- Jul 24, 2017
- 117
- Pool Size
- 8400
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
It's a good product that filters extremely well, but over the last 13 years I've had 3 DE leak events with our Pentair FNS Plus DE Filter. Two of the three leaks involved cracks that developed over time in the Manifold Assembly (Pentair part number Pentair 59023700), which is the big plastic thing that slides in on top of the DE grids and then finally attaches to the standpipe in the filter. The third DE leak was caused by a sewing defect in a brand new OEM grid element, so that was just kind of an unusual one-off event. Both of the other leaks were caused by the manifold plastic just cracking over time.
Since that second manifold crack just happened recently, I have been searching for best price and delivery time on replacement Pentair OEM manifolds, and in the process of that discovered something new. There is now an alternative product available on Amazon that's being sold under the Swimables brand name. I was not previously familiar with that manufacturer or vendor (whichever they are), but the comments on the Amazon page from owners that had installed one were quite favorable. It was also cheaper than the Pentair product by about a third. But that wasn't the most interesting part.
The most interesting part was that this new manifold has done away with the Air Bleeder assembly that has always been a part of the Pentair Manifold. That assembly is the six inch long plastic tube with a little mesh screen "hat" on top. There are two things I've never really liked about that air bleed assembly. First, that assembly has been involved with both of the leaks in my prior manifold failures. Second, that assembly also sticks out from the top of the manifold, which prevents you from being able to rest the entire, assembled grid upside down on the ground when you're cleaning it. Being able to rest it with the top down, as you can with the bottom down, would be a nice thing to be able to do for routine cleaning. But with the original design, you can't do it. Now you can with this new design.
To get rid of the air bleed tube, they've come up with a sort of "micro perforated" area that's actually built into the plastic on the top of the new manifold design. Apparently it allows the air to bleed out as needed, but likewise DE can't penetrate it "backwards" and cause DE leaks into the pool. The user reviews online were enthusiastic about it.
Based on that, I bought one and will report back later with my own observations, but I thought this was an interesting enough "new thing" (at least new to me) that it would be worth a post here so that anyone else hunting down a new FNS Plus manifold right now, like me, would know there's another option available. I'll attach a picture below to give anyone interested a look.
Since that second manifold crack just happened recently, I have been searching for best price and delivery time on replacement Pentair OEM manifolds, and in the process of that discovered something new. There is now an alternative product available on Amazon that's being sold under the Swimables brand name. I was not previously familiar with that manufacturer or vendor (whichever they are), but the comments on the Amazon page from owners that had installed one were quite favorable. It was also cheaper than the Pentair product by about a third. But that wasn't the most interesting part.
The most interesting part was that this new manifold has done away with the Air Bleeder assembly that has always been a part of the Pentair Manifold. That assembly is the six inch long plastic tube with a little mesh screen "hat" on top. There are two things I've never really liked about that air bleed assembly. First, that assembly has been involved with both of the leaks in my prior manifold failures. Second, that assembly also sticks out from the top of the manifold, which prevents you from being able to rest the entire, assembled grid upside down on the ground when you're cleaning it. Being able to rest it with the top down, as you can with the bottom down, would be a nice thing to be able to do for routine cleaning. But with the original design, you can't do it. Now you can with this new design.
To get rid of the air bleed tube, they've come up with a sort of "micro perforated" area that's actually built into the plastic on the top of the new manifold design. Apparently it allows the air to bleed out as needed, but likewise DE can't penetrate it "backwards" and cause DE leaks into the pool. The user reviews online were enthusiastic about it.
Based on that, I bought one and will report back later with my own observations, but I thought this was an interesting enough "new thing" (at least new to me) that it would be worth a post here so that anyone else hunting down a new FNS Plus manifold right now, like me, would know there's another option available. I'll attach a picture below to give anyone interested a look.
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