Desert Dust Storms

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A

Azcal

0
Jun 20, 2018
18
Tucson
Hi,
I recently had a pool repair expert tell me that in the desert Southwest, many sand filters will miss the fine dust after a dust storm. I noticed my Pentair Rebel was picking up the dirt only to see it laying back on the pool floor the next morning. There was no new storm activity. He said a DE filter would catch everything (of course I have a sand filter).. Anyone else have experience with this?
Thanks,
 
I have a DE filter and it does an amazing job at keeping the pool clear. But, even with the DE filter, my robot still picks up lots of sand and silt in the water ... welcome to Tucson and the desert! I would try Marty’s suggestion first before you swap out filters. The DE will help.

The primary downside to a sand filter here in the desert is the need to backwash it. Backwashing wastes water and, if you’re a Tucson Water customer with an average cost of 0.6 cents per gallon of water, wasting water is never a good idea. Cartridge filters are the best option for the desert climate as they require no backwashing and, if you oversize the filter, you can cut cleanings down to once or twice per year. That saves you time and water....
 
Adding DE to a sand filter will increase the frequency of backwashing needed, since you will be trapping more dirt in it. There are things you can do to help combat that.

The frequency needed to clean my filter was cut by more than half by just lining the skimmers with hair nets. That won’t remove the desert dust and silt, but it cuts way down on the amount of debris that reaches the filter. With my DE filter, frequent backwashing wastes water and breakdown cleaning is a real chore. But with hairnets, cleaning the filter is only once a year.

With my robot (Kokapelli) picking up the dust and silt, and hairnets pulling out all but the smallest debris, the pool filter has an pretty easy job.
 
:goodpost:

100 polypropylene hair nets on Amazon go for $6. Best $6 you’ll ever spend. I change my hairnets once or twice per week and pull out about a pound or more of debris every time. That’s less debris going to the filter. I don’t ever backwash my DE filter, I just tear it down twice per year. Pressure barely goes up by 1psi in between.
 
Matt,

I’m down to once a year. And it wasn’t even too bad when I did it then. With the new robot, hair nets and using a low flow (on the VS pump), if I waited for a pressure rise, I would never clean it.

About the only thing I see in it, when I do break it down is discolored DE. Hardly any debris at all, just a little silt and dirt.
 

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chiefwej said:
Matt,

I’m down to once a year. And it wasn’t even too bad when I did it then. With the new robot, hair nets and using a low flow (on the VS pump), if I waited for a pressure rise, I would never clean it.
Click to expand...

I waited 14 months last time but was forced to clean it when I had a leak in the backwash valve. I didn’t take enough time on reassembly and had a loose connection that cause a huge DE burst into my pool :brickwall: Thankfully I got it all straightened out and my robot got all the DE out of the pool that settled at the bottom.
 
Due to my plumbing arrangement, I always end up with a bit of DE in the pool after a filter cleaning. Before it would take a couple days to settle and manual vacuum to get it out. Now, Kokapelli gets it out if a few runs. Not that much quicker, but sure a lot easier.
 
chiefwej said:
Due to my plumbing arrangement, I always end up with a bit of DE in the pool after a filter cleaning. Before it would take a couple days to settle and manual vacuum to get it out. Now, Kokapelli gets it out if a few runs. Not that much quicker, but sure a lot easier.
Click to expand...

Oh I get a little burp too which is nothing. What happened to me was more like - “OH **** !!!! I just emptied 10lbs of DE into my pool :brickwall: !!”

I did actually cry a little that day... :cry:
 
Sand filter used here in Phoenix and I see no real need to bother with adding DE after my backwashes. Mine pool cleans up just fine after a dust storm but I'll bet the dirt you see on the bottom the next day is just the finest talcum-like particals that take more than a day to settle out. If they were still there a week later, that is different and maybe you should do a deep sand clean or make sure all water is getting filtered fully.
 
An additional problem is, with that much DE, and the robot pulling it out vs manual vacuum, it doesn’t wind up back in the filter. Now you’re just guessing how much DE you really have in it.
 
I don't have any experience with DE or sand filters but I have the biggest cartrage filter pentair has, and it has been working great so far. I dont even use a robot either, just let the pool vaccum cleaner do the work. The pool practically runs itself. Just have to clean the filters 2 twice a year but I'm sure I could get away with once a year if I really wanted to get lazy. It is a pain to pull out all the filters and clean them though. Takes me about 2-3 hours to fully clean it.
 
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