Home How-To & Tips Cleaning your Pool Filters

Cleaning your Pool Filters

How to clean your swimming pool filters. At the center of your swimming pool plumbing system & equipment is a very key component, the pool filter.

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HOW TO CLEAN A SWIMMING POOL FILTER

Cleaning a pool filter is NOT hard, but you need to know how to do it. There are 3 main types of pool filters:

Sand
DE
Cartridge

how to clean dirty swimming pool filters

Before you begin, go out to the pool equipment and determine which type of pool filter you have – the procedure to cleaning & servicing will vary depending.

KNOWING WHEN TO CLEAN A POOL FILTER

swimming pool filter pressure guage time to clean pool

Every pool filter should have a working pressure gauge – and that’s what is going to tell you when it is time to clean the pool filters.

When the pool filter pressure is at 10lbs/psi or more above the normal operating pressure then it is time to clean the filters.

TIP: The average operating pressure of a pool filter under normal conditions is a range from 12psi to 18psi.

Cleaning pool filters on a regular basis

The rule of thumb is: “clean the pool filter when 10lbs above normal pressure or every 30 days, whichever comes first.”

Ok, but not all of the 3 main pool filter types are made the same. For example, here are the typical cleaning intervals of each of those main 3 types of pool filters:

SAND pool filters
The sand inside of a sand pool filter should be changed with new sand every 5 years, and should be backwashed every 30 days.
DE pool filters
The diatomaceous earth pool filter requires 30 day backwash cycles and you should manually clean the DE grids once per year.
CARTRIDGE pool filters
Made from a porous, usually paper material, the cartridge pool filter should be manually cleaned every 3 to 4 months.

WANT TO TALK WITH A PRO?

howe to clean pool filters tips from pros

ASK A PRO: about my pool filters

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T CLEAN MY POOL FILTERS?

There are a few bad things that can happen if you let your pool filters go too long without cleaning them. A dirty, backed up pool filter can cause mechanical damages to the pool pump, and chemical problems in the pool.

KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME TO CLEAN THE POOL FITLERS

The most notable problems you can have from NOT CLEANING your pool filters are:

1. Green pool
2. Cloudy pool
3. Noisy filter pump
4. High pressure between the filter pump and filter (bad for the pump motor)
5. DE filters can break grids internally.
6. Cracks can form on the collector manifolds inside the filter from excessive high pressure

Basically, a dirty pool filter, when let go for to long will cause problems. When the filter or something else breaks, it won’t be long before you have a pond instead of a pool.

how to clean de swimming pool filters