New filtration for pool

12 years ago

I'm thinking about replacing my existing Jandy cartridge filtration and going with a sand or DE filtering system. I live in Texas and have had to replace my cartridges 3x in the past six years since building the pool. I'm told that all the oak/pollen in the area is really hard on these filters. I can certainly tell a huge difference between the old filters (even after cleaning) and new ones ....but four cartridges are kind of expensive to replace and are a huge pain to clean out every month or so. Note that my original pool builder sold me on the cartridge system. Since this is what I grew up with in California (and they were really easy) it made sense. But now, everyone I know either has DE or sand and never have the issues I have...in fact, I know nobody here that has cartridges.

My question...is replacing your filter system pretty reasonable from a cost perspective? I can certainly find the price of the equipment online, but is the labor that complex (over $500 to $1,000)? Or, are there a lot of other considerations that will drive the costs way up?

Would very much appreciate thoughts?

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Comments (4)

muddy_water
12 years ago
Getting someone to change the filter should be easy and either type should take no more than 3hrs to do... So your $500 mark should be easy...you may want to try and find someone that is willing to install one purchased online. Before you order because a lot of company's like mine will not install equipment purchased online for warranty reasons. Also several manufactures recently have change the warranty policy for items not installed by pool professionals...with that said my choice is DE with a multiport valve but they are tons of sand filters out there also...
sponger
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the comment. We will definitely purchase the equipment locally due to warranty/service issues, but was more concerned with the complexity of such a change, which sounds like it's not that big a deal.

We currently have all Jandy equipment. Would you recommend sticking with Jandy or it there a benefit to going with a Hayward or Pentair DE filter? I know there are a lot of opinions on this....but I'd ultimately rather have the best filtration.
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muddy_water
12 years ago
Well I'm partial to Pentair because that's what I install on my pools and I have had a my personnel pool for over 7 years and and I think in time if you are looking for a part you will be more likely to find a Pentair part or a Hayward part in stock.
trhought
12 years ago
Sponger. We're in Northwest Louisiana where there's lots of pine pollen...especially this time of year.

We have a jandy cl460 cartridge filter and it has performed well for us over the years.

I clean it only when the pressure rises 10 psi over the baseline pressure when the filters are clean. This is also where the 'dirty' indicator is on the filter pressure gage. This is about every 3-4 months on average.

It sounds as if you're cleaning too often. Each cleaning cycle deteriorates the cartridges by blasting with high pressure water.

In my case, I simply use a garden hose with a normal adjustable nozzle. The nozzle is adjusted to medium (not a jet and not a spray, but in between). Hold the noze about 3-4" from the cartridge and move it back and forth horizontally about an inch or so as you move the nozzle down the length of the cartridge.

Once you reach the bottom of the cartridge, rotate the cartridge about 20-30 degrees to clean the next segment of the cartridge. Continue this rotating the cartridge about 30 degrees each time until you've gone all the way around.

This 1" back and forth motion separates the pleats as you move down the length of the cartridge getting all the dirt in between each pleat.

I've used this method or the last 7 years and still have the original set of cartridges! Some of my bands are starting to come unglued, but there are no tears and my pressure goes back to baseline after each cleaning.

Hope this helps.