When to do annual cartridge filter cleaning?

[Rocket J Squirrel]

With an autocover, hairnets in the skimmers, and a Polaris cleaner chugging around, I can get away with cleaning my big Pentair CCP520 cartridge filter once a year. I get only a small amount of debris each year in the filter.

What I am undecided about is when to perform the cleaning. At the beginning of swim season or at the end? We never close the pool, but it only gets 4 or 5 months of swimming weather.

If I clean at the beginning of the season, then we'll be swimming in organics-free water, at least to start.

If I clean at the end of the season, then the organics don't have 7 or 8 months to decompose in the filter.

My instinct tells me to clean twice a year, both at the beginning and end of swim season, and that's the easy answer. But I confess to being the laziest person on earth. If you were going to clean your cartridges only once a year, when would do it?

 

[kul]

I clean mine in December and June. I’m actually due for the June cleaning, but am similarly lazy. If I had to pick I’d probably clean the filter in December only.

 

[Jimrahbe]

RJS,

I clean mine twice a year..

I do it before the swim season starts, but when it is warm enough to get wet. And then in the Fall, after the swim season is over, yet still warm enough to get wet. Notice the important part here...

I'm sure that does not help your decision, but it is what I do.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Newdude]

C) as soon as the spring crud stops falling. Let spring crud up the already dirty filter from last year, instead of a clean filter from this year.