Things You'll Need:
- Flocking agent for a sand filter (optional) Diatomaceous earth (D.E.) for the D.E. filter Five-gallon bucket to mix the D.E. slurry Hose with a high-pressure nozzle for the cartridge filter
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Step 1
Choose a high-rate sand Jacuzzi filter in areas where windy conditions blow large amounts of sand and grit into your pool, such as near a coastal beach or in the American Southwest. (Sand can do a lot of damage to the grids and O-rings in a D.E. filter and to the elements in a cartridge filter.) A sand filter is already filled with layers of graded sand as the filtering medium, so more sand won't hurt it. You can also add a flocking agent to the filter to aid in coagulating and filtering finer dirt particles.
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Step 2
Understand that sand filters were once the most popular type of filter, but with the technological advances in the other types, their popularity is limited. The major drawback is frequent backwashing. This process can use hundreds of gallons of water for each backwash cycle, and changing out sand when it becomes too saturated is a real chore.
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Step 3
Use a D.E. filter for most pool applications. The filter has fabric covered grids coated with a thin layer of D.E. The D.E. is composed of the crushed skeletons of small prehistoric creatures called diatoms, and this filtering medium catches tiny debris down to five microns. By comparison, a human hair is about 40 microns in diameter. Cleaning the filter is simple. Using the backwash valve, you reverse the flow of water through the filter to wash off the dirty D.E., then re-coat the grids by pouring a slurry of it through the skimmer. If you need to vacuum the pool frequently, this filter is probably your best choice because it takes less water to backwash than the sand filter and less time to clean than a cartridge filter.
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Step 4
Recognize that the drawbacks to this type of filter are that it requires a p-trap to drain and flush the dirty water and D.E., and the fine white powder can be messy to deal with. It also uses a substantial amount of water to backwash, though far less than the sand filter. In addition, you'll have to take the filter apart at least once a year to do a thorough hand-cleaning of the filter grids.
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Step 5
Install a cartridge filter for ease of maintenance and less mess. The Jacuzzi cartridge filter has multiple elements inside that also filter the pool water down to five microns. Use a cartridge filter when space is at a premium. The profile of the cartridge filter is usually slimmer than either of the other two, and the cartridge filter doesn't require a backwash valve or a backwash line, so it will fit in a smaller space. You won't have to deal with the cost and waste of using a large volume of water to backwash, and you will save money in not needing D.E to re-coat the elements.
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Step 6
Realize that the one drawback to a cartridge filter is that when it gets dirty, the only way to clean the elements thoroughly is to take the filter apart and clean the elements by hand with a high-pressure hose. You'll be taking the filter apart more often than you would with either the high-rate sand filter or the D.E. filter. However, even with the necessary hosing, the cartridge filter still uses less water in the cleaning process than the sand or D.E. filters.
