

 

[sbmiller]

Would the filters not being completely white anymore make a difference on wether they are destroyed? Should I try the dishwasher detergent thing? It's the powdered kind, right? The pressure starts off at 1-2 higher when clean as they did when they were new. How long does it take to backwash a de? And is the de stuff expensive? Not that I ever PLAN on having a swamp again...

 

[ping]

In your case I would bypass the filter at the start of the SLAM process for a couple of days and let the algae die off so you don't have to stop the circulation.

After you are finished with the SLAM clean the grids with dishwater detergent, powder is fine.

I wouldn't bother getting another type of filter as the one you have is fine. You might want to invest into another set of grids to make the switch over faster.

Start to finish it takes me about 20 minutes to backwash my DE filter. It costs about $25 for 25lbs and my filter takes 6lbs on a new fill and 4lbs on a backwash.

 

[sbmiller]

So killing the algae takes the "slime" out of it which clogs the filters faster?

 

[JasonLion]

No, not really. Killing the algae first reduces the total amount of time you need to spend monitoring the filter, because it all happens at once towards the end. Personally, I like to spread it out, filter whenever you are around to monitor the filter, and recirculate when you are not around to monitor. That process has to happen sometime, so you might as well spread it out to times which are better for you.

 

[pooldv]

I had algae a couple of years ago and my cartridge filters had to be cleaned daily. Total beating! It is fine now with no algae. Kill the algae, filter it out and don't let it happen again!

I did buy a spare set of cartridges while going through the algae pain. I bought Pleatco and they are a LOT better than the Pentair cartridges. Clog less, clean easier, more flow and pool stays just as clean.