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How Can I Tell If My Pool Filter Needs Repair Or Replacement?
How Often To Change Pool Filter
Well, the first thing to consider is, when was the last time your pool filter was cleaned or serviced? This should be done every 6 months on all cartridge and DE filters. Schedule this service with a professional swimming pool company that offers pool filter cleaning services in your area.
Cracking Pool Filters
We all know that Arizona is home to some of the hottest temperatures in the United States. With that said, most pool filters are constructed of fiberglass shells that can withstand pressure readings of 50psi. Our dry heat and sun-beaten summers slowly break down fiberglass. Therefore, they are a large tank just waiting to split open and spray water everywhere.
We replace close to 20 tanks per year from cracking. The change from the extremely hot to the abnormally cold winter we experience once every 5 years commonly causes stretching and cracking in these filters.
Consider these questions while deciding whether to repair or replace your filter:
- How old are my cartridges, grids, or sand?
- When was the last time they were replaced?
- What does the quality of my water look like?
- How efficient is my pool pump with my current filter?
- Should I replace the entire thing?
The decision most homeowners make is to replace the whole pool filter. Like any piece of equipment out there, technology changes quickly. The technology-driven pool filters today surpass anything built in the past. They are now becoming NSF Certified with warranties that manufacturers can proudly stand by.
Does it matter what kind of pool filter I get?
Yes, it does! There are 3 different types of pool filters for your swimming pool:
- Diatomaceous earth – 1 to 3 micron filtration
- Cartridge filters – 15 micron filtration
- Sand – 30 micro filtration
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| D.E. Filter | Cartridge Filter | Sand Filter |
You may be wondering, what the heck is a micron?!? Well, a micron is one-millionth of a meter. While that sounds pretty small, let’s put it into the context of swimming pools:
Diatomaceous Earth Filters
D.E. Filters are the absolute best when it comes to water quality. They filter out 1 micron in size, which means any bacteria 30 times smaller than the width of a single hair CANNOT pass through your pool filter! Pretty amazing huh? There is quite a bit of work that comes with this great filter though. The maximum square footage of surface area water that can pass through it is 72 square feet of internal surface area. That means the flow will and can be restricted when the filter is dirty. The benefits are that all you have to do is backwash once a month, and then clean out the filter once every six months. But remember, this type of pool filter needs to be “charged” with Diatomaceous Earth Powder.
Emerald Pools’ service and repair experts recommend D.E. Filters for most Arizona pools.
Cartridge Filters
Cartridge Filters have the second-best filtration on the market. At a still-strong 15-micron size, they do a substantially good job of filtering out the unhealthy stuff that can land in your backyard oasis. Cartridges are a really good, set it and forget it (for six months) filter. There is no backwashing necessary. However, they do require a filter cleaning every six months. This is the highest-rated filter for teamwork with variable speed pumps due to the massive amount of square footage the filtration area has. They can go up to as large as 700 square feet in residential equipment.
Sand Filters
Sand Filters are the lowest-rated filtration quality filter. They do not require cleaning at all. All you have to do is backwash every month, and that cleans out all of the gunk that the filter has collected during the past 30 days. Although, due to our high calcium levels in Arizona, it is highly recommended to change the sand in sand filters every 5 years.
Does the size of the pool filter matter?
Yes, all filters should be sized according to the size of your pool. Please contact an Emerald Pools representative to make sure the correct pool filter size is recommended for your swimming pool.
We install and warranty the following pool filters:
Jandy CL Series Cartridge Filters
Jandy DEV Series DE Filters
Jandy JS Series Sand Filters
Update: As of January 2020, we proudly install and warranty Pentair pool pumps and filters.
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