Pentair Filter Cartridge deteriorating? A known problem.

[dleonard1122]

I closed my pool two days ago and as part of that, I took the filter cartridges out of my Pentair Clean and Clear 320 cartridge filter and gave them a good cleaning with the hose. This was my first full year using the pool after putting it in last year.

I noticed that the end caps for my cartridges were a little chalky/discolored. I also noticed that they seem to have a small amount of... melting on the sides? I did my best to capture these conditions in the attached photos. All of the cartridges are pretty much the same.

https://imgur.com/a/LN2vZpD

I like to think I was able to keep my water in balance throughout the year relatively easily. I've never had to SLAM, so high FC isn't my first guess at what caused this. Because I have a SWG I do occasionally have to add MA to bring the pH down. Usually once I see it rise above 8 I drop it to 7.6 but pouring acid slowly in front of a return. I have my logs saved if anyone cares to look at them.

I did some searching for similar issues in the past and came across these threads where users had even more extreme issues than what I am seeing. I don't think my situation is this bad, but if I'm seeing this after just one year then maybe that's what they'd look like after two. Paging @kevin.gt and @Rich807 if you are still around to let me know what you think and how your situations ended up.

Pentair filter cartridge end cap deterioration

The blue end caps of my pentair cartridge filters are deteriorating. When cleaning them today, I noticed the rubber is very brittle as well. Pool and filters are 8 months old. Salt water. Is this normal?

www.troublefreepool.com

TFP FC Levels & Cartridge Filter Degradation?

Changed out my Pentair OEM cartridge filters today for my 2nd set. Pentair ones were in the housing filtering water from Mar ‘21 to today. The ends of the Pentair filters are disintegrating already as seen in the photo & that’s nuts to me. They came with the pool which was built mid June 2020...

www.troublefreepool.com

I am tempted to contact Pentair about this and see what they say. Until then, I'm curious what TFP thinks. I don't know if this is a bad batch of filter cartridges from Pentair or what.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

That’s common hydrolysis of the rubber material. It happens to all rubber when it is constantly submerged in water (and especially with an oxidizer like chlorine). It’s harmless.

The rubber didn’t “melt”. The rubber end caps are molded onto filter media during the manufacturing process. The rubber use is a type of set-in-place (sip) gasket material. It is directly molded and cured onto the media. What you’re seeing is the how the liquid material settled before it cured in place.

 

[dleonard1122]

That’s common hydrolysis of the rubber material. It happens to all rubber when it is constantly submerged in water (and especially with an oxidizer like chlorine). It’s harmless.

The rubber didn’t “melt”. The rubber end caps are molded onto filter media during the manufacturing process. The rubber use is a type of set-in-place (sip) gasket material. It is directly molded and cured onto the media. What you’re seeing is the how the liquid material settled before it cured in place.

That is a relief. Perhaps I just hyped myself up into thinking it was a problem when I saw the issues that the other two posters had run into.

 

[GRT4389]

I closed my pool two days ago and as part of that, I took the filter cartridges out of my Pentair Clean and Clear 320 cartridge filter and gave them a good cleaning with the hose. This was my first full year using the pool after putting it in last year.

I noticed that the end caps for my cartridges were a little chalky/discolored. I also noticed that they seem to have a small amount of... melting on the sides? I did my best to capture these conditions in the attached photos. All of the cartridges are pretty much the same.

https://imgur.com/a/LN2vZpD

I like to think I was able to keep my water in balance throughout the year relatively easily. I've never had to SLAM, so high FC isn't my first guess at what caused this. Because I have a SWG I do occasionally have to add MA to bring the pH down. Usually once I see it rise above 8 I drop it to 7.6 but pouring acid slowly in front of a return. I have my logs saved if anyone cares to look at them.

I did some searching for similar issues in the past and came across these threads where users had even more extreme issues than what I am seeing. I don't think my situation is this bad, but if I'm seeing this after just one year then maybe that's what they'd look like after two. Paging @kevin.gt and @Rich807 if you are still around to let me know what you think and how your situations ended up.

Pentair filter cartridge end cap deterioration

The blue end caps of my pentair cartridge filters are deteriorating. When cleaning them today, I noticed the rubber is very brittle as well. Pool and filters are 8 months old. Salt water. Is this normal?

www.troublefreepool.com

TFP FC Levels & Cartridge Filter Degradation?

Changed out my Pentair OEM cartridge filters today for my 2nd set. Pentair ones were in the housing filtering water from Mar ‘21 to today. The ends of the Pentair filters are disintegrating already as seen in the photo & that’s nuts to me. They came with the pool which was built mid June 2020...

www.troublefreepool.com

I am tempted to contact Pentair about this and see what they say. Until then, I'm curious what TFP thinks. I don't know if this is a bad batch of filter cartridges from Pentair or what.

Hello, this is my first post here. I run a filter service division and am in charge of scheduling 7000 filter cleans and filter repairs every year. Since 2019, Pentair has had an end cap molding issue at their cartridge plant. They changed the end cap material in the beginning of 2019 when they switched from the chemical resistant green end caps to blue end caps. I've sent out warranty claims for over 200 2019 and 2020 CCP 320, 420, and 520 filters installed that have end caps that say "Pentair Aquatic Systems" because they were completely falling apart even with perfect chemistry. It has gotten better recently and the newest style just says Pentair. There is still a lot of discoloration with the new ones, but the material used has improved. Our local Pentair rep has even supplied me with about 40 full sets of cartridges in case there is more problems. I'm assuming this is just one of many cost cutting measures they have done over the last few years and I've seen a lot of them.

 

[kul]

Hello, this is my first post here. I run a filter service division and am in charge of scheduling 7000 filter cleans and filter repairs every year. Since 2019, Pentair has had an end cap molding issue at their cartridge plant. They changed the end cap material in the beginning of 2019 when they switched from the chemical resistant green end caps to blue end caps. I've sent out warranty claims for over 200 2019 and 2020 CCP 320, 420, and 520 filters installed that have end caps that say "Pentair Aquatic Systems" because they were completely falling apart even with perfect chemistry. It has gotten better recently and the newest style just says Pentair. There is still a lot of discoloration with the new ones, but the material used has improved. Our local Pentair rep has even supplied me with about 40 full sets of cartridges in case there is more problems. I'm assuming this is just one of many cost cutting measures they have done over the last few years and I've seen a lot of them.

Wow. Thanks for the scoop.

 

[Crowbar]

Thanks to some of the verbage in this post, I was able to secure a full set of 4 filters from Pentair after 2 pool seasons. 2 months after pool install, my filter end caps were degrading. I saved the images and they were enough for a warranty claim.