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I have a cartridge filter less than a year old (Waterco CC100) and after all of the pollen was washed into the pool after a big rain, the performance of the filter has diminished greatly.
How do I clean my filter without damaging it and restore it? I wash the filter almost daily and don't want to damage the pleats with harsh chemicals.
I don't know how to clean cartridge filters. Mine is sand, effective, efficient, and easy to maintain. Someone else will surely have some good ideas for you.
To avoid this sort of clogging with pollen–and believe me, I know just what you're talking about!–give some thought to using skimmer socks. Available from a number of sources though I buy mine at the pool store, they fit inside your skimmer basket and catch all the big stuff. Pollen collects in it and will look like wet felt or wet wool but it won't get into your filter. During high pollen season I replace the skimmer sock twice a day. Rinse it out and it's ready to go again.
"white fibrous" and "pollen" are sort of contradiction in terms. (I'm sort of a amateur naturalist, and also have to be up on this stuff as a Scoutmaster).
I'm guessing you may be talking about cotton wood seeds and sails, like this:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/...ec8877cce6.jpg -- http://www.newswise.com/images/uploa...ddandelion.jpg -- http://plantandsoil.unl.edu/croptech...tonwood-SM.jpg
Cottonwood is not super common in Florida, but that doesn't mean you don't have some in your neighborhood. Here's a page that might help you determine if that's the case: http://www.cirrusimage.com/tree_cottonwood.htm
If your fibers are NOT cottonwood, it would probably help if you can figure out what they ARE from -- it might, or might not matter.
More generally, the sort of filter socks Marie describes will help keep such fibers out of your filter. They are available from Amazon:
Poolmaster 16242 Poolmaster Skimmer Basket Liner for about $6 for a package of 5. 2 day shipping is 'free' if you have Amazon Prime. (I have it personally -- it's a great deal IF you use Amazon a lot.) This link goes to a hi-res picture of the sox: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg
Regarding filter cleaning, here's the WaterCo manual: http://www.waterco.com.au/downloads/...dge_manual.pdf , but their instructions just say to clean with a hose.
I'm not sure what's happened to your cartridge, but I can assure you it is NOT normal to clean daily. Are your cartridge pleats stuck together as they are in this picture?
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-f...ts%2520800.jpg
Let me know -- I think I can recruit some product people to help, if you need it. But, we need to eliminate the basics, first. One caution: there are some very low grade filter cartridges being sold online and locally. If your cartridge does not have "Unicel" or "Filbur" molded into the plastic ends, and was not a Waterco OEM cartridge -- part of your problem may simply be product that was junk before it left the factory!