I inherited a DE filter from the previous owner of the house. And it went kaput. The pool guy charged me $95 for to come by my house to tell me that LOL. But he says I can throw that money towards my next filter tank purchase.

I'm looking for low maintanence and low cost (who isn't). I know that DE gives you the best water quality but somewhat maintanence-intensive (frequent backwash and DE replacement etc). While Cartridge, as the pool guy suggested, is much less maintanence-intensive but water quality isn't as good. Though he said you won't be able to tell the difference between DE treated pool vs. Cartridge treated pool unless you look through the pool light at night. I have no idea how much those cartridge cost and how frequent I have to replace them.

I need to make my decision fairly quick as my pool is looking like crap right now . So what do you say??

TIA

 

our new house has a pool, kinda love hate. i've been in it about 60 minutes this whole season and have worked on it for around 12 hours.

Whats a DE filter anyway?

 

I have dogs that love my pool and lots of trees in the back yard. With the hair, leaves, and catkins the cartridge filter works better than DE (Diatomaceous earth). Filters need cleaning about one every 3 months (pull out and hose off). They also need to be replaced about once every 3 - 5 years. I could never tell the difference between a DE filtered pool and one with a cartridge filter.

 

How easy is it to clean the filter? Is it really as easy as take it out and hose off? Is it possible to completely remove all the stuffs your cartridge collect? I heard you can rip the paper cartridge pretty easily with the nozzle of a garden hose if you are not careful? How much to the cartridges run?

 

DE = Diatomaceous Earth They are remains of ancient sea creatures in the form of fine powder which acts as trapping agent in a DE filters. It's the most efficient way of filtering out of the three (DE>Cartridge>Sand).

 

This is an easy process. You drain the tank and take off the clamp that holds the top and bottom of the filter together. Pull out the filters. Hose off. Put back in tank. Put clamp back on. Open small pressure release valve on top of tank. Turn on filter. When water comes out of relief valve close it. You are done.

From personal experience in owning pools for 15 years I have never had an issue with a cartridge failing when cleaning with a regular garden hose.

 

It sounds like less of fuss than DE. But if I decided to go with Cartridge filter, I'm afraid I may have to also get a new pump since the previous owner "sized" his pump for DE filter which operate at much higher tank pressure. AFAIK, Carts run at much lower pressure and if the pump is too powerful, its filtering effecitiveness goes down, I think.

 

We got some kind of expensive stuff in the filter, better than sand forget what it's called.

 

Our family has had both and personally I wouldn't mess with DE.

The real question is Bromine vs. Chlorine although bromine does better with indoor or covered pools

 

Have you opened the tank lid yet? If if you see grey "cake" of fine powder all over the filter elements, you have a DE filter. If your filter has "backwash" sticker anywhere, it's either Sand or DE (Carts don't require backwash) type. DE is the most labor-intensive of all three types of filtering system, it seems. Cartridge is winning me over right now.