How To Clean A Saltwater Pool Filter

Rob is a puddle-service manufacture professional person with over 20 years of experience.

Types of Cartridge Filters

There are several unlike types of cartridge filter housings. The pictures used in this article are for a bones capsule-way housing. Some may have band clamps in the center, others may have wing nuts on the top, and some even take a series of small-scale cartridges. The cartridge cleaning procedure itself is the aforementioned.

How to Clean the Filter

On a level surface, rinse the cartridge with a good hose nozzle from pinnacle to bottom as shown in the motion picture. Exercise not employ a pressure level washer as this can damage the filter element. Continue rinsing from height to bottom turning the cartridge effectually until clean. That'south it. Replace in housing and plough the pump on.

Tip: Always accept annotation of the pressure. If it becomes higher each fourth dimension you lot put the clean filter dorsum in, it'south a sign you may need to replace it. There are ways to get more than time out of your cartridge.

Extending the Life of the Filter

The filter is made upward of pleated material. Over fourth dimension, the folds in the pleats can build up rest that cannot easily be removed with a rinse. If yous spread apart the pleats and look in, you may see some discoloration and residue. When this occurs, you'll notice that you need to clean the filter much more frequently.

This residue can be broken downwardly by soaking the filter in Tri-Sodium Phosphate, bachelor at your local puddle store. I have plant that using full-strength muriatic acid on the cartridge works very well.

NOTE: I only practice this if I am replacing the filter and only trying to get a few more than days of filtration out of it. This is Non good for a filter. I pour the acid directly on the filter cartridge covering as much of the element as I can, leaving it to consume away at the residue for iii or 4 minutes. The fumes tin can be overwhelming and information technology Will impairment the filter, so I don't recommend it unless you programme on replacing it very before long.

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How to Tell When Cartridge Needs Cleaning

In that location are a few different means to tell when the cartridge needs to be cleaned:

A lack of skillful water menses is a definite indication that the cartridge is either dirty or needs to be replaced.
If you clean the cartridge as described in this article, and menstruum is still not what it should be, chances are it may need to exist replaced.
Another indication is ascertainment of the force per unit area gauge. I've seen many filters in which the pressure level guess is broken. It's a practiced idea to have a skilful working force per unit area gauge.

How to Read a Pressure level Gauge

There's a skillful reason that these are on the filters. Depending on a number of different things, your filter, when make clean or new, will have a "normal" or clean pressure reading around 12 psi. Again, this may vary depending on your system. To determine this, of class, you'll demand to have a new or clean filter. Once the pump is turned on and fully primed, check the pressure gauge. It should be betwixt ten to 15 psi. Let's say it reads 13 psi. A dominion of thumb is that 10 psi college than the normal or clean reading would bespeak that the cartridge should be cleaned. In this case information technology would need to read effectually 23 psi (10 psi more than 13).

Relieve air pressure. — Save air pressure.

When to Get a New Filter

Although the cartridge can be cleaned, it does eventually demand to be replaced. My feel has always been that if, even after existence acid washed, the filter simply does non let water to period through it, and the pressure builds within in 10 minutes, it's time to replace the filter.

This article is authentic and true to the all-time of the author's noesis. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does non substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in concern, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Questions & Answers

Question: Is in that location a superlative and bottom to a cartridge pool filter?

Answer: Yes. Most cartridges point "Meridian" or "Bottom"