Frequent cleaning required on my Pentair Quad DE 80

[DaverB]

Many of the comments from Quad DE owners clean their filters once or twice a year. My experience has been very different.

We purchased a Pentair Quad DE 80 filter about 4 years ago. I've found it necessary to teardown and clean my filter every 3-4 months, and on 2 separate occasions I've had to clean the filter within 60-90 days. The vacuum completely stops moving, which tells me it's time to clean the filter. I might have had 1 winter that allowed me 5 months between cleanings.

I believe my issue is a small yard, combined with poor drainage. The low point in the yard is around the pool and pool deck. The residential developer just didn't get the best grade for drainage when cutting our lot.

It would be nice to reduce the filter cleaning to 2-3 times a year.

Two questions for Quad DE owners and the pros servicing Quad DE filters frequently:
1.) have any other Quad DE owners found the need to clean their filters every 3-4 months?
2.) do the professionals on TFP think I would benefit by adding a backwash valve?

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

@JoyfulNoise is in your neighborhood and has a Quad DE filter.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

If you have to clean frequently due to dirt/silt issue, then you should plumb a backwash valve in. However, you need a place for all the DE to go to rather than your yard. But backwashing, even aggressively backwashing, will buy you maybe another 4 weeks.

The ultimate solution here is to buy a really large cartridge filter (520sf Clean & Clear). A DE filter is too much hassle if you have to clean it as much as you do. Installing a cartridge filter with a spare set of filters on hand will allow you to do a rapid swap and then you can soak and clean the filters at your leisure.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dave,

The reason that many TFP member can go half a year to a year without cleaning there filter has nothing to do with their filter and everything to do with using the TFP pool care process..

My "guess" is that you use tablet and routinely add pool store shock to your pool, along with generous amounts of Pho-free, clarifiers, and other pool store magic potions...

I've been wrong about 100 times today alone, so maybe not, but tell me how close I came..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Do you use hair nets in your skimmer or an in-line leaf trap on your vacuum? You definitely want to catch as much of the visible debris as you can so that the filter is only working on the fine stuff.

Ah yes, good catch to @Jimrahbe … if you’re not following the TFPC Method of pool care and your pool has algae in it (it doesn’t have to be green to have algae), then your filter will load up incredibly fast as the algae is the perfect size to be caught by DE. DE filters are notorious for short-cycling (frequent cleanings) when algae is present.

 

[dianedebuda]

I remember reading that Backwash really doesn't do a very good job on the Quad DE. This is my first full season with mine and haven't had to clean it so far since the initial cleaning in the spring. No hairnets here since my skimmer style is not compatible.