Pool filter options - South Carolina new gunite saltwater pool with replaceable filter

[stephenson]

Hi All,

Good friend of mine - she just built very nice house in Myrtle Beach community.

It is irregularly shaped and converts out to about 12 x 15, 3-4 feet deep.

She usually goes first class on everything, and maybe I'm dated a bit, but my pool had a sweet DE filter that was easy and inexpensive to maintain and produced crystalline water ...

She has one of these - Hayward CX150XRE original pool filter cartridge for Hayward C150S ... she usually goes first class, but this seems cheap and very expensive to maintain. Perhaps easier to swap out one of these, but she doesn't maintain her pool - a professional does. Three a year so maybe $250 a year?

Would appreciate some guidance on potential options she should consider - please let me know I'm out of touch if appropriate!

 

[mknauss]

You clean it. My cartridge filters are 5 years old.

It is best to oversize a cartridge filter so you only need to clean it a couple times per year.

Be sure the Pool 'professional' is not cleaning it too often. Filter pressure should rise by 25% over clean before cleaning the filter.

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

I'm not sure you understand how Cartridge Filters work... When they get dirty, you just clean the cartridge, you don't replace them.

I do think the filter is way too small, so it might have to be cleaned more often. The bigger the filter the less often it will have to be cleaned.

I have both DE filters and a cartridge filter.. From my experience the water quality is the same and overall it takes about the same amount of effort to clean a DE filter as it does a cartridge filter.

Unfortunately for your friend, she has to pay some to clean it... So it seems to me that she would have to pay either way..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[stephenson]

Thanks ... she said her pool guy said to replace 2-3 times per year - seems too often. I don't have the full story, as usual, but I always backflushed and re-DE'd mine as you guys are saying - based on pressure increase (filter clogging).

It will run year round, and is not in a cage ... is replacement 2-3 times a year "generally" excessive?

 

[mknauss]

There is no need to replace the cartridge. Clean it.

I would suggest she find a pool 'professional' that knows what they are doing. This one is trying to rip her off.

 

[Jimrahbe]

What Marty said... /\

Cartridges should last for years.. Are you sure he is just not charging her to clean them??? I doubt any "pool guy" is going to clean the filters for free.. With a small filter, three or four times a year would not be unusual..

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

I am not sure the pool guy is ripping her off. A new cartridge costs $80. How much labor time will he charge to clean a filter at what hourly rate? I think the cost will be about the same for clean versus replace.

For an owner whose e time is free it pays to clean versus replace.

The pool guy should only be doing that when the filter pressure says it needs a cleaning, not on a calendar schedule.

I would point out to her the filter pressure gauge and draw a black mark at the clean filter pressure and a red mark 25% higher. Tell her the pool guy should clean or replace the filter when it gets to the red mark.

 

[mknauss]

One cartridge takes me 10 minutes to clean. I like that hourly wage.

 

[ajw22]

One cartridge takes me 10 minutes to clean. I like that hourly wage.

Go to s atrange house, find the hose and water line, setup, cleanup, and I will bet it will take you at least 30 minutes to do it clean, professional, and get your supplies back in your truck.

 

[mknauss]

I thought this pool ‘professional ‘ was at the home each week.