Swimming pools blog

21 responses so far ↓

• 1 janis_40 // Sep 4, 2003 at 2:56 am

  There are better products on the market to help a sand filter clean better.
  You could put DE in a sand filter but whatever DE the sand does not catch
  will end up in your pool. Clairifiers, filter aids that are paper
  products, alum. Go talk to your pool store and see what they have on the
  shelf.

• 2 Neva Marjory // Sep 4, 2003 at 4:22 pm

  Thanks for the reply, I had some D.E. leftover when I switched
  over to a sand filter. My Hayward D.E. had many problems, the
  D.E never goes into the pool, sand catches it all then comes
  out in the backwash.
  I’ve found a site that says you can use Perlite instead of D.E.
  I was thinking of adding some Perlite to my sand filter. I’ve
  also found a weird thing called the Slime Bag that filters down
  to 1 micron. Maybe I should just get one of those.

• 3 janis_40 // Sep 5, 2003 at 5:52 pm

  You traded a DE filter for a sand filter? Never have been thrilled with
  Hayward products. Some of the DE makes it through. It may be a small amount
  that you do not detect but sand filters do not filter that well and some of
  the powder will make it to the pool. One question, you traded the best type
  of pool filter (maybe not the best brand) for the worst type and now you are
  hunting for something to make it filter better. Tell me what is wrong with
  this picture? A good but a more expensive alternative solution is a multi
  cartridge filter. Something like the Clean&Clear from Pentair. Filters
  almost as well as a DE and much much better than a sand you have 400-500 sq
  ft filter area so they do not get dirty very fast and no DE to mess with.

• 4 Neva Marjory // Sep 7, 2003 at 2:48 am

  I went to the store to get a cartridge but they recomended
  the sand filter. We live in the country and get lots of bugs,
  dirt, and leaves in our pool. They said sand was cheaper to
  run and it sounded good at the time.
  I had read here on the net that you can enhance a sand filter
  by adding some D.E. I never see any going into the pool and
  it comes right out in a backwash.
  Pools are a lot of work, very expensive, no silver bullets.
  It has been quite clean lately, my Jacuzzi sand filter is
  working better than my Hayward EC-40 did.

• 5 robbie_50 // Sep 8, 2003 at 8:40 pm

  I have had a cartgrige filte for over 20 yrs what so hard about pulling
  it out to clean once or twice a week.Hose it off put back in.I do not
  find the pool a problem at all.I just put it into my house
  routine.Vaccum house once a week and also pool.You can make it easy or
  you can make it hard.Guess if you enjoy your pool it does not seem so
  much work.
  Thursday night-Shock it
  Friday-Morning-vaccum& clean pool area
  -Test-add chemicals
  Ready to Swim
  Keep The Faith
  Retta
  (-36)

• 6 Neva Marjory // Sep 10, 2003 at 8:42 am

  Okay, I disagree with what everyone has told you. Hayward Sand
  Filters are the ONLY filters I have installed for 29 years. I am
  constantly replacing DE filters with sand filters. Under no
  circumstances do you want to add DE to a sand filter! The DE will
  embed itself into the sand and will cause it to clump and then it
  won’t do the job it’s meant to do, filtering your water to keep it
  clean and clear. Your sand filter should be chemically cleaned (NOT
  the same as backwashing) once a year AT LEAST! Truth be told, a sand
  filter does not filter as fine as a cartridge or DE, but it is
  definitely more user-friendly. You have so many more options with a
  sand filter than with a DE or cartridge.
  You are not explaining your problem with enough detail for any of us
  to offer really good advice. Why do you think that your filter is
  not working properly? How often are you running your filter? What
  does your water look like?
  
  Jennifer

• 7 janis_40 // Sep 11, 2003 at 10:12 am

  Sand filters are easy to maintain and cheap to maintain. The Hayward perflex
  filter you had was state of the art about 10 to 15 years ago. I am partial
  to the multi cartridge filters of 400 to 500 sq ft. Yes they are expensive
  but there is no DE to mess with and no sand to change. Purchase an extra set
  of cartridges and let the dirty set dry and just brush the dirt out. They
  filter almost as well as DE with out the DE.

• 8 robbie_50 // Sep 12, 2003 at 2:34 am

  What is DE ?And can you take your cartrige filter out in the winter
  months and store it in shed?
  Keep The Faith
  Retta
  (-36)

• 9 janis_40 // Sep 13, 2003 at 1:09 am

  YOu are constantly replacing DE filters with sand because people feel the DE
  filter is alot of work and it is compared to sand. I personally you could
  not give me a Hayward Sand filter. I have seen to many split down the seams.
  The sand filters from Pentair are much better. More expensive but I have
  never seen one split like the Hayward plastic filters do. If you have an
  infloor cleaning system and run 20 - 30 psi your Hayward will split in two to
  three years.

• 10 janis_40 // Sep 13, 2003 at 8:37 pm

  Diatomatious Earth or DE for short and the cartridge can be removed from the
  canister and left to dry then stored for the winter. Do you shut down your
  system during the winter? De is the ground remains of ancient creaters known
  as diatoms. DE is like flower but the particles have sharp edges. It is not
  somthing you want to inhale or let the kids or the pets into. But it makes a
  dam good filtering agent.

• 11 robbie_50 // Sep 14, 2003 at 12:59 pm

  Glade I did not know what DE was and hope I never see it.
  Yes I shut it all down in the winter.Now remember I am in south
  Louisiana and we have swam at Thanksgiving.But they kind of start
  getting tiredof swimming around Oct.get a little cooler the water.Now if
  it was heated we would swim all year.
  I was told to leave fllter in water in winter.But my instints say to
  take it out.Never have though.
  Keep The Faith
  Retta
  (-36)

• 12 janis_40 // Sep 15, 2003 at 11:34 am

  In that climate you should run your system all year. Does it turn green?

• 13 robbie_50 // Sep 16, 2003 at 3:56 am

  We cover it.It turns green.But is not hard to start up.
  Keep The Faith
  Retta
  (-36)

• 14 robbie_50 // Sep 16, 2003 at 11:25 pm

  We use to run all year.But got lazy.Been doing this for over 2o yrs.
  Keep The Faith
  Retta
  (-36)

• 15 janis_40 // Sep 17, 2003 at 9:59 pm

  If it does not freeze then put some algae preventative in it and let the
  filter run on a normal schedule of 3-4 hours per day ant it will not turn
  green and you will not need to dump a bunch of stuff in it in the spring.

• 16 robbie_50 // Sep 18, 2003 at 2:22 pm

  Thanks will try that.
  Keep The Faith
  Retta
  (-36)

• 17 Neva Marjory // Sep 21, 2003 at 5:20 pm

  DE IS alot of work. I have found that most swimming pool owners
  would rather sacrifice that small amount of water clarity to have a
  filter that they don’t have to spend hours dealing with.
  As far as the filters splitting, I have had very few cases where that
  has happened. Up until now, since they have discontinued the split
  tank models, I have always installed a split tank Hayward Sand Filter
  (S200 and S240). I don’t know yet whether I will have the problems
  you are referring to with tanks splitting with a one-piece tank, but
  so far i’ve been more than happy with Hayward Sand Filters for 29
  years.

• 18 Neva Marjory // Sep 22, 2003 at 12:48 pm

  First of all, what part of running your filter for 3-4 hours a day
  is “normal”? Your filtering system is there to keep your pool clean
  and clear, to circulate your chemical. Every time you shut it off
  you are sacrificing water clarity and making more work for yourself.
  When your water isn’t filtering, you aren’t getting circulation in
  your pool which means that all of the debris that would normally
  float around and eventually be collected by the skimmer would now
  sink, and you would have to vacuum the pool more frequently to get
  that debris out, making more work for the pool owner.
  What kind of pool do you have? Vinyl? Gunite? There are more steps
  you can take to prevent the pool from opening green but we need to
  know more information.

• 19 janis_40 // Sep 27, 2003 at 3:41 pm

  I have yet to see a TR60 split

• 20 janis_40 // Sep 28, 2003 at 11:09 am

  This is for the winter and the pool is covered during the winter. When the
  water temp is low 40-50 degrees then 3-4 hours per day is just fine.

• 21 Neva Marjory // Sep 30, 2003 at 3:33 pm

  What is the purpose of running the pump at all? Why not just
  winterize the pool and let it be?

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