December 19, 2025 • 18 mins
Crystal-clear water means more than fine micron ratings; it means steady flow, low pressure spikes, and a filter you can actually live with. We dive into the real-world reasons cartridge filters outperform DE and sand for most pools, from massive surface area that keeps PSI stable to a simple cleaning routine that skips the gray dust and regulatory headaches of diatomaceous earth.
We walk through how pleated media provides 7x the surface area of common DE setups, why that matters for circulation, and how stable flow prevents dead zones, improves skimming, and reduces algae risk. You’ll hear practical comparisons: DE at 3–5 microns, cartridge around 10–20, sand near 40—and why your eye won’t notice the difference between 5 and 15 microns, but your spa spillway will notice the flow. We also cover where sand or DE still makes sense, especially in high-dust regions where backwashing is a lifeline, and for homeowners who need the simplest possible maintenance routine.
If you run a variable speed pump, this conversation is a must. Cartridges pair naturally with higher throughput, keeping performance consistent at elevated speeds and making the most of modern 3 HP total-rated motors. We break down service realities—DE recharging, grid tears, cracked manifolds, and messy burps—versus the straightforward hose-and-go workflow of cartridges. Then we talk replacement cycles, brand recommendations for elements, and why most new builds default to cartridges because of both performance and local DE disposal rules.
• Why cartridge surface area preserves flow and reduces PSI rise
• Micron ratings vs what the human eye can see
• When high-dirt regions may favor sand or DE
• Variable speed pump compatibility and throughput
• Cleaning workflows and mess: DE recharging vs quick cartridge rinse
• Common failure points in DE and sand that cartridges avoid
• Cost and replacement cycles for grids vs cartridges
• Sizing guidance using 420–520 sq ft examples
• Builder trends and local DE disposal rules
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:50):
Hey, welcome to the Pool Game Podcast Show.
In this episode, I'm gonna goover why I believe a cartridge
filter is vastly superior to a Dfilter and a sand filter, and
why your next filter in mostcircumstances should be a
cartridge pool filter.
(02:12):
Are you a pool service prolooking to take your business to
the next level?
Join the pool guy coachingprogram.
Get expert advice, businesstips, exclusive content, and get
direct support from me.
I'm a 35-year veteran in theindustry.
Whether you're starting out orscaling up, I've got the tools
to help you succeed.
Learn more atswimmingpoollearning.com.
Now I do want to emphasize inmost cases, because there is an
(02:36):
exception to certain areas andcertain pools where I think a
Karstra's filter may be inferiorto a sand or D filter.
And these are areas where youget a lot of dirt.
So the high desert, low desertof California, parts of, of
course, Arizona and Nevada,where dirt is a big issue.
(02:58):
You may want to consider a sandor D filter.
However, a cartridge filter isstill appropriate for those
areas.
It's just that you're gonnaprobably clean them more often
than I'm gonna state here inthis podcast.
So instead of cleaning themevery four to six months, you
may be cleaning them every twomonths, depending on how much
dirt gets in the pool.
And you can't backwash acartridge filter like a sand or
(03:20):
D filter.
So you have to kind of use thatas your gauge for your area.
If you're gonna switch to acartridge filter, I still think
in most areas, 95% of the time,the cartridge filter is much a
much better choice.
And there are some areas or somecircumstances.
For instance, if you have maybean elderly parent that has a
(03:41):
pool and you want to get areally easy filter with low
maintenance, then I would say asand filter, even though it's
not that efficient, would be thebest choice because you just
backwash a sand filter wheneverthe pressure gets too high in
it, and you never really take itapart to clean it.
So those are the exceptions tothe rule of why a cartridge
(04:02):
filter is superior.
And I'm gonna get into thedetails now of why I think a
cartridge filter should be yourgo-to filter choice for your
pool.
Briefly, a cartridge filterworks just like the other
filters in filtering the water,with some exceptions.
It uses a pleated polyester orpaper type cartridge.
(04:27):
I call it paper because it lookslike paper, so a lot of people
think that it's made out ofpaper, but it is a paper type
material, it's not a clothmaterial like a D filter, and
it's definitely not just sand inthe filter like a sand filter.
You can't backwash again thecartridge filter, it's just
(04:49):
because of the design of it, itjust can't be backwashed, and
because of the large surfacearea of a cartridge filter,
there should be no need tobackwash it anyway, and it
filters down to about 10 to 20microns to give you an idea of
how that fares against a Dfilter.
A D filter does filter down to 3to 5 microns.
Because of the diatomaceousearth that's coating the D
(05:11):
filter, this traps a lot moreparticles down to a smaller
micron than a cartridge filter,which uses a polyester paper
type material.
And then the sand filter trapsdown to about 40 microns.
So the cartridge filter kind offalls into the middle between
both of these filters, and youreally can't tell the difference
(05:33):
between a pool on a D filter anda cartridge filter.
And in most cases, you can'treally tell a pool that's on a
sand filter either, because thehuman eye can't detect certain
micron levels and you can't seedirt past a certain level.
And the cartridge filterdefinitely filters enough for
sure.
Now I did mention that a Dfilter uses D powder or
(05:55):
diatomaceous earth, I shouldsay, that coats the grids that
traps the you know the dirt andthe algae and everything else
from going back into the pool,and it does trap a smaller
micron, but it does have the DEpowder that's in the filter, and
a cartridge filter does not haveanything coating the cartridge,
so that's the one primaryadvantage when you go to clean
(06:17):
it, is that it's not going to beas messy as cleaning a D filter.
So you're not going to be hosingoff your deck three weeks later
to get some of that gray dustout of there, and it does make
cleaning this very easy.
You just take the filter apart,hose off the cartridges, all the
dirt comes off, and you put itback in the filter.
(06:38):
Whereas a D filter, you hose offthe grids, or if you have a quad
D filter, the DE cartridges, andthen you have to find a safe
place to hose it off where theDE is not going to get into
everything and eventually turninto a hard gray clay.
And you also have to be mindfulof cleaning it in the street.
(06:58):
Many cities and counties haveregulations about DE getting
into the sewer system.
So cleaning a D filter in frontof your house is not something
that you can do in most caseslegally in cities, and so you
have to be kind of mindful ofthat.
Some builders will put a P trapand it'll go directly into the
(07:18):
sewer, which you know is fine, Iguess, in some circumstances.
But most new pool builders willjust go in a cartridge filter
because of the regulations withthe D filter, they won't even
put one in.
The diatomaceous earth is reallymessy and you have to recharge
it when you clean the filter.
And if you've ever cleaned, ifyou are doing pool service and
(07:39):
you've cleaned 40 of these in amonth, you get tired of the D
filters very very quickly.
Because of the square footage ofthe cartridge filter, even
though you can't backwash them,it's not really a drawback.
If, for example, I'm just gonnacompare a 60 square foot D
filter, which is a pretty commonsize filter here, with a 450 or
(08:01):
420 square foot cartridgefilter, which is also a very
common size here as well.
Now, if you just do basic math,if you take let's say 450 square
feet and you divide that by 60square feet, you have 7.5 times
more surface area on a cartridgefilter for the dirt than you do
(08:22):
have on a D filter, which makesa tremendous difference in flow.
Now, if you ever change out a Dfilter, I had I used this
example where I had a pool thatwas about 25,000 gallons.
It had a 36 square foot D filteron there for many many years.
It's crazy.
And I changed it out to a 520square foot cartridge filter.
(08:43):
The flow was so tremendousbecause it had one return line
and it had a small little spathat I had to adjust the return
to where the spa was open more,and you know the return line was
just jamming with water comingout of there so fast, and you'll
you'll the difference was nightand day with the flow between a
cartridge filter and a D filter.
(09:05):
Because of the larger surfacearea, you also have to worry too
much about the filter pressuregoing from like with a D filter,
typically you're at 20 PSI, andwhen it starts to get dirty, the
D the D starts to get a lot ofdirt and different things stuck
to it, debris, the psi in thefilter starts to go up because
(09:28):
there's there's more resistanceto the water passing through the
grids in a D filter, causingmore pressure to build in the
tank, causing the gauge to go togo from 20 to maybe 30 psi,
which restricts the flow back tothe pool.
(10:03):
And so if you have you can seethis pretty obviously, if you
have a spa spillway with a Dfilter, when the PSI gets to
about 30, it's gonna be justdripping over the spillway, and
maybe not even the spa may noteven be circulating at that
point because the flow is sorestricted in a D filter from
(10:24):
all the dirt being in thefilter, and this is one drawback
with the diatomissions filter,and in some respects the sand
filter will also have a rise inpsi as as it starts to get
dirty, restricting the flow tothe pool, which causes a whole
slew of other problems.
You know, as the flow slowsdown, of course the skimmer is
(10:45):
not pulling in debris that fallsto the bottom, the organic
debris uses up some of thechlorine.
Since it's not flowing reallywell, there's some dead spots
that develop in the pool, andthen algae starts to form.
But with the cartridge filter,because you have a superior
square footage in most cases,you're not going to have that
problem because even if thecartridge filter starts to get
(11:08):
dirty, the flow is notrestricted because of the extra
area that you have over a Dfilter.
And therefore, even with a poolthat has a cartridge filter
that's just as dirty as a Dfilter, the flow is not
restricted at all, and the PSIand the gauge will still stay at
18 or 20.
Sometimes up to the six-monthperiod, we have to clean the
(11:31):
filter because of the superiorflow of the cartridge filter.
The cartridge filter is alsodesigned for the modern variable
speed pumps that will have atotal three horsepower ability,
and so you're going to be ableto utilize the full flow of your
(11:53):
pool equipment based on, ofcourse, you know, your the
dynamics of the plumbing.
There's going to be somerestriction, but I mentioned the
extra flow you get with thecartridge filter because of the
square footage.
This also translates totranslates to better flow with a
higher horsepower pump.
If you wanted to run yourvariable speed pump at a higher
(12:17):
speed, the cartridge filter hasno problem maintaining the flow
at the higher speed.
We're a D filter, there's acertain limit of flow because of
the grids and a diatomaceousearth, and a sand filter
actually works better on lowerflow.
On a higher flow, it doesn'twork as well as a cartridge
(12:37):
filter, and so the cartridgefilter does have that, of
course, superiority that with apool that needs a lot of flow,
it does work much better to havea cartridge filter.
There are also a lot of thingsthat can not go wrong with a
cartridge filter, where with a Dfilter, a sand filter, you could
have some problems with thosefilters that a cartridge filter
(13:00):
will not encounter.
Basically, the cartridge filteris just the cartridges.
You have a top manifold and abottom manifold, and then you
have an air bleeder inside thefilter, and that's the
components for the cartridgefilter.
So rarely will you have aproblem with debris leaking back
into the pool, and you certainlywon't have a problem with diet
(13:22):
diatomaceous earth leaking backinto the pool covering the
bottom with this gray powder.
Now, a D filter in retrospecthas a few more components, and
it does have some fail pointsthat a cartridge filter does not
have.
For instance, a D filter can geta tear in the grid or it could
get a crack in the manifold, andit can even have a stem O-ring
(13:46):
that's worn out, and all of thiswill allow the DE and dirt to
pass back into the pool, causinga cloudy gray mess in the pool.
And if you think this is notgoing to happen very often, if
you do pool service, you knowthis happens quite often out
there where you have a fill a Dfilter with a leak of some kind,
a tear in the grid, crack topmanifold, maybe the grids aren't
(14:11):
actually in the manifoldcorrectly.
Any number of things can causediatomaceous earth to leak back
into the pool, and this isdefinitely a problem with a D
filter.
Another problem is sometimes thepool will hick up DE into the
pool either through the maindrain or when you're cleaning
it, some DE may be in the returnline, and then when you start
(14:33):
everything back up, diatomaceousearth shoots out back into the
pool, causing what I call a DEhiccup basically, or a DE burp,
and then you have to clean thepool and take care of that.
The cartridge filter does nothave that problem, and so you
avoid all of that when you havea cartridge filter.
(14:54):
You just avoid the whole messassociated with diatomaceous
earth recharging the filter, aleak in the filter, all these
factors I think are important inyour decision to upgrade your
filter and which one you wouldwant to get.
I would not upgrade a D filterto another D filter, it doesn't
(15:14):
make any sense in any stretch ofthe imagination to put the same
filter in.
If you're struggling with it,you don't like cleaning it, you
know, you have problems with itleaking before.
Go with the cartridge filter toeliminate all of those issues.
I'd like to touch one more timeon the fact that a cartridge
filter is much easier to clean aD filter because I think this is
(15:36):
an important point that reallyneeds to be emphasized.
With the cartridge filter,again, you take the lid off, you
take the four cartridges out.
If you have a four cartridgefilter or a single cartridge out
of the filter, you simply hoseit off into a drain or maybe
onto the grass, and then you putit back together and you're
done.
A D filter, usually it has a topmanifold.
(15:58):
You have to sometimes yousometimes you can pull the whole
thing out, but it's prettyheavy.
Other times you can take the topmanifold off and clean the
grids.
Basically, you're hosing thegrids off, checking for any
holes in the grids, and thenyou're cleaning it, making sure
that you don't make a mess withthe DE, and then you're putting
the filter back together, andthen you're recharging it,
hoping that the DE stays in thefilter.
(16:20):
So the way I did with a DEfilter, when I clean one, I'll
take my D scoop and I'll put onescoop in the skimmer, and then
I'll stand by the return lineand I'll say a little prayer
that no DE leaks back into thepool.
Because if you do that and youput the DE in the skimmer, and
then the white powder shoots outthe return line, you have to
(16:41):
take the whole filter apart,inspect it, check it again for
any kind of rips in the grids,cracks in the manifold, and then
do the whole cleaning processagain, and then put it back
together, put the one scoop ofDE in the skimmer, and then hope
that it's not gonna shoot backinto the pool.
So all these are drawbacks witha D filter, of course, and make
(17:02):
the cartridge filter superior bydefault in that case.
Now, as far as the filterelements, I don't think there's
a huge difference in cost whenyou replace the grids of a D
filter and the cartridge filter,because the way I do it on my
pool route is I replace both theD grids and the cartridge
filters at the same time.
(17:23):
So every three years you'regetting all new grids in your D
filter, and every three yearsyou're getting all new
cartridges if you have a quadtype four cartridge filter.
Now, if there's a singlecartridge, you're changing that
more often.
So keep that in mind that maybethe costs might not be quite as
good with a four cartridgefilter as a single cartridge
(17:43):
filter if you're changing thatsingle cartridge filter more
often over time, but it's notreally a cost savings one over
the other, so that's kind oflike a wash when you're thinking
about getting a cartridgefilter.
You're not gonna save moneyreally with replacing the
cartridges.
Although there are genericcartridges that are pretty
inexpensive, I don't recommendthose.
(18:04):
I just would recommend goingwith you know a good brand if
you're gonna replace thecartridges, Plico, Filber,
Unicell, those are brands that Iwould replace the cartridges
with.
And there's a variety ofelements or cartridges available
for each cartridge filter, whichmakes it nice to shop around
when you're going to get newcartridges.
Bottom line, the cartridgefilter has superior square
(18:27):
footage, it also has superiorflow over a D filter and a sand
filter, and it's going to beeasy to clean.
And without a few exceptions, Ithink a cartridge filter is the
next filter type that you shouldinstall in your pool if you're
thinking about upgrading yourequipment.
If you're building a pool, morethan likely the builder will put
in a cartridge filter.
(18:48):
If not, I would insist on it.
And the cartridge filter, in myopinion, is the best filter type
out there.
If you're looking for otherpodcasts, you can go to my
website, SonyProLearning.com.
On the banner, click on thepodcast icon.
There'll be a drop-down menuwith other podcasts there.
And if you're interested in thecoaching program, you can learn
more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.
(19:09):
Thanks for listening to thispodcast.
Have a rest of your week and Godbless.
Hey, welcome to the Pool Game Podcast Show.
In this episode, I'm gonna goover why I believe a cartridge
filter is vastly superior to a Dfilter and a sand filter, and
why your next filter in mostcircumstances should be a
cartridge pool filter.
(02:12):
Are you a pool service prolooking to take your business to
the next level?
Join the pool guy coachingprogram.
Get expert advice, businesstips, exclusive content, and get
direct support from me.
I'm a 35-year veteran in theindustry.
Whether you're starting out orscaling up, I've got the tools
to help you succeed.
Learn more atswimmingpoollearning.com.
Now I do want to emphasize inmost cases, because there is an
(02:36):
exception to certain areas andcertain pools where I think a
Karstra's filter may be inferiorto a sand or D filter.
And these are areas where youget a lot of dirt.
So the high desert, low desertof California, parts of, of
course, Arizona and Nevada,where dirt is a big issue.
(02:58):
You may want to consider a sandor D filter.
However, a cartridge filter isstill appropriate for those
areas.
It's just that you're gonnaprobably clean them more often
than I'm gonna state here inthis podcast.
So instead of cleaning themevery four to six months, you
may be cleaning them every twomonths, depending on how much
dirt gets in the pool.
And you can't backwash acartridge filter like a sand or
(03:20):
D filter.
So you have to kind of use thatas your gauge for your area.
If you're gonna switch to acartridge filter, I still think
in most areas, 95% of the time,the cartridge filter is much a
much better choice.
And there are some areas or somecircumstances.
For instance, if you have maybean elderly parent that has a
(03:41):
pool and you want to get areally easy filter with low
maintenance, then I would say asand filter, even though it's
not that efficient, would be thebest choice because you just
backwash a sand filter wheneverthe pressure gets too high in
it, and you never really take itapart to clean it.
So those are the exceptions tothe rule of why a cartridge
(04:02):
filter is superior.
And I'm gonna get into thedetails now of why I think a
cartridge filter should be yourgo-to filter choice for your
pool.
Briefly, a cartridge filterworks just like the other
filters in filtering the water,with some exceptions.
It uses a pleated polyester orpaper type cartridge.
(04:27):
I call it paper because it lookslike paper, so a lot of people
think that it's made out ofpaper, but it is a paper type
material, it's not a clothmaterial like a D filter, and
it's definitely not just sand inthe filter like a sand filter.
You can't backwash again thecartridge filter, it's just
(04:49):
because of the design of it, itjust can't be backwashed, and
because of the large surfacearea of a cartridge filter,
there should be no need tobackwash it anyway, and it
filters down to about 10 to 20microns to give you an idea of
how that fares against a Dfilter.
A D filter does filter down to 3to 5 microns.
Because of the diatomaceousearth that's coating the D
(05:11):
filter, this traps a lot moreparticles down to a smaller
micron than a cartridge filter,which uses a polyester paper
type material.
And then the sand filter trapsdown to about 40 microns.
So the cartridge filter kind offalls into the middle between
both of these filters, and youreally can't tell the difference
(05:33):
between a pool on a D filter anda cartridge filter.
And in most cases, you can'treally tell a pool that's on a
sand filter either, because thehuman eye can't detect certain
micron levels and you can't seedirt past a certain level.
And the cartridge filterdefinitely filters enough for
sure.
Now I did mention that a Dfilter uses D powder or
(05:55):
diatomaceous earth, I shouldsay, that coats the grids that
traps the you know the dirt andthe algae and everything else
from going back into the pool,and it does trap a smaller
micron, but it does have the DEpowder that's in the filter, and
a cartridge filter does not haveanything coating the cartridge,
so that's the one primaryadvantage when you go to clean
(06:17):
it, is that it's not going to beas messy as cleaning a D filter.
So you're not going to be hosingoff your deck three weeks later
to get some of that gray dustout of there, and it does make
cleaning this very easy.
You just take the filter apart,hose off the cartridges, all the
dirt comes off, and you put itback in the filter.
(06:38):
Whereas a D filter, you hose offthe grids, or if you have a quad
D filter, the DE cartridges, andthen you have to find a safe
place to hose it off where theDE is not going to get into
everything and eventually turninto a hard gray clay.
And you also have to be mindfulof cleaning it in the street.
(06:58):
Many cities and counties haveregulations about DE getting
into the sewer system.
So cleaning a D filter in frontof your house is not something
that you can do in most caseslegally in cities, and so you
have to be kind of mindful ofthat.
Some builders will put a P trapand it'll go directly into the
(07:18):
sewer, which you know is fine, Iguess, in some circumstances.
But most new pool builders willjust go in a cartridge filter
because of the regulations withthe D filter, they won't even
put one in.
The diatomaceous earth is reallymessy and you have to recharge
it when you clean the filter.
And if you've ever cleaned, ifyou are doing pool service and
(07:39):
you've cleaned 40 of these in amonth, you get tired of the D
filters very very quickly.
Because of the square footage ofthe cartridge filter, even
though you can't backwash them,it's not really a drawback.
If, for example, I'm just gonnacompare a 60 square foot D
filter, which is a pretty commonsize filter here, with a 450 or
(08:01):
420 square foot cartridgefilter, which is also a very
common size here as well.
Now, if you just do basic math,if you take let's say 450 square
feet and you divide that by 60square feet, you have 7.5 times
more surface area on a cartridgefilter for the dirt than you do
(08:22):
have on a D filter, which makesa tremendous difference in flow.
Now, if you ever change out a Dfilter, I had I used this
example where I had a pool thatwas about 25,000 gallons.
It had a 36 square foot D filteron there for many many years.
It's crazy.
And I changed it out to a 520square foot cartridge filter.
(08:43):
The flow was so tremendousbecause it had one return line
and it had a small little spathat I had to adjust the return
to where the spa was open more,and you know the return line was
just jamming with water comingout of there so fast, and you'll
you'll the difference was nightand day with the flow between a
cartridge filter and a D filter.
(09:05):
Because of the larger surfacearea, you also have to worry too
much about the filter pressuregoing from like with a D filter,
typically you're at 20 PSI, andwhen it starts to get dirty, the
D the D starts to get a lot ofdirt and different things stuck
to it, debris, the psi in thefilter starts to go up because
(09:28):
there's there's more resistanceto the water passing through the
grids in a D filter, causingmore pressure to build in the
tank, causing the gauge to go togo from 20 to maybe 30 psi,
which restricts the flow back tothe pool.
(10:03):
And so if you have you can seethis pretty obviously, if you
have a spa spillway with a Dfilter, when the PSI gets to
about 30, it's gonna be justdripping over the spillway, and
maybe not even the spa may noteven be circulating at that
point because the flow is sorestricted in a D filter from
(10:24):
all the dirt being in thefilter, and this is one drawback
with the diatomissions filter,and in some respects the sand
filter will also have a rise inpsi as as it starts to get
dirty, restricting the flow tothe pool, which causes a whole
slew of other problems.
You know, as the flow slowsdown, of course the skimmer is
(10:45):
not pulling in debris that fallsto the bottom, the organic
debris uses up some of thechlorine.
Since it's not flowing reallywell, there's some dead spots
that develop in the pool, andthen algae starts to form.
But with the cartridge filter,because you have a superior
square footage in most cases,you're not going to have that
problem because even if thecartridge filter starts to get
(11:08):
dirty, the flow is notrestricted because of the extra
area that you have over a Dfilter.
And therefore, even with a poolthat has a cartridge filter
that's just as dirty as a Dfilter, the flow is not
restricted at all, and the PSIand the gauge will still stay at
18 or 20.
Sometimes up to the six-monthperiod, we have to clean the
(11:31):
filter because of the superiorflow of the cartridge filter.
The cartridge filter is alsodesigned for the modern variable
speed pumps that will have atotal three horsepower ability,
and so you're going to be ableto utilize the full flow of your
(11:53):
pool equipment based on, ofcourse, you know, your the
dynamics of the plumbing.
There's going to be somerestriction, but I mentioned the
extra flow you get with thecartridge filter because of the
square footage.
This also translates totranslates to better flow with a
higher horsepower pump.
If you wanted to run yourvariable speed pump at a higher
(12:17):
speed, the cartridge filter hasno problem maintaining the flow
at the higher speed.
We're a D filter, there's acertain limit of flow because of
the grids and a diatomaceousearth, and a sand filter
actually works better on lowerflow.
On a higher flow, it doesn'twork as well as a cartridge
(12:37):
filter, and so the cartridgefilter does have that, of
course, superiority that with apool that needs a lot of flow,
it does work much better to havea cartridge filter.
There are also a lot of thingsthat can not go wrong with a
cartridge filter, where with a Dfilter, a sand filter, you could
have some problems with thosefilters that a cartridge filter
(13:00):
will not encounter.
Basically, the cartridge filteris just the cartridges.
You have a top manifold and abottom manifold, and then you
have an air bleeder inside thefilter, and that's the
components for the cartridgefilter.
So rarely will you have aproblem with debris leaking back
into the pool, and you certainlywon't have a problem with diet
(13:22):
diatomaceous earth leaking backinto the pool covering the
bottom with this gray powder.
Now, a D filter in retrospecthas a few more components, and
it does have some fail pointsthat a cartridge filter does not
have.
For instance, a D filter can geta tear in the grid or it could
get a crack in the manifold, andit can even have a stem O-ring
(13:46):
that's worn out, and all of thiswill allow the DE and dirt to
pass back into the pool, causinga cloudy gray mess in the pool.
And if you think this is notgoing to happen very often, if
you do pool service, you knowthis happens quite often out
there where you have a fill a Dfilter with a leak of some kind,
a tear in the grid, crack topmanifold, maybe the grids aren't
(14:11):
actually in the manifoldcorrectly.
Any number of things can causediatomaceous earth to leak back
into the pool, and this isdefinitely a problem with a D
filter.
Another problem is sometimes thepool will hick up DE into the
pool either through the maindrain or when you're cleaning
it, some DE may be in the returnline, and then when you start
(14:33):
everything back up, diatomaceousearth shoots out back into the
pool, causing what I call a DEhiccup basically, or a DE burp,
and then you have to clean thepool and take care of that.
The cartridge filter does nothave that problem, and so you
avoid all of that when you havea cartridge filter.
(14:54):
You just avoid the whole messassociated with diatomaceous
earth recharging the filter, aleak in the filter, all these
factors I think are important inyour decision to upgrade your
filter and which one you wouldwant to get.
I would not upgrade a D filterto another D filter, it doesn't
(15:14):
make any sense in any stretch ofthe imagination to put the same
filter in.
If you're struggling with it,you don't like cleaning it, you
know, you have problems with itleaking before.
Go with the cartridge filter toeliminate all of those issues.
I'd like to touch one more timeon the fact that a cartridge
filter is much easier to clean aD filter because I think this is
(15:36):
an important point that reallyneeds to be emphasized.
With the cartridge filter,again, you take the lid off, you
take the four cartridges out.
If you have a four cartridgefilter or a single cartridge out
of the filter, you simply hoseit off into a drain or maybe
onto the grass, and then you putit back together and you're
done.
A D filter, usually it has a topmanifold.
(15:58):
You have to sometimes yousometimes you can pull the whole
thing out, but it's prettyheavy.
Other times you can take the topmanifold off and clean the
grids.
Basically, you're hosing thegrids off, checking for any
holes in the grids, and thenyou're cleaning it, making sure
that you don't make a mess withthe DE, and then you're putting
the filter back together, andthen you're recharging it,
hoping that the DE stays in thefilter.
(16:20):
So the way I did with a DEfilter, when I clean one, I'll
take my D scoop and I'll put onescoop in the skimmer, and then
I'll stand by the return lineand I'll say a little prayer
that no DE leaks back into thepool.
Because if you do that and youput the DE in the skimmer, and
then the white powder shoots outthe return line, you have to
(16:41):
take the whole filter apart,inspect it, check it again for
any kind of rips in the grids,cracks in the manifold, and then
do the whole cleaning processagain, and then put it back
together, put the one scoop ofDE in the skimmer, and then hope
that it's not gonna shoot backinto the pool.
So all these are drawbacks witha D filter, of course, and make
(17:02):
the cartridge filter superior bydefault in that case.
Now, as far as the filterelements, I don't think there's
a huge difference in cost whenyou replace the grids of a D
filter and the cartridge filter,because the way I do it on my
pool route is I replace both theD grids and the cartridge
filters at the same time.
(17:23):
So every three years you'regetting all new grids in your D
filter, and every three yearsyou're getting all new
cartridges if you have a quadtype four cartridge filter.
Now, if there's a singlecartridge, you're changing that
more often.
So keep that in mind that maybethe costs might not be quite as
good with a four cartridgefilter as a single cartridge
(17:43):
filter if you're changing thatsingle cartridge filter more
often over time, but it's notreally a cost savings one over
the other, so that's kind oflike a wash when you're thinking
about getting a cartridgefilter.
You're not gonna save moneyreally with replacing the
cartridges.
Although there are genericcartridges that are pretty
inexpensive, I don't recommendthose.
(18:04):
I just would recommend goingwith you know a good brand if
you're gonna replace thecartridges, Plico, Filber,
Unicell, those are brands that Iwould replace the cartridges
with.
And there's a variety ofelements or cartridges available
for each cartridge filter, whichmakes it nice to shop around
when you're going to get newcartridges.
Bottom line, the cartridgefilter has superior square
(18:27):
footage, it also has superiorflow over a D filter and a sand
filter, and it's going to beeasy to clean.
And without a few exceptions, Ithink a cartridge filter is the
next filter type that you shouldinstall in your pool if you're
thinking about upgrading yourequipment.
If you're building a pool, morethan likely the builder will put
in a cartridge filter.
(18:48):
If not, I would insist on it.
And the cartridge filter, in myopinion, is the best filter type
out there.
If you're looking for otherpodcasts, you can go to my
website, SonyProLearning.com.
On the banner, click on thepodcast icon.
There'll be a drop-down menuwith other podcasts there.
And if you're interested in thecoaching program, you can learn
more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.
(19:09):
Thanks for listening to thispodcast.
Have a rest of your week and Godbless.
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