They look a lot like the pleated air filter in your car, but with a center chamber. Pool filter cartridges trap dirt as the water is forced through the pleated polyester. Whether you have an in-ground or an aboveground pool, filter cartridge elements work the same way, get dirty the same way, and are cleaned the same way.
There are many products that can help make your filter cleanings quick and effective. I’ll show you how they are used in combination to help make your filter last through as many as 15 to 20 cleanings or for as long as two to four years.
Dirty Filter Cartridges
First step is to remove the filter cartridge from your filter tank. After the lid is off, you may need to separate individual cartridges (if you have more than one) from a manifold assembly. After the cartridge is out, take a chair and, through the use of pressurized water, blast the dirt and debris out of the pleats of the filter cartridge.
There are several options for how to best spray clean your cartridge filter. You can either do it manually or automatically.
To clean a filter cartridge manually, you can use a garden hose or step it up a notch and check out these pool cartridge cleaning tools: Pool Filter Wand, the Filter Flosser, or the Water Wand Cartridge Cleaner.
These all follow the same principle: attaching to a regular garden hose and forcing the water into small pressurized jets. This allows for sharp streams of water to get in between the pleats for a faster, more complete cleaning. In addition, the Pool Filter Wand contains a heavy-duty brush to ensure that your filter is clean of all debris that may be lodged between the pleats of the cartridge.
I have heard stories of pool owners taking their filter cartridges to the car wash or using their own pressure washer to clean the pool cartridge. A little bit of pressure is good, but with too much pressure, however, the fibers of spun polyester can separate or develop small holes. Most filter cartridge manufacturers recommend that high-pressure cleaning not be used with pool filter cartridges.
To clean your pool cartridge automatically, you can use the Blaster Automatic Filter Cleaner. This handy contraption automatically spins your cartridge as it is thoroughly sprayed by jets of water. Its horizontal design allows for the dirt and debris to easily fall from the filter – avoiding the lodging that occurs in vertical cleaning. The Blaster can clean most filter cartridges in just minutes and is available in three sizes.
Whichever route you decide to take, the most important thing to remember is that patience and care are key. The more time you spend carefully cleaning your cartridge, the more dirt and debris you will be able to dislodge from the pleats of the filter. Remember, if you clean your filter cartridge thoroughly each time, it will be that much easier to clean next time!
Oily Filter Cartridges
Sadly, hosing them clean is as far as most people go to clean their filter cartridges. While the loose dirt and debris has been removed from the cartridge, there usually is a good amount of deposits still left on the cartridge that you may not be able to see. What I’m referring to are oils, grease and grime. Oily residues not only inhibit the filtering ability of the cartridge, but also make it easier for dirt to become deeply embedded within the filter pleats.
Two great options to dissolve this oil and scum are the Granular Filter Cleaner and Natural Chemistry’s Filter Perfect. These two options work the exact same way. They mix with water to create a concentrated cleaning solution that will dissolve oil and scale. Simply soak your filter in the solution overnight or for 24 hours after you have washed off all the loose dirt and debris.
While these products work the same way, Filter Perfect utilizes enzymes to dissolve the oils on the filter, while our granular product works more on mineral deposits. Once your filter cartridge is clean, rinse thoroughly with water and let it dry completely before reinstalling. For this reason, some pool owners buy an extra set of filter cartridges to keep the pool filtering while cleaning the other set.
We’re Done!
If you’ve followed these quick and simple steps you first blasted the loose dirt and debris off of your filter cartridge and then dissolved the hard-to-clean oil and scum. If you keep up with regular cleanings, your filter cartridges should last longer. When the time between necessary cleanings becomes shorter, about half as long as it once was, it’s time to replace the filter cartridges.
Hi Davy! We recently purchased a cartridge filter system but have been experiencing white particles coming into the pool from the filter system. What are your thoughts on what is causing this?
White particles? Do you think it’s the cartridge itself? Not a common problem, but if say for example, chemicals were dumped into the skimmer, (shock chlorine or pH decreaser), it could harm the cartridge. Otherwise, if not the filter, it could be some sort of white mold, or … Im not sure what else it could be, unless they are very tiny particles, which could be calcium or carbonates, normal stuff that clouds pool water, when filtration, sanitation or circulation is not optimum.
They say these cleaners are citrus cleaners. Can something like “Greased Lightning” be just as good?
Hi Reid, found this: “The Greased Lightning 32 oz. Cleaner and Degreaser is a multi-purpose cleaner that works best on non-porous surfaces” – so probably not so good on cartridges. It’s a degreaser, not a descaler or an acid, like Citrus Cleaners can be. Acids like citrus, vinegar, muriatic… will remove calcium deposits and other forms of mineral scale from filters. Degreasers on the other hand, will remove oils and other sticky substances. So you could use both, or one or the other depending on your particular water characteristics, but usually cartridges are both a bit scaly and a bit greasy, so a complete treatment would be a degreasing, followed by a descaling, followed by a rinsing or soaking, and then allowing them to dry fully before re-use, to kill remaining bacteria. Our Filter Cleaner products are mostly a combination descaler/degreaser chemical, so a bit more convenient to use as a filter cleaner.
Thanks much for the info. About to replace four filter cartridges but I decided to go ahead and use the G-L on my old ones. Probably the last time I’ll clean them. I will definitely be getting some recommended cleaner for the new ones.
is it better to rinse the dirty filters while there still wet,or should you let them dry out, or does it matter?
Hi Jason, good question. You should rinse them while they are wet – don’t allow them to dry, which could make it harder to clean. Secondly, after cleaning, they should be allowed to dry fully before using again, to kill any bacteria which may be present, and which relies on water to live. This is why we recommend having a second set of cartridges available, so you can swap them out right away and allow the other set to dry fully for a few days.
[…] and detailed instructions on how to deep clean your cartridge filter element check out Martin’s post “How to Really Clean a Pool Filter Cartridge”. Remember that spa filters should be replaced […]