Extend the Life of Your Swimming Pool Filter

If you own a swimming pool that uses a filter cartridge, you know that replacing the filter is part of the routine expense along with the small arsenal of chemicals that are required to maintain the PH and combat the various forms of algae that like to inhabit your pool. The pool filter is an integral component in the continuous battle to keep the swimming pool clean and sanitary.

Part of the ongoing upkeep of the swimming pool is to clean the filter cartridge. The filter housing is equipped with a pressure gauge that reads the differential pressure across the filter. As the filter collects dirt and algae water flows less freely through the filter, and the pressure across the filter slowly rises. Removing the filter from the housing and cleaning it normally removes all the particles and restores the normal water flow. Oils, however, are not so easily removed.

Over time, body oils and suntan lotions build up within the filter. Normal cleaning methods remove very little of these oils from the filter. It may look clean, but as time goes on you will notice that the pressure gauge remains higher than usual and the filter needs cleaning on a more frequent basis to reduce the differential pressure. Replacing the filter seems the only option, but with replacement filters costing around $70, depending on the size, is there another option? Maybe. Perhaps the filter does not have to be replaced. Maybe it just needs a thorough cleaning to remove the buildup of oils.

Take a large trashcan and fill it with water. You may have to use a 30-gallon trash bag as a liner if the trashcan will not hold water on its own. Clean your swimming pool filter as you normally do, and then place the filter into the water filled trashcan. Add about a cup of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid to the water. Dawn is particularly good on removing oils, and I highly recommend it. Agitate the soapy water by pulling the pool filter up and down in the water several times. Let the filter sit for about an hour, agitating it periodically.

After the hour-long soak, give the filter and water one last good agitation, remove the filter and rinse it thoroughly. Repeat the rinsing as necessary until the water runs clear. If you do not remove the soap, you are going to have one much oversized bubble bath of a swimming pool. Once thoroughly rinsed you can place the filter back into the filter cartridge and restart the pump to the swimming pool. You should see a major and lasting difference in the filter pressure gauge, and you just saved yourself $70 or so.