How To Change Sand In Pool Filter Above Ground Pool

How Often Should You lot Supersede Your Swimming Pool Filter?

Your pond puddle filter is like the kidney of your puddle: it filters out the debris and unwanted nasties, leaving yous with fresh, clean water.

Making sure your filter is working finer is hugely important, regardless of whether yous have an indoor swimming pool or a small, above-basis pool for summertime. In this guide, nosotros look at when you should exist replacing your filter system and how you can keep your h2o cleaner for longer.

How Exercise Pool Filters Work?

Puddle filters are really simple. A pump pushes water through a tight infinite that merely allows clean water through, collecting any modest particles of dirt and removing them from the water.

Types of Swimming Pool Filter

There are various types of filter bachelor for swimming pools, and which is right for you frequently depends on the type and size of pool you take.

Generally, swimming pool filters are divided into three categories:

- Cartridge Filters
- Sand Filters
- Drinking glass Filters

A small puddle, similar a temporary above-ground puddle or hot tub, will often use a filter cartridge. This filter is less effective than sand or glass but is the simplest and cheapest option, making information technology perfect for smaller pools.

A filter cartridge is typically round similar a barrel and made from polyester cloth or corrugated newspaper. Pond pools with this filter will push water into the cartridge, which volition trap any dirt.

Most swimming pools, however, opt for filter pumps which employ sand or glass media. Hither, the filter is part of the pump organisation itself, filtering whatever dirt as it passes through and returning clean h2o to the pool.

Sand filter media operates past assuasive water to laissez passer through a canister containing sand (usually silica or pool-grade, non but from the embankment!). The smaller water particles volition pass through, but the larger particles go stuck, providing clean water.

Drinking glass filter media works in much the same way. However, drinking glass filter media tends to exist more efficient and can capture particles effectually 1/iv of the size of sand filters. Hence, they tend to be more effective.

Clean swimming pool water

How Long Do Pool Filters Final?

Your pond pool pump organization can expect to pump sixty-70,000 gallons of water every 8 hours. That'southward a lot of piece of work!

Similar all things, swimming pool filters become less effective with age! When the filter has passed its prime, information technology volition get clogged, dirty, and become ineffective.

How long your pool filter will last ultimately comes down to how much dirt it needs to make clean. Assuming you properly maintain your swimming puddle, y'all should wait the below timescales on average:

- Filter Cartridge – approximately ii,000 working hours, unremarkably around 2-4 years.
- Sand Filter Media – around 3-7 years
- Glass Filter Media – about 7-15 years

When to Make clean your Pool Filters

If your pool filter's quality has decreased, information technology may not necessarily need replacing. All filters need regular cleaning to ensure they can work to their full capacity.

If you're using a cartridge filter, remove information technology and rinse it off thoroughly with a stiff brush and hose, and use a specialist cleaner if available. Aim to exercise this once a calendar week for the optimal longevity for your filter.

To care for a glass or sand-based pump filter system, you perform a process known as backwashing. Nearly pump systems will come with a backwash pick, allowing water to run through the opposite fashion to before, lifting chock-full clay from the filter.

You lot should look to backwash your pool filters whenever the pressure has risen from its normal levels by around eight-to-ten psi. During heavy utilize, this volition happen every week, and sometimes more than oftentimes than that.

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How to Know When Your Filters Need Replacing

As mentioned in a higher place, some symptoms of a poorly-working filter can be due to uncleanliness. Nevertheless, there will often come the indicate when cleaning your filter isn't enough and it needs replacing.

Here are some of the signs to look for when considering a filter alter:

Rapid Underperformance

If your filter gets clogged or stops cleaning more frequently than expected, fifty-fifty with frequent backwashing, it may have lost its quality.

Apply-By Date

Filter cartridges volition oftentimes come with a employ-by date due to their design. However, all filters take a predicted lifespan. If this is passed, then it may be best to supplant the filter.

Damaged Filter

This point applies to filter cartridges, which tin can tear over time. If this happens, y'all need to supercede the filter.

Two swimming pool pumps with clean filtered water

How Frequently Should You Change Your Pool Filter?

You should change your puddle filter whenever information technology loses its quality, has passed its expected lifespan or shows signs of damage. Often, symptoms will start to appear every 5 years, just the timescale tin be anywhere between yearly and every 15 years.

When to Change a Sand Filter

Sand filters will oft be able to perform for around 3-to-seven years, depending on use.

If you lot frequently clean and aftermath your filter and but use the pool seasonally, you can await to replace information technology after at to the lowest degree v years. While sand filters can be skilful for a few more years, we recommend replacing your media at this point to maintain a salubrious pool organization long-term.

When to Modify a Glass Media Filter

Glass filter media is known for its longevity – if well cared for, it might not demand repacing for over a decade!

Glass filter media can last for way beyond the timespan of sand media. Even so, we also recommend replacing them every five years to keep your pool systems working efficiently.

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When to Modify a Filter Cartridge

Usually, you tin can determine visually if your filter cartridge is working or not, but it's ever recommended to change it in one case its use past date has passed. This date is often afterward 1 or 2 years, depending on the brand. If you run across a tear in the filter, it will need replacing.

Pool Filter Clogging Too Chop-chop? Tips for Longevity

Ultimately, the lifespan of a filter depends on how much dirty h2o it needs to clean. If y'all want to increment your filter'south longevity, make certain you care for your puddle regularly and follow cleanliness rules.

Managing Pool Water Quality

The virtually of import thing is maintaining the right chemical balance daily. Having the correct chemicals volition stop algae from forming and help deal with other dirt and droppings, putting less strain on your pond pool filters.

Note that while clarifiers and similar products tin make your swimming pool look clean, they tin can lead to your filter condign more than clogged. In the cease, in that location's no substitute for frequent chemic management.

Clean Swimmers

The more usage the pool has, the dirtier it'southward likely to become.

Swimming pool users will bring contaminants with them into the pool, which ultimately ends up in the filter. These tin include body oils, shampoos, drinks and more.

If you want to intendance for your pond pool, yous can take steps to minimise the impact people take.

- Shower Kickoff – Taking a shower earlier going in the puddle will remove some of the contaminants that finish upward in the filter.
- No Food or Potable – encourage people to enjoy any food or drink earlier or after the pool, not during their swim!

Caring for Your Puddle Filters When Out of Use

Another affair to consider is what happens to your filters when the pool isn't in use. If y'all utilize your small pond puddle seasonally, ensure your cartridge filters are being stored correctly when out of flavor. Also, check them before the next season begins, as they can sometimes lose their quality over time even when not in employ.

Pump filter systems should even so run during the off-season every so often to keep the chemicals in the h2o ticking over. Therefore, yous need to monitor your filters during the off-flavour. As with your pool as a whole, investing in a encompass and properly closing your pool volition as well help keep your filters working efficiently.

A clean blue-tiled swimming pool

Choosing the Best Pool Filter

The filter is a crucial office of your swimming pool, so you need to get a quality unit. Making sure you choose a good swimming pool filter will save you a lot of coin and effort long-term, and then it'south worth getting advice from experts similar our team at 1st Directly Pools.

Dwelling house Pool Filters

When it comes to home pool filters, they often fall into ii categories:

- Side-Mount Filters
- Height-Mount Filters

Both of these are substantially the aforementioned thing, except the valves and other features are either on the top or side of the filter. Whether y'all need a top or side-mounted filter ofttimes comes downwardly to how your pool is set up – it should be articulate which will fit.

Many habitation filters will come with the same features, so the most of import affair to note is the pressure level. Ensure that the filter system you choose can cope with the force of your pool pump. Besides, ensure that it's a solid build equally whatsoever cracks will cause a meaning headache.

Here at 1st Direct Pools, we frequently recommend the Hayward NC600. This model is easy to operate and extra durable, with a polyester and drinking glass fibre trounce – an excellent choice for home swimming pools.

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Some other model we highly recommend is the Tagelus Top Mount Filter. Again, this is a durable model designed for maximum reliability and like shooting fish in a barrel maintenance, making it a neat choice for owners with less puddle experience.

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Commercial Pool Filters

Commercial swimming pools have additional requirements when it comes to puddle filters. Starting time of all, they are ordinarily bigger and used more oft, so the pressure is more intense. However, there are also problems like the fourth dimension and regularity of utilize. The filter needs to be continuously maintained, much more then than with a home puddle.

If you operate a pocket-sized commercial swimming pool, we recommend the Lacron 24 Finaflow MBF. This model works with a running pressure of two.5 bar and flow charge per unit of 15m3/hr, and is also equipped with a handy sight glass, allowing for checks during operation.

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Filter Media

The vast majority of filters will require you to purchase the media separately, as this volition need to be replaced more often than the actual mechanics.

Most filters that can piece of work with sand media will besides work with glass. If your filter uses a cartridge, you'll need to proceed using a cartridge.

Generally speaking, sand filter media is a proficient choice in most circumstances. Notwithstanding, if you lot're willing to pay more, glass filter media is more effective at cleaning small particles and can last longer, so it's often worth the investment.

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1st Direct Pools supply everything you need to continue an immaculate pond pool. From swimming pool filters, sand and glass filter media, puddle and hot tub chemicals and much more! We're your one-stop-shop for all things swimming pools, so browse our collections or feel free to contact us with any questions or queries!

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